I AM MY OWN WIFE: Teacher Information Packet

T EACHER INF ORM AT ION PACKET

2019-20 SEASON

TE A C H E R INF ORM AT ION PACKET Compiled and Written by:

Madelyn Ardito Director of LEARNING

Jacqueline S. Brown Education Program Coordinator

LEARNING

LAYOUT by:

Claire Zoghb GRAPHICS DIRECTOR

JACOB G. PADRรณN

KIT INGUI

19 20

ARTISTIC Director

MANAGING Director

PRESENTS

By Doug Wright Directed by Rebecca Martร nez

COMMUNITY PARTNER SPONSOR

FEB 5 >MAR 1

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2020

LONG WHARF THEATRE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE GENEROSITY OF OUR EDUCATION SUPPORTERS

ANNA FITCH ARDENGHI TRUST FREDERicK A. D e LUCA FOUNDATION THE ETHEL & ABE LAPIDES FOUNDATION, INC. Seymour L. Lustman Memorial Fund henry nias foundation, inc.

THEATRE FORWARD WELLS FARGO FOUNDATION yale repertory theatre

During our 19-20 season, we are asking our artists to share with you some thoughts about how they hope you will show up and engage with their work.

This invitation, for On the Grounds of Belonging, comes to you from the playwright, Ricardo Pérez González.

an invitation to...

Be joyous. Be vocal.

Gasps, laughter, the occasional audible “yaaas,” “wepa,” “preach,” or your one-word cultural equivalent are all appropriate.

Theatre isn’t a spectator sport.

You’re part of the story.

Listen. Lean in. Give of yourself.

Be inspired by the enthusiasm of your fellow audience members.

Let it draw you deeper into the play, rather than pull you out.

Join your fellow audience members on the ride.

Breathe together. Laugh together. Cry together.

Before the show, ask someone you don’t know how their journey to the theater was.

After the show, ask someone you don’t know what they thought of the play.

You’re here to connect.

To the play. To each other. Put away your phones and

ENGAGE.

contents A B O U T T H E P L AY

8 Setting

9 The Cast

10 The Costume

11

About the Playwright

14

About the Director

T H E W O R L D O F T H E P L AY

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German History

18

German Language

19 Women in European History: Charlotte von Mahlsdorf

S U P P L E M E N TA L M AT E R I A L S

25 READ a review – then WRITE your own!

28 The ABCs of L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+

Look for this symbol to find discussion and writing prompts, discussion questions and classroom activities!

28 U.S. Hate Groups

31

Works Cited

about the play

SETTING

Where does the play take place?

A simple square room, indicated by floorboards and a rear wall, covered in delicate blue-gray lace. In the middle of the wall, a set of white French doors.

Onstage, a plinth that will later hold Charlotte’s beloved Edison Phonograph.

A table with four wooden chairs, carved in the neo-Gothic style. Beneath it, a large wooden box. Inside that box, doll furniture, accurately and lovingly carved.

Sets by Derek McLane.

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THE CAST

Who are the people in the play?

A

single actor performs all of the roles in the play. Distinctions between characters are made by changes in the tonal quality and pitch of the actor’s voice, and through their stance, their posture, and their repository of gestures. They glide fluidly from one personality to the next. Often their transformations are accomplished with lightning speed and minimal suggestion – a raised eyebrow, for example, or an unexpected smile. (in order of appearance)

CHARLOTTE VON MAHLSDORF JOHN MARKS DOUG WRIGHT TANTE LUISE SS OFFICER SS COMANDER Corey McDaniel as Charlotte at The Stage Theatre.

YOUNG LOTHAR BERFELDE PRISON GUARD MINNA MAHLICH

Corey McDaniel as Alfred Kirschner in I Am My Own Wife.

CULTURAL MINISTER STASI OFFICIAL ALFRED KIRSCHNER YOUNG HOMOSEXUAL MAN AMERICAN SOLDIER AND HIS BUDDY CUSTOMS OFFICIAL STASI AGENT PRISON OFFICIAL NURSE GERMAN NEWS ANCHOR POLITICIAN MARKUS KAUFMANN ULRIKE LIPTSCH JOSEF RUDIGER ZIGGY GLUSS FIRST NEO-NAZI SECOND NEO-NAZI

Brendan Hanson in Black Swan State Theatre Company’s Production of I Am My Own Wife.

Photograph by Daniel J. Grant.

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THE COSTUME

T

heir basic costume is deceptively simple. They wear a black skirt, rimmed with peasant piping at the hem, and a black blouse with short sleeves. There is a black kerchief on their head, and they have on sensible black walking shoes with scuffed toes.

Around their neck is a delicate string of pearls.

They wear no makeup.

Their clothing is constant throughout most of the play. They rarely use other costume pieces to represent fellow characters. This is their primary uniform.

The Character of Alfred Kirschner is the one exception to the rule. At the top of Act Two, Alfred appears in an old plaid shirt, wool trousers, and a beret.

Bradley Greenwald as Charlotte.

Photo by Michael Daniel.

In the Classroom DISCUSSION: The cast consists of 25 characters all played by ONE actor.

Imagine 5 people you are close to, think about their tone of voice, what they wear, and how they walk. Can you change your voice, body, and posture to ‘become’ those people?

GOING FURTHER: Put your thoughts into action: without telling the person you are imitating them – change your tone & body and engage in a conversation with them. Did they notice?

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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT Doug Wright: I am my own scribe Playwright Doug Wright talks about obsessions, legacy, outliers and the creative freedom of crafting for the stage.

By Julie Krug April 18, 2015

F

or many of us, obsession is where it all begins. A story takes root as the first seed of interest is pressed into the ground. We water and nurture the object of our desire with intense interest and passionate research. Soon there’s a pulse.

Next time we look, branches like arms are reaching for the sky. Characters multiply, plot stretches and story explodes into a leafy green circus.

Winning the Pulitzer for I Am My Own Wife was a defining moment. “I remember luxuriating in the fact that for one brief, tremendous moment in time there was a general consensus among the cognoscenti that I could actually write,” he says. But Wright wasn’t lulled into a sense of complacency. “To assume it was some kind of career-long sanction? I think that might be naive.”

To an outsider looking in – a familiar vantage point for veteran playwright Doug Wright – obsession in a writer might look like a neurosis. But Wright is a big believer in obsession. “If I’m going to ask an audience to pay good money and commit two or more hours of time to my play,” he says, “I urgently need to believe in it.”

Wright, 52, says obsessions are the heart of his plays.

“Anytime you write a play, you’re saying: This obsesses me, this concerns me, this freaks me out and worries me a lot. How do you feel?” More often than not, his interests are deeply rooted in the stories of rebels and outcasts.

Wright has penned more than 10 plays, including musicals. In 2000, he adapted his play Quills, about the Marquis de Sade, for the screen in a movie by the same name. In 2004, Wright won the Pulitzer Prize for drama for his Broadway play I Am My Own Wife, the true story of German transgender individual Charlotte von Mahlsdorf in Nazi Germany.

“Mostly, I’m compelled by outsiders; people who are marginalized in their own cultural moment, people who felt obligated to tell the truth when it wasn’t convenient,” says Wright.

Wright obsessed over Mahlsdorf for 10 years before her doppelgänger arrived on stage in a one-person show that’s now crossed the globe. It was during three intense years when he spent countless hours, accumulating hundreds of pages of personal interviews, that Wright not only grew to know Mahlsdorf, but he became her friend, as well.

Because artists are often acutely aware of society’s vision of the “other,” the playwright points to an unspoken desire and even a duty to give voice to outsiders. “Artists are responsible for curating the collective conscience of a people,” Wright says. “That’s a powerful incentive to write.” He believes artists willingly cast themselves as outliers, and it is this measure that provides the necessary distance to write about such people. “You have to write into the heart of what vexes, infuriates and confounds you,” he says.

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DOUG WRIGHT continued

them, but he knew they made “progress towards a richer, better draft.” McNally says it’s easy for students to get sidetracked in editing, but Wright never did.

“He never lost his way in his rewrites,” says McNally, “especially on a play. He knew the work that had to be done, rolled up his sleeves, stayed calm and just did it – even then, when he was so young.”

Jefferson Mays in “I Am My Own Wife”

Moisés Kaufman, the playwright and founder of the Tectonic Theater Project, directed I Am My Own Wife, and in the collaboration saw firsthand how Wright’s interest bloomed into a full-blown obsession.

“Doug becomes truly obsessed with the subjects of his plays,” says Kaufman. “While working on I Am My Own Wife, he would often speak Charlotte’s words in her accent and use her cadences.” Kaufman learned as much about Mahlsdorf from Wright’s studious mimicry as he did from his own research.

During production, Kaufman says Wright’s obsession became contagious: “He inspired us with his exuberance. It was clear he was doing the work he’d longed to do for years, and he was joyful and playful.”

Kaufman calls the Texas-born playwright one of the most intelligent and curious people he has ever met.

Unsurprisingly, Wright’s obsession doesn’t stop with characters. The Yale graduate was a student of Terrence McNally, the Tony Award-winning playwright of Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime. “When he was my student at NYU,” says McNally, “he was meticulous and tenacious about his revisions on the script he was writing. He was even then one of those artists who believe that God is in the details.” Wright’s adjustments were sometimes so subtle that McNally couldn’t identify 12

Wright’s newest play, Posterity, opened in February at the Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater in New York City. In a demonstration of life imitating art, the play tells the story of famed 19th-century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen as he sits for a sculptor and spars with the younger artist about his likeness, legacy and egotistical fears.

Wright creates work out of a desire to see his “own experience affirmed in the human sphere.” In an interview that is both generous and transparent, Wright talks about the support needed by successful writers. He points out the risks writers take for their work and

how even anger is a source of artistic fuel. He occupies terrain that is both tough (What might we have to sacrifice for the art?) and abstract (Will our writing outlive us?). Lastly, he shows that our obsessions can haunt the rooms of our minds long after a project is over.

Q: You’ve said you often write about rebels, outlaws and extremists, those on the outside looking in. What draws you to these characters?

A: I think they make appropriate subjects for drama.

People who live on the margins of the culture can often teach us the most about it. For example, in Jennie Livingston’s landmark documentary Paris Is Burning, it’s disenfranchised, gay African American teenagers who teach us about the high-gloss world of white, privileged, female beauty.

A: If I am going to ask an audience to pay good money and commit two or more hours of their time to my play, I urgently need to believe in it. I often tell young writers, “If the subject isn’t sufficiently compelling to occupy your time and attention for the three-to-five year time span it takes to write and rewrite a good play, then why should an audience give you 120 minutes out of their lives?”

Often, the people with the most compelling accounts of warfare aren’t the generals, but the refugees.

Exclusion can breed expertise. Helena Rubinstein knew the admission policies of New York’s exclusive, antiSemitic women’s clubs because she was rejected by them. Characters who’ve experienced injustice firsthand usually impart the greatest truths.

Q: You’ve said you get very obsessed when working on a project or new idea. While an outsider might see obsession as neurotic, how important is this trait for writers?

If our obsession with the subject matter we’ve chosen runs dry too soon, we won’t put in the necessary time to truly complete the play. I’ve written about the Marquis de Sade, the Beales of Grey Gardens and now Henrik Ibsen. But I’ve in no way exhausted those subjects for myself. I’m still transfixed by each and every one of them.

Full article can be found at the link below https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/scriptwriting/doug-wright/

In the Classroom DISCUSSION: Doug talks about obsession and how you have to be obsessed with the subject to write about it. Think about something you are obsessed with. Could/would you write a play about it?

GOING FURTHER: How do you plan on expressing your obsession’s significance to your audience? What would you like them to learn, experience, and contemplate?

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ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: Rebecca MartÍnez https://www.rebeccamartinez.org/bio

“Rebecca is professional, dedicated, and her experience adds great value to each production she works on.”

– Erick Herrmann

R

ebecca Martínez is a director, writer, producer, You’re Not Alone (anymore) (Stella Adler School for choreographer and facilitator living in New Acting), two new translations of Cervantes’ Entreméses York City. She is an ensemble member of (INTAR), the world premiere of Charles’ Mee’s Van Sojourn Theatre and with the company she Gogh Sunflowers (Brave New World Repertory Theatre). has worked as a lead artist on projects including DON’T GO (USC), How to End Additionally, Rebecca has worked with “Rebecca is an outstanding Poverty in 90 Minutes (Cleveland Public companies such as Artists Repertory human being. In addition to Theatre & Vanderbilt University), On Theatre, Signature Theatre, Manhattan being a gifted actor, she is an Theatre Club, Fordham/Primary Stages, the Table, Finding Penelope, Islands of Milwaukee, and keynote performances Poetic Theater, FringeNYC, One Minute incredible teacher and has for several national conferences, Play Festival, the 52nd Street Project, the rare ability to utilize her including Americans for the Arts, Hybrid Theatre Works, Cherry Lane and expertise and compassion to the Lark.

Network of Ensemble Theaters, and transform human beings.”

Independent Sector.

Rebecca is a Co-Curator of Working – Leslie Black A long-time collaborator with Milagro Theater’s Directors Salon, a member Theatre in Portland, OR, Rebecca of Brave New World Repertory Theatre, wrote the book for Oye Oyá (music by Rodolfo Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, INTAR’s Unit Ortega), directed productions such as La Muerte 52, and the 2015 SDCF Observership Class. She an Baila, American Sueño, La Noche Eterna, Xandu associate member of SDC and a member of the Latinx Ya’, Ardiente Paciencia and Sonia Flew. She served Theatre Commons steering committee. Awards include as a board member of PLG Arts and with them four Portland theater Drammy Awards (Ensemble produced and created the participatory performance Acting: 7 Great Loves and The War Project: 9 Acts of event INTERSECTIONS: Prospect Lefferts Gardens Determination – Sojourn Theatre; and Choreography: 7 (CCNY Grant recipient). Most recently she directed Great Loves – Sojourn Theatre and The Brother/Sister Pork Kidneys to Soothe Despair (Drama League Plays – Portland Playhouse) and the Lilla Jewel Award DirectorFest), 26 Miles (Profile Theatre), Tomás and for Women Artists. Rebecca currently works as the the Library Lady (Oregon Children’s Theatre), Ms. Julie, Project Manager for the Center for Performance and Asian Equities (Brave New World Repertory Theatre), Civic Practice.

“Rebecca has really wonderful instincts in creating honest and dynamic characters, both as an actress and as a director. She makes rooted, realistic decisions, but her dance and vocal performance background grant her a wide range, which she navigates well.” – Melissa Weckhorst 14

THE WORLD OF the play 15

GERMAN HISTORY •

1919 The German Worker’s Party was formed. This was a socialist political party.

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1920 Hitler advocated for a new name for the party, the National Socialist German Worker’s Party.

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1920 The “25 points” were established which were a set of guidelines and ideals for the party including a call to reunify the German people.

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1921 Hitler became the leader of the party, and he also went to prison. After he got out of prison he formed the SA (strum abteilung= storm section/ storm troopers), created to disrupt meetings of other political parties and to protect Hitler.

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1925-1926 Hitler wrote his autobiography, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), which was part biographical, part political propaganda. In the book he discussed the idea that the German race was superior to all other races, that the German race was threatened by intermarriage, that the German race was threatened by the Jewish race because Jews were lazy, responsible for prostitution and pornography, responsible for losing WWI, and greedy with their money.

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1928 Hitler’s party had few votes in the election and therefore few seats in parliament. To seem less extreme Hitler claimed he no longer wanted a revolution but just to make some changes in the government. He also said that an economic disaster was going to come soon.

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1930 The Great Depression hit the US and Hitler was seen in a new light because he predicted the economic struggle.

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1933 Hitler gained power in Germany. Immediately following that, left-wing political parties were banned and Germany was declared a one-party state.

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1939 Germany invaded Poland. England and France immediately declared war on Germany.

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1940 Germany continued to invade European countries including Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.

Hitler saw the war with Western European countries as a precursor to the war he wanted to wage on the Soviet Union. He thought that if the German race was going to dominate the world again they needed the land that the Soviet Union controlled.

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1941 o Germany invaded the Soviet Union despite the fact that Germany had an agreement with the Soviet Union that they would not be aggressive with one another. o Germany’s ally Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, which brought the US into the war. o

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Hitler’s original plan was to move all of the Jews in Europe out of Europe, but he realized that he did not have the time so he decided to systematically exterminate the Jews that were under German control.

BACKGROUND: German Flag

It is estimated that 6 million European Jews died in the Holocaust •

1944 The US, England, and Canada drove Germany out of France.

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1945 o The Western forces (US, England, Canada, France) and the Eastern forces (Soviet Union) squeezed in on Germany from either side, weakening the Germans’ ability to move their troops anywhere. o Hitler committed suicide on April 27. o Germany surrendered on May 8. o Germany was divided into two parts: the Eastern part went to the Soviet Union and became communist, and the Western part went to the US and its European allies and became a democracy.

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1953 Stalin, the ruler of the Soviet Union, died. The Germans in the East were hopeful for better policies.

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1961 The Soviets governing the East erected a wall separating East Berlin from West Berlin in order to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Germany.

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1989 The Berlin Wall came down.

In the Classroom DISCUSSION: In 1961 the Soviets put up the Berlin wall; imagine if our government did that here. What if your city was divided in half and you could no longer travel to the other side? How would that affect you? What if you could no longer see your family members?

GOING FURTHER: Think of the amount of families that were forced from their homes – make a list of 5 things that you would miss if you had to leave your home today. Make a list of 5 things that you would take with you if you had to leave your home today and could only take what you could carry. Make a list of 5 things that are important to you every day.

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GERMAN LANGUAGE This is the German vocabulary used in the play –translated and listed in alphabetical order.

Abend – evening

Kunsthandler= art handler, art dealer

Achthundert – thunderous noise

Laut= aloud, uproarious

Auf – at, on, onto

Mahlsdorf= City where Charlotte lives

Auf Wiedersehen= goodbye

Meine= my

Bundes= federal

Mit= with, correspond with

Bundesver dienstkreuz= Federal Republic of Germany

Mutter= mother, mom

Danke= thank, thanks Danke Schön= thank you Deutsch= German Freischwinger= free running Freiwild= wild game Fruhlingskinder= a record Funfzehntausend= fifteen thousand Grossmutter= grandmother Grunderzeit= years of rapid expansion in Germany in the19th Century

Nacht= night Nein= no Oder= or Polizei= police Regulatour= regulator Republick= republic Sammler= accumulator, collector Schön= already Sopranistin= soprano singer Strasse= road

Guten= good

Toten, totete, hat getolet= to kill

Guten morgen= good morning

Vertiko= a piece of furniture

Guten tag= Hello

Vielleicht= maybe

Hat= has, hath

Wanduhr= wall clock

Herr= master, mister, sir, gentleman

Wunder= wonder

Ja= yes Kettennunde= infantry police Kristallnacht= “Night of Broken Glass”- on the nights of November 9th and 10th, 1938 Nazi mobs destroyed some 7,500 Jewish businesses and more than 1,000 synagogues, killed at least 96 Jews and injured hundreds of others 18

WOMEN IN EUROPEAN HISTORY: Charlotte von mahlsdorf

By Krystle Frazier

http://womenineuropeanhistory.org/index.php?title=Charlotte_von_Mahlsdorf

In an era dictated by a fascist, anti-homosexual, Nazi regime, one transgender woman proudly walked the streets of East Germany in a women’s petticoat and shoes. To this day, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf remains a significant female in European History for reasons that surpass her ability to stand out as a transgender woman. More than just her choice of dress, Charlotte’s entire lifestyle from her sexuality and personality, to her family structure were in opposition to the ideals and expectations of the Nazi regime. Where Nazi Germany sought to create and violently enforce a pure definition of “a German,” based on race, and traditional gender expectations, Charlotte’s lifestyle enforced the forbidden- individuality. Despite the possibility of facing exile to a concentration camp or death, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf chose to live a life that broke the social taboos the Nazi regime held on patriarchal authority, homosexuality and gender roles.

C

harlotte von Mahlsdorf was born Lothar Berfelde in Berlin-Mahlsdorf, Germany on March 18, 1928 to father Max Berfelde and mother Gretchen Gaupp. As expected of Germans during this era, her father was a known leader of the Nazi Party and her mother was a traditional housewife. From as early as she could remember however, Charlotte always felt that despite her physical sex she was intended to live life as a female.

Throughout her youth, despite the resentment of her father she maintained her interest in girl’s clothing and hobbies. With age, Charlotte became increasingly more comfortable with her sexuality and chose to wear female clothing on a regular basis, making her one of the most well-known transgender individuals in Germany during the Third Reich, the period from 1933 to 1945 that denotes the rise and fall of Nazi power.

EARLY LIFE During her adolescent years, Charlotte worked as an assistant clearing out furniture and artifacts from the homes of deported Jews as a part of a “Jewish bequest.”

To be Aryan meant you were of pure German descent

which excludes the Jewish.

At this time, individuals of Jewish descent were being forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps as a part of the Nazi extermination mission of nonGermans. The homes from which such artifacts were removed were often ravished and destroyed. Charlotte recalls how one home had the words “die Jew” smeared across the walls and stars of David hung from the ceilings.

At that same time, her fellow young, Jewish co-worker was Photo of Charlotte deported and later exterminated von Mahlsdorf when because of his Jewish decent. she was a young child.

Together these incidents instilled in Charlotte a deeper understanding of the social context of being homosexual, a trans-woman, and a minority in a world 19

charlotte von mahlsdorf continued

ruled by a fascist majority. Previous to this point Charlotte had not experienced any direct scrutiny or oppression, with the exception of abuse from her father.

This unfortunate work stimulated Charlotte’s passion for collecting historical furniture and home artifacts.

The removal of Jewish families from their homes left large amounts of antique furniture carpets, rugs, and technological devices to be obtained and sold through second hand good stores. She often spent her pay check purchasing items such as gramophones, clocks, dressers, and tables—all things she did not need or have room for but longed to salvage and collect.

BEGINNING BATTLES Charlotte’s femininity and interest in feminine hobbies did not go unnoticed and was not acceptable particularly to her father. Max Berfelde, a man of ill demeanor was abusive to Charlotte’s mother. In 1942 when she was 14, Charlotte’s father forced her to join the Hitler Youth, an organization of young men who were assumed and expected to uphold the honors and beliefs of the Hitler regime. Charlotte hated the group she felt was based on tyranny instead of the loyalty and athleticism the group claimed to instill into young men. During the Nazi regime, homosexuality was thought to ruin the structure of politics and war. Having homosexual love influences in the army was thought to be detrimental to the focus level of soldiers who would then be interested in fostering love lives. Furthermore, the Hitler youth supported the humiliation, segregation and extermination of homosexuals in concentration camps. Charlotte’s refusal to adhere to the rules of the Hitler Youth and clear display of discontent only worsened her relationship with her father. He became all the more abusive to both Charlotte and her mother.

Although it was assumed that she was fleeing from the bombing taking place as a result of the Second World War, Gretchen used the war as an excuse to escape from the brutal beatings of her husband. In 1943, Gretchen Gaupp took her three children to Bischofsburg in East Prussia and left her husband.

This change in housing allowed Charlotte to procure a significant bond with her outwardly lesbian aunt who enabled and encouraged Charlotte’s homosexuality and urged Charlotte to feel sexually liberated without shame.

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DEATH OF HER FATHER Soon after their relocation to Bichofsburg, the Berfelde house was appropriated for use as housing for denizens whose homes had been bombed. To prepare for the visitors Charlotte was sent back to their home in Mahlsdorf to rearrange furniture with her father.

During this visit her father attacked her, and she was given an ultimatum. She could either choose to take her father’s side, or her father would kill her, her mother, and her two siblings. Afraid for her family’s lives and tired of living in fear, Charlotte hit her father over the head with a heavy cooking ladle three times, killing him with the blows. One year later, after spending weeks in a psychiatric institution, in January of 1945, Charlotte was sentenced to four years in a detention center by the court system.

Only two months later, as the Third Reich was being dissembled, Charlotte was released early from juvenile prison. Upon her release she worked as a second-hand goods dealer and became much more openly feminine.

She began to wear female coats, dresses and pants. At this stage in life, Charlotte’s real passion for antique goods and collecting such artifacts progressed. She became very active in salvaging damaged, but treasured items from bombed homes and also salvaged items from the homes of people who had left for West Germany, which was flourishing economically and becoming more greatly influenced by democratic forms of governments.

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF THE GRUNDERZEIT MUSEUM As her collection grew larger Charlotte established the Grunderzeit Museum inside of the von Mahlsdorf estate which at the time was being threatened to be demolished along with other artistically and architecturally valuable estates and buildings. Charlotte pleaded to officials although they did not agree that the estate was worthy of being salvaged, she was able to keep the estate for free. Charlotte alone restored the manor to a state where it was suitable for use as a museum. She continued her work rummaging through the remains of bombed out homes, quickly gathering whatever she could salvage from homes being demolished. Although she could not save the Jewish people from being deported and exterminated, Charlotte felt she could save the precious memories and artifacts

Several of East Germany’s gay activists, including well-known transgender woman Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, center, pose for a photo in the 1970s. (Image credit: Courtesy of Private Archives of Peter Rausch) before such oppression existed. She could preserve the artifacts of history that could later be used to educate about an era of craft and exquisite taste, instead of an era of war, violence, and discrimination. Charlotte would take door frames, window frames, door knobs, and any other small but well-made artifact. Throughout the 1960s the museum became a popular attraction for the community. Despite the tension left by the war and the division of Germany, people still wanted to enjoy the arts.

As the museum grew more publicized throughout the community, it also became more utilized by the gay community in particular. Charlotte began to host special meetings in the museum where homosexuals could discuss their plans to liberate themselves from the dangerous Nazi regime. Eventually, her involvement with

the gay organizations meeting at her museum caused much governmental grief. Although she was not accused of any crime, East German authorities demanded that Charlotte not facilitate or support such immoral programs and commenced to limit her freedoms over the manor. This decision of the government to step in and attempt to gain control over the affairs of the Mahlsdorf museum was driven by the movement to put the homosexual community under control. Sexual deviation was thought by doctors and believed by militant leaders to destroy the Aryan race and efficacy of the military during times of war. The government wanted to instate a camp for boys, the Männerbund, where they could fellowship with younger boys and older men with the expectation that such relationships would encourage military involvement, patriotism, and enhance the young 21

charlotte von mahlsdorf continued

men’s intelligence. Many felt the high prevalence of homosexuals in Germany would result in the spreading of homosexuality and disallowed this plan. During this same time period, many local, gay bars and pubs were under attack, or facing foreclosure to limit the access the gay community had with one another. Majorly, homosexuality interfered with Nazi mission to create one homogeneous, pure race. Homosexuals, incapable of reproducing more German citizens were of no use to the German use and were a detriment to society.[4] Until 1974 Charlotte had full control over the estate, but in order to cut off the gay community’s ability to congregate and socialize, the authorities reported that the estate needed to be seized and put under East German government control. This frightened Charlotte who pondered destroying all the furniture and artifacts she had worked so hard to salvage. In the end, Charlotte decided to give away the museums artifacts to visitors to prevent the government from having any control. Luckily, the museum had been featured as the location for a movie and Charlotte had formed a close knit bond with the star of the movie, Annekathrin Burger, during the filming. She introduced Charlotte to Friedrich Karl Kaul an attorney who was very interested in Charlotte’s case. With Kaul’s help, Charlotte’s control over the museum was reinstated in 1976.

FINAL STRUGGLES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS In 1991 Neo-Nazis attacked the museum during one of Charlotte’s celebrations. Again the Senate threatened to take over the museum. Charlotte announced that if German authorities refused to tolerate her lifestyle and museum, she would move to another country where she would not be punished and threatened. Upon such a disclaimer the Senate again entrusted her power over the museum. She remained in the museum with a lesbian married couple and continued to make plans to improve the land.

In 1992 Charlotte was honored with the Ribbon of Merit for service to the German Bundersrepublik in the name of the President of the Republic. While the fight against the oppression of homosexuals was not over, many look past her sex to appreciate the work that Charlotte did to preserve the German arts during a time of distress and war. The award was a token 22

of appreciation for her work in the museum that had previously been debased by the DDR. She also received full and complete ownership of the house in August of 1992.

Charlotte survived a reign of terror that sought to eliminate homosexuals, threats to current gender roles, and kept women bound to traditional role. As a transwoman she survived a time period that found thousands of people dead at the hands of the Nazi regime. Yet, she overcame the Nazi regime and the homophobia of her world without violence, without submission and most importantly without hiding who she was.

In the Classroom DISCUSSION: Charlotte cared so much about antique goods that she created a museum for them called the Gründerzeit Museum. Are you also a collector? If not, think of something you would begin to collect if you had the time. What would you name your museum?

Where would you put it?

GOING FURTHER: Take a look at the table below, it shows the name of the collect and what they collect – What kind of collector are you? If you can’t find it on the list, look it up and see what interesting name you find. If there is no name, make one up.

COLLECTOR

ITEM

Archtophile

Teddy Bears

Bibliophile

Books

Conchologist

Shells

Copoclephile

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SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS 24

READ A REVIEW – THEN WRITE YOUR OWN! In the Classroom The following is a review from the January 2018 Harlequin Production of I AM MY OWN WIFE at the State Theater in Washington. Read this review and, after seeing Long Wharf’s production, write your own!

THEATER REVIEW: Story of German transvestite who survived WWII shows how far LGBTQ+ rights have come BY: MOLLY GILMORE January 20, 2018 https://www.theolympian.com/entertainment/article195253019.html

Corey McDaniel.

T

he Pulitzer Prize-winning play I Am My Own Wife has a central character as intriguing as its title: German transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who survived both the Nazis and the Communists without hiding her gender identity.

“As the script says, she survived the two most repressive regimes the Western world has ever known — in a pair of heels,” said Corey McDaniel of Seattle, who plays

von Mahlsdorf and 30-some other characters in the one-man play, which opens this weekend at Harlequin Productions’ State Theater.

The 2004 play grew out of playwright Doug Wright’s years of interviews and correspondence with von Mahlsdorf, born Lothar Berfelde, and reflects his affection and admiration for her while dealing with the many complexities of her history — and of history writ 25

REVIEW continued

Corey McDaniel.

large. It’s a story New York Times critic Bruce Weber called “both moving and intellectually absorbing.”

“The playwright says something to the effect that if she were alive today … he hopes she would see it as a love letter, and that’s kind of how I feel as well,” McDaniel said in a phone interview. “It’s a love letter to her and to our culture.” As he got to know his character, McDaniel said he also fell for her.

McDaniel sees the production as recognition of how far LGBTQ+ rights have come.

“She’s the most amazing human being,” he said, “and the more I understand who she is and where she came from … and how she responded to this oppressive world she was submerged in, I fall deeper in love with her.

“It’s an honor and a thrill as an artist and a human being and a gay man to try to tell her story.”

Von Mahlsdorf, who died in 2002, was a significant and sometimes controversial figure in the gay community.

A collector of antiques, she founded a museum that served as an important gathering place for gay people in East Berlin. She also was an informant with the East German secret police.

Harlequin received a Sheri and Les Biller Family 26

Foundation Social Impact Theatre Award, which recognized the importance of continuing to tell this piece of LGBTQ+ history.

The play won a 2004 Tony for Best Play, and is one of several plays in the Harlequin season that tell important stories, “serious stories that resonate with where we are in history right now,” said Harlequin’s artistic director Linda Whitney.

McDaniel also sees the production as recognition of how far LGBTQ+ rights have come.

“I’m a gay man myself, and I’m in a bi-national marriage,” he said. “My husband is from Brazil, which is a very repressive nation for LGBTQ+ people. We had lived there ourselves, and I had experienced the repression outside of the United States at a level that a lot of Americans might not understand.”

Younger Americans also might not understand how recent the changes have been here, he said.

“We have so many rights and freedoms,” he said.

“People who are even 10, 15 years younger than I am don’t have any clue what I might have gone through in my lifetime to have the freedoms that we have now.”

WRITE YOUR REVIEW

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THE ABC’S OF L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ DEMISEXUAL Someone who generally does not experience sexual attraction unless they have formed a strong emotional, but not necessarily romantic, connection with someone.

GRAYSEXUAL Someone who occasionally experiences sexual attraction but usually does not; it covers a kind of gray space between asexuality and sexual identity.

CISGENDER Someone whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth.

TRANSGENDER A wide-ranging term for people whose gender identity or gender expression differs from the biological sex they were assigned at birth.

TRANSGENDERED Not a word. Often used as one.

TRANS* OR TRANS+ Two umbrella terms for noncisgender identities.

By Michael Gold June 21, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/style/lgbtq-gender-language.html

GAY AND LESBIAN It’s important to start with the basics, and “gay” and “lesbian” are as basic as it gets.

As “homosexual” began to feel clinical and pejorative, gay became the de rigueur mainstream term to refer to same-sex attraction in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Gradually, as what was then called the gay liberation movement gained steam, the phrase “gay and lesbian” became more popular as a way to highlight the similaryet-separate issues faced by women in the fight for tolerance. Gay is still sometimes used as an umbrella term, but these days, it also refers specifically to men, as in “gay men and lesbians.”

BISEXUAL Someone who is attracted to people of their gender or other gender identities.

PANSEXUAL Someone who is attracted to people of all gender identities. Or someone who is attracted to a person’s qualities regardless of their gender identity.

(The prefix “pan” means “all,” rejecting the gender binary that some argue is implied by “bisexual.”)

ASEXUAL Or “ace.” Someone who experiences little to no sexual attraction. They are not to be confused with “aromantic people,” who experience little or no romantic attraction. Asexual people do not always identify as aromantic; aromantic people do not always identify as asexual.

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TRANSVESTITE a person, typically a man, who derives pleasure from dressing in clothes primarily associated with the opposite sex.

GENDER NONCONFORMING OR G.N.C. One who expresses gender outside traditional norms associated with masculinity or femininity. Not all gendernonconforming people are transgender, and some transgender people express gender in conventionally masculine or feminine ways.

NONBINARY A person who identifies as neither male nor female and sees themselves outside the gender binary. This is sometimes shortened to N.B. or enby.

One notable example: Taylor Mason, a financial analyst on the show “Billions,” who is believed to be the first gender nonbinary character on television and is played by the nonbinary actor Asia Kate Dillon.

GENDERQUEER Another term often used to describe someone whose gender identity is outside the strict male/female binary. They may exhibit both traditionally masculine and feminine qualities or neither.

GENDER FLUID A term used by people whose identity shifts or fluctuates. Sometimes these individuals may identify or express themselves as more masculine on some days, and more feminine on others.

GENDER-NEUTRAL Someone who prefers not to be described by a specific gender, but prefers “they” as a singular pronoun.

Asia Kate Dillion as character Taylor in Showtimes’ “Billions”

M.A.A.B./F.A.A.B./U.A.A.B. Male-assigned at birth/ female-assigned at birth/unassigned at birth.

INTERSEX A term for someone born with biological sex characteristics that aren’t traditionally associated with male or female bodies. Intersexuality does not refer to

sexual orientation or gender identity. + Not just a mathematical symbol anymore, but a denotation of everything on the gender and sexuality spectrum that letters and words can’t yet describe.

In the Classroom DISCUSSION: I AM MY OWN WIFE is based on the true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf’s life as a trans-woman in Germany during the Nazi and Russian regimes. How does her sexuality and gender identity impact her story? Is it important? Would the story be as incredible without that aspect?

GOING FURTHER: Although people of the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community are still battling for equality, they are being depicting more and more in movies and television. Can you name some shows or movies you know of that tackle some of the topics discussed in I AM MY OWN WIFE?

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U.S. HATE GROUPS ROSE 30 PERCENT IN RECENT YEARS, WATCHDOG GROUP REPORTS NPR NEWSCAST February 20, 2019 11:30 AM ET MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: The civil rights watchdog group the Southern Poverty Law Center says the number of hate groups in the U.S. is growing. The center attributes the rise to what it calls hysteria around the changing demographics of the country.

NPR’s Leila Fadel reports.

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: The annual “Year In Hate And Extremism” report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says last year, the number of hate groups rose by 7 percent. It’s part of a four-year trend that has seen a 30 percent increase. Heidi Beirich, who heads the group’s Intelligence Project, says the majority of these groups are driven by white supremacist ideology.

HEIDI BEIRICH: The other thing that we have seen in recent years is a wave of racist and anti-Semitic violence break out across the country at levels that we hadn’t seen prior.

FADEL: She points to the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, among others. The report states that this rise of hate groups is being driven by the President’s rhetoric and right-wing media that plays on fears of a less white country.

BEIRICH: The words and imagery coming out of the Trump administration, and from Trump himself, are heightening these fears. These images of foreign, scary invader - this is fearmongering, and it’s making people feel like this country is changing in a dangerous direction.

FADEL: The report points out there is a reaction happening - the growth in Black Nationalist movements with extremist views. The key difference, though, the report says, is they have little support or political sway.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has been a stalwart of civil rights work for decades. But lately, it’s been the subject of controversy. Critics question whether it’s blurring the lines between its role as a watchdog and political activism. In 2018, the center’s president, Richard Cohen, apologized to British activist Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation for including him on a list of anti-Muslim extremists.

RICHARD COHEN: Although we may have our differences with some of the positions that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam

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have taken, they are most certainly not anti-Muslim extremists. We’d like to extend our sincerest apologies.

FADEL: It paid a settlement of $3.4 million. The Southern Poverty Law Center is also being sued by three organizations on the hate group list, including the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative think tank that advocates for restrictive immigration policies. Beirich says she stands by the decision to include groups that she says disseminate hate speech.

One of their new report’s key findings is that some of the fringe groups that felt emboldened by the rise of President Trump are starting to lose faith in him. She warns that if these groups don’t feel there is a political path, more people could turn to violence. Leila Fadel, NPR News.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

The National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group that has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, held a rally in Newnan, Ga., in April 2018. David Goldman/AP

works cited https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/review-i-am-my-own-wife-black-swan-state-theatre-company/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/bombshellpro/8086820189/in/photostream/ https://aislesaytwincities.com/2011/11/07/i-am-my-own-wife/ http://www.derekmclane.com/i-am-my-own-wife http://www.playbill.com/production/i-am-my-own-wife-lyceum-theatre-vault-0000007091 https://harlequinproductions.org/show/i-am-my-own-wife/ http://www.transstudent.org/definitions/ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/style/lgbtq-gender-language.html https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/scriptwriting/doug-wright/ http://www.glbtqarchive.com/arts/mahlsdorf_c_A.pdf

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