Gay playwright wins Pulitzer for drama
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-07 11:33

Playwright Doug Wright has won the Pulitzer Prize in drama for "I Am My Own Wife," about a real-life transgender East German who survived the Nazi regime and the communist era.

Playwright Doug Wright has won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in drama for his one-person show "I Am My Own Wife," about a real-life transgender East German who survived both the Nazi regime and the repressive Communist era.

"I'm weak with exhaustion, but it's happy exhaustion, like the feeling you get after a nice, long hot bath," Wright told Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network about his reaction to Monday's Pulitzer announcement.

Wright, 41, worked on the play for more than a decade. In the early 1990s Wright traveled to Berlin, where he was introduced to Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who by then was in her early sixties. Born Lothar Berfelde, von Mahlsdorf lived as a woman, and became known for her museum-quality collection of antique furniture. The meeting led to Wright interviewing von Mahlsdorf for hundreds of hours over the course of several years. She died in 2002 at the age of 74.

"I would go so far as to say that Charlotte grew up in a regime where discrimination was enshrined in law," he explained. Wright said he thought President Bush's stand on the Federal Marriage Amendment and the push to change the U.S. Constitution showed that the issue of limiting rights was still alive and well. "It makes the play particularly cautionary," he added.

The play was workshopped in San Diego in 2002, and later shown in Chicago and New York before coming to Broadway's Lyceum Theater in December 2003. The current production stars Jefferson Mays, who plays more than 30 characters, and is directed by Moises Kaufman ("The Laramie Project").

"I Am My Own Wife" also explores whether von Mahlsdorf was an East German spy, and the nature of personal narratives and lies people tell themselves and others. The New York Times called the play "the most stirring new work to appear on Broadway this fall" in a Dec. 4 review.

"Charlotte paid a very provocative and controversial price, but I do think she maintained her singularity in the most repressive regime the West has ever produced, and that's an achievement in and of itself," Wright said.

But Wright stressed that von Mahlsdorf's unique story and her sexual identity didn't make the play an overly difficult sell. He also noted he didn't want to make von Mahlsdorf a saint.

"I think that's what makes the piece more accessible," he explained. "I'm neither lionizing nor demonizing Charlotte. I hope that we've moved beyond the nature of gay theater. We are increasingly visible. Her sexuality was a critical aspect of her nature but it was not all-defining."

In the meantime Wright is in the process of directing a staged reading while dealing with the increased press attention of being the newest Pulitzer Prize recipient.

"I keep calling my boyfriend every hour and saying, 'It's three o'clock and I'm still a Pulitzer Prize winner,'" he admitted. "It's thrilling, and as a writer it's great to be acknowledged for an unapologetically gay work. That's really gratifying."