At the suggestion of some readers I started writing a book a few months ago. I have been interviewing playwrights about how they got to be successful in the industry. And by now I have interviewed a pretty impressive list of characters. When I started the project I had one goal: "Learn exactly what I needed to do to put myself in their shoes." I read every book out there on the topic of playwriting and found them useless in terms of what one needs to do after writing a play. Then one day I thought, “Why not go directly to the source and ask the playwrights themselves how they made it?” Surely they will have the answers that will help put my life on the right track. My experiences interviewing these playwrights have been some of the most exciting of my life. The exercise also made it all so clear to me. And at the risk of destroying my book's future sales prospects I am going to let you in on a little secret. I already told you the punch line of the book. Just like every other walk of life, there are no hard and fast rules in theater. Everyone's path is a mix of mystery, luck, and, yes, hard work. What I can tell you is that when this book comes out, if you're interested in this column, in theater, or in film you’ll find the interviews in my book interesting. And with that I end my shameless plug.

My most recent interview for the book put me in two rooms with Doug Wright, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of I AM MY OWN WIFE. The first room was the ornate Lyceum Theater on West 45th Street. The second was the living room of Doug’s home in Manhattan. I want to tell you about the first experience meeting Mr. Wright and then give you a sampling of the second.

I AM MY OWN WIFE won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama this year as well as the Tony Award for best play. The play's lead actor, Jefferson Mays, earned the Tony for Best Actor in a play as well. I did not know what to expect when I entered the theater. I knew that the play told the story of a German Transvestite who survived the Holocaust and the Communist occupation of Germany despite being what both societies considered a freak of nature. I knew that the play was based on a series of interviews that Doug Wright held with Charlotte von Mahlsdorf soon before her death. I knew that it was a one-man show. It turns out that I knew almost nothing about what really goes on in this play.

Doug Wright's play is a triumph. The work tells us more about the human condition and inner strength than the most classic Greek myth. Perhaps the reason for the success of the play is the playwright's painting of his protagonist. Wright presents us with a person who would typically be viewed as an anti-hero. She is the son of a violent Nazi Commander. She is forced by life to hide many of her friendships and passions behind blacked out windows and lies. Charlotte appears old, withered, and unsteady on stage. And yet, somehow, I do not think I have met a stronger woman in my life other than perhaps my grandmother and my mother. And I have a feeling that they would give Ms. Mahlsdorf a slight edge given her struggles to survive.

I gave up reading reviews a few years ago for one reason. They always give away the entire play. I have made an effort throughout my columns to avoid what I call the "Denbying of America" and I am sticking with it today despite my itch to run through the layers and symbolism in Wright’s play. Ultimately though, in my mind all that is mental masturbation for the narcissistic columnist. I’ve explained the premise of this play. Go see it because I am only willing to talk about the mechanical execution of the production and I am so impassioned about the production that I will not give away one more word about the content of Wright’s play.

As for the acting, Jefferson Mays’ performance is remarkable. When having desert with a friend, who works in New York as a casting director, we both remarked about how we could not imagine anyone else in this role. Much like Tovah Feldshuh in GOLDA'S BALCONY, Jefferson manages to play three primary characters and, at least, another fifteen secondary roles with only one change of costume over the course of the two-hour, two act play. May's transition between the characters is absolutely seamless. I saw him on a day when he had already done a matinee performance and yet he looked fresh and exuded intensity. There were moments in the play where he actually appeared to take a physical step out of one character and another step into a new one. As Mays did this his facial expressions morphed from the protagonist to the other characters so you knew what was going on and who he had become without the need for the actor to say one word. If I say anything else, other then to mention that his performance is by far the deepest, most full work by an actor in a one-person show that I have seen to date, I would fall prey to precisely the same columnist behaviors that I deplore.

The staging of the play by Moises Kaufman is well calculated and yet the performance never feels staid. Mays is given plenty of room to explore the character within Derek McLane’s imaginative scenic design. McLane used the monstrous height of the theater to his advantage when he created the set. Although only a small portion of the stage is actually used by the actor in his performance, the space between the stage and the ceiling is filled with antiques, musical instruments, and gramaphones that make the audience feel as though they are seated in Ms. Mahlsdorf’s home/museum of antiquities.

After meeting the playwright Doug Wright on stage, in the person of Jefferson Mays, I was certain that I would enjoy speaking with the man behind the play. Doug Wright welcomed me into his home recently to speak about his play and his rise to Broadway success over the last decade and a half. He is a very kind, gentle, charming man with a great sense of humor.

HYLTON: I was just astounded by the performance of Jefferson Mays and the work he does as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf in I AM MY OWN WIFE. What was so remarkable to me was the way that he could transform himself from one character into another without saying a word and keep the audience aware of the metamorphosis.

DOUG WRIGHT: I know. It’s internal, then it becomes physical, and then it’s happened. It’s amazing. And he’s the only person I’ve seen do a one-person show where every single character listens to every single character talk. And that’s the miracle of it. Because it’s not supposed to happen that way. And yet you really feel like every character is hearing the other. And that’s the part of his performance that astonishes me more than anything.

HYLTON: I wonder what impact winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play had on your access to theaters in New York and worldwide?

DOUG WRIGHT: Winning certainly had an impact. I AM MY OWN WIFE is a more user-friendly play than QUILLS. QUILLS appealed to the more maverick and truly daring theaters in their own community. But I think I AM MY OWN WIFE appeals to the larger, more traditional spaces and I do believe that the Pulitzer and my overall success with this play has helped my career and ability to access theaters.

HYLTON: What’s next for I AM MY OWN WIFE?

DOUG WRIGHT: I AM MY OWN WIFE is going to tour. Jeffery is going to be doing the show in a couple of international cities and across the country. In January we open in Chicago. There’s talk of San Francisco, Florida, and Los Angeles. There’s talk of international productions in London, Berlin, and Paris but those are in very early embryonic stages presently.

HYLTON: I heard you’ve been working on a musical and some adaptations for film.

DOUG WRIGHT: Yes, I’m working on a musical presently.

HYLTON: I assume you’re writing the book for the show. Is this the first book you’ve written for a musical?

WRIGHT: Well, it’s the first genuine book I’ve written. I wrote the book for a satirical vaudeville piece called BUZZSAW BERKLEY. But it was pretty light-hearted late night downtown parody. And the lyricists/songwriter of that work certainly does not consider it one of his major efforts. I think he may have gently whited it out from his resume. But that was really my first musical effort. It was about an insane Hollywood Choreographer with chainsaws for arms.

HYLTON: Quite Tim Burton.

WRIGHT: It was very Tim Burton. And it was a valentine for a downtown performance artist who I just adored. The actor was a member of Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company and was a really gifted theatrical performer. It was one of the last shows that he did before he died.

HYLTON: And the film work? Have you recently completed any films and do you have any in the works?

DOUG WRIGHT: I did some unaccredited work on a film released last fall based on the book THE RUNAWAY JURY by John Grisham. I’m doing two adaptations of novels. One is for Warner Brothers and is called THE BOOK OF JOE.

Take a visit to the Lyceum and catch I AM MY OWN WIFE soon. Jefferson Mays is scheduled to tour with the production as of January suggesting that I AM MY OWN WIFE may be closing at the end of 2004. Even if it does not close I would urge you not to miss out on Mays’ portrayal of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf.

If you’re interested in seeing Doug Wright’s I AM MY OWN WIFE tickets can be obtained through the box office or Telecharge at (212) 239-6200/(800) 432-7250. To purchase through Telecharge via the Internet visit http://www.telecharge.com/behindTheCurtain.aspx Tickets range between $61.25 and $86.25.

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