Long Wharf Announces Full Creative Team for 'I Am My Own Wife'

THE FULL CREATIVE TEAM FOR

I AM MY OWN WIFE

WRITTEN BY DOUG WRIGHT
DIRECTED BY REBECCA MARTÍNEZ

PERFORMANCES BEGIN FEBRUARY 5, 2020

New Haven, CT - Long Wharf Theatre (Jacob G. Padrón, Artistic Director; Kit Ingui, Managing Director) is proud to announce dates and complete casting for I Am My Own Wife, written by Doug Wright and directed by Rebecca Martínez. Performances begin on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 for a limited run through Sunday, March 1, 2020. Opening night is set for Wednesday, February 12, 7:30 PM on the Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Schenck III Theatre (222 Sargent Drive, New Haven, CT).

I Am My Own Wife is the Pulitzer Prize-winning play about survival and identity under the cloak of World War II Germany. A tour de force performance, in the vein of Long Wharf Theatre favorites An Iliad and Satchmo at the Waldorf, I Am My Own Wife tells the inspiring true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. As an openly transgender woman, she bravely survives both the Nazi and Communist regimes of East Germany with her unique mix of strength, savvy, and grace. This powerful and life-affirming masterpiece—in its first major revival in a decade—will leave you speechless.

The cast features Mason Alexander Park as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf.

The creative team includes set design by Britton Mauk, costume design by Daniel Tyler Mathews, lighting design by Jennifer Fok, original music and sound design by Kimberly S. O’Loughlin, Cherie Corinne Rice will serve as dialect director, Ianne Fields Stewart as the cultural competency consultant, Emely Zepeda as production stage manager, Amy Patricia Stern as assistant stage manager, Kevin Paley as assistant director, and casting is by Calleri Casting.


Tickets start at $32 and can be purchased online at longwharf.org/on-sale, by calling 203.787.4282, or by visiting the box office located at 222 Sargent Drive in New Haven. AnyTime Passes may be purchased online starting at $200 for four tickets. $10 student tickets are available for every Thursday and Friday performance (student ID required). For group ticket sales, contact groups@longwharf.org or call 203.772.8259. The Friday, February 21 performance will offer open captioning, making the show accessible to individuals with hearing loss. Post-show conversations will be held after all performances (except opening and closing nights) and a post-show symposium featuring local guest speakers will be offered on Sunday, February 23. Please check longwharf.org/i-am-my-own-wife for updates on additional programming surrounding the show.


MASON ALEXANDER PARK (Charlotte von Mahlsdorf) (they/them) is making their Long Wharf Theatre debut. Mason just wrapped up a critically acclaimed run as the Emcee in Cabaret in Washington, D.C. and is thrilled to be back in Germany by way of Long Wharf Theatre for I Am My Own Wife. Favorite credits include Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (1st National Tour), Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show (Bucks County Playhouse), Man in Chair in The Drowsy Chaperone (Pittsburgh Playhouse), and the first countertenor to play Miss Andrew in Disney’s Mary Poppins (Pittsburgh CLO). They were honored at the Kennedy Center as the 2013 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts for Musical Theater (documented in PBS’ “Becoming an Artist”). Other TV/film credits include the PBS reality series “Broadway or Bust,” Nickelodeon’s “iCarly,” Bucket and Skinner’s Epic Adventures, and Before You Know It, which premiered at Sundance in 2019. Mason can be heard on the podcast “Loveville High.” masonalexanderpark.com

DOUG WRIGHT (Playwright) (he/him) wrote the book for the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid. In 2006, he received Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for his book for the Broadway musical Grey Gardens. In 2004, his play I Am My Own Wife received the Pulitzer Prize, a Tony Award for Best Play, the Drama Desk Award, a GLAAD Media Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Drama League Award, and a Lucille Lortel Award. Earlier in his career, Doug’s play Quills won an Obie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting and the National Arts Club’s Kesselring Prize for Best New American Play. He wrote the screenplay adaptation of Quills, making his motion picture debut. The film was named Best Picture by the National Board of Review and received three Academy Award nominations, a Golden Globe Award nomination, and the Writers Guild of America’s Paul Selvin Award. For director Rob Marshall, Doug penned the television special “Tony Bennett: An American Classic,” which received seven Emmy Awards. His stage work has been produced in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, London, Stockholm, Bucharest, Krakow, Dublin, Budapest, Brasov, and Viterbo, among other cities. Doug’s plays include The Stonewater Rapture, Interrogating the Nude, Watbanaland, Buzzsaw Berkeley, and Unwrap Your Candy. For career achievement, he was recently cited with an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and KulturForum Europa’s Tolerance Prize. Doug is a member of The Dramatists Guild, Writers Guild of America East, Screen Actors Guild, and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Directing credits include Kiki and Herb: Pardon Our Appearance in D.C., Philadelphia, and London. Acting credits include the films Little Manhattan and Two Lovers. Currently, Doug serves on the board of New York Theatre Workshop. He lives in New York with his partner, singer/songwriter David Clement.

REBECCA MARTÍNEZ (Director) (she/her) Long Wharf Theatre debut. She is a New York City-based director, choreographer, deviser, and ensemble member of Sojourn Theatre. Recent projects include Songs About Trains (Off-Broadway, world premiere), Don’t Go (Sojourn Theatre, world premiere), Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Miss You Like Hell (Baltimore Center Stage), Wolf at the Door (Milagro
Theatre, National New Play Network rolling world premiere), Anna in the Tropics (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Henry Award for Outstanding Direction), and Tomás and the Library Lady (Oregon Children’s Theatre). Rebecca has worked with INTAR, Working Theater, Signature Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Lark, The Playwrights Realm, New Dramatists, 52nd Street Project, and Radical Evolution, among others. She is a New Georges Affiliated Artist and a member of The Sol Project, the Directors Lab at Lincoln Center Theater, INTAR’s UNIT 52, Latinx Theatre Commons Advisory Committee, and the 2018-2020 WP Lab. Awards and residencies include 2019 Audrey Resident, 2017 Drama League Directing Fellow, four Drammy Awards, and a Lilla Jewel Award. Member of SDC. rebeccamartinez.org

BRITTON MAUK (Set Design) (he/him) Long Wharf Theatre debut. Based in Pittsburgh, Britton designed scenery for the world premieres of The Burdens at City Theatre Co. and The Old Man and the Sea at Pittsburgh Playhouse. Other recent designs at these venues include The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey (City Theatre Co.), Good Grief, Coram Boy, and Wig Out! (Pittsburgh Playhouse). Britton has designed productions for regional theatres, including Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Portland Center Stage), Fun Home (Cardinal Stage, Bloomington), Mermaid Hour Remixed (Mixed Blood, Minneapolis). Britton is a member of the USITT Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee and enjoys mentoring up-and-coming theatremakers as part of the USITT Gateway Program. He teaches at Point Park University. Many thanks to the creative team and staff at Long Wharf Theatre.

DANIEL TYLER MATHEWS (Costume Design) (they/them) is excited to work on their first show at Long Wharf! Design credits include Julius Caesar (‘20); Macbeth, Engaging Shaw, Pericles, and Mary’s Wedding (APT); Trans Scrips, Part I: The Women (ART); The Wild Party (NYU); NYU’s New Musical Workshops (‘17-‘19), The Orchid Receipt Service, The Good God Brown, The Wiz, Charbrier’s L’étoile, Arcadia, King Lear, Fences, NYC Trans Theatre Festival. In addition to designing, Daniel writes/performs solo work about gender, identity, and authenticity. They are a 2015 Princess Grace Theatre Award recipient and have an MFA from Carnegie Mellon.

JENNIFER FOK (Lighting Design) (she/her) Long Wharf Theatre credits include lighting design for Pride and Prejudice. Jennifer has designed lights for Lincoln Center Education, HERE Arts Center, Portland Stage, The Theatre at Monmouth, INTAR, Teatro SEA, National Centre for the Performing Arts Beijing, Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Queens Theatre, Company One, FlynnSpace, Ars Nova, Luna Stage, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Repertory Theatre, Theatre 167, Flint Repertory Theatre, Detroit Public Theatre, wild project, The Bushwick Starr, JACK, Martha Graham Studio, The New School for Drama, Ithaca College, Colby College, Bates Dance Festival, among others. BFA, Theatre Design, Ithaca College. jenfok.carbonmade.com

KIMBERLY S. O’LOUGHLIN (Composition & Sound Design) (she/her) Long Wharf Theatre debut. Kimberly is a New York City-based sound designer and composer and proud queer trans woman! Recent select credits include sound design for Where Do We Live, The Woman/The Man (Columbia University); original music and sound design for Ogygia (The Tank); sound design for Oceanborn (RAVE Theater Festival/Teatro SEA); sound design for Leaving Eden, Finding Beautiful, and Overture (2019 New York Musical Festival); and sound design for Camp Morning Wood (Playwrights Horizons). Upcoming: Till (American Theater Group), The Roommate (Lake Dillon Theatre Co.). oloughlinsound.weebly.com; IG: kimomakessounds.

CHERIE CORINNE RICE (Dialect Director) (she/her) is an actor/voice teacher/private coach based in New York City. Rice is the Head of Voice and Speech at the Professional Performing Arts School in NYC and recently joined the Graduate Acting Program faculty at Columbia University. She has dialect directed productions for Audible.com, Huntington Theatre Co., Lyric Stage Co. of Boston, Capital Rep, California Shakespeare Festival and NYC Fringe Festival. Rice is most known for her work on the Pop Network comedy series, “Nightcap.” Her stage work includes Red Bull Theater’s White Devil Off-Broadway, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis’ Romeo and Juliet, The Winter’s Tale, and Othello; Viola and Sebastian in Twelfth Night at Trinity Rep in Rhode Island. Rice is a graduate of the Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Acting program and UC Berkeley’s Theater and Performance Studies program.

IANNE FIELDS STEWART (Cultural Competency Consultant) (they/them, she/her) is a black, queer, and transfeminine New York-based storyteller working at the intersection of theatre and activism. In a world that is constantly traumatizing Black bodies, Ianne believes that Black queer and trans people should have the space and time to center collective emotional, physical, and sensual pleasure. As a performer, Ianne has consistently worked in productions at NYC venues, including: Joe’s Pub, Dixon Place, La MaMa, and many more. They have been featured on Buzzfeed.com LGBT, GLAAD, “Inside Edition,” and the podcasts You Had Me at Black, The SafeWordSociety Podcast, Podcast of Color, Is It Transphobic, and Topics Include for which she is a co-host. In 2017, Ianne was one of Lewis Fellowship, during which they studied and organized with contemporary and historic civil rights leaders in Atlanta, exploring the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and its roots in present day social justice movements. They are also the founder of The Okra Project (theokraproject.com), which hires Black trans people to cook healthy and culturally specific meals for Black Trans People in their homes or community centers if they are experiencing homelessness.

EMELY ZEPEDA (Production Stage Manager) (she/her) Long Wharf Theatre debut. Select production stage manager credits include Only Human (Off-Broadway, St. Clement’s); Tech Support (59E59); Till (New York Musical Festival); Zen A.M., I Am Antigone (Theater for the New City); Hatef**k (WP Theater); Ann, Skeleton Crew (Dorset Theatre Festival); THUNDERBODIES (Soho Rep); Chix 6 (La MaMa); A View from the Bridge, The Plantation, Ms. Julie, and Asian Equities (Brave New World Repertory Theatre). Emely received her MFA in stage management from the Yale School of Drama where she was stage manager for Cymbeline and assistant stage manager for Indecent and Familiar at Yale Rep.

AMY PATRICIA STERN (Assistant Stage Manager) (she/her) Amy’s Assistant Stage Manager credits include over 50 productions with Long Wharf Theatre, among them Pride and Prejudice; On the Grounds of Belonging; A Doll’s House, Part 2; Tiny Beautiful Things; Paradise Blue; The Roommate; Baskerville; Napoli, Brooklyn; My Paris; brownsville song (b-side for tray); Our Town; The Last Five Years; Clybourne Park; The Fantasticks; The Glass Menagerie; A Civil War Christmas; The Bluest Eye; Let Me Down Easy; Uncle Vanya; and Travesties. NYC Production Stage Manager credits include Classic Stage Co., Vineyard Theatre, Pearl Theatre Co. NYC ASM credits include Roundabout Theatre Co., Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, Classic Stage Co., Vineyard Theatre, and Blue Light Theatre Co. Amy has also been the Production Stage Manager for 22 summers with Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English in Vermont.

KEVIN PALEY (Assistant Director) (they/them) is a non-binary artist who works to inspire a more compassionate understanding of humanity. Thank you to Rebecca, Hope, and everyone at Long Wharf Theatre for this experience. A Connecticut native, Kevin studied at the University of Southern California and British American Drama Academy. Recently, they worked with Transport Group, NAATCO, Shakespeare in the Woods, Ivoryton Playhouse, St. Luke’s, Stages on the Sound, Core Ensemble, Open Arts Alliance, The New Ohio, Post Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Manhattan Repertory Theatre. Last year, Kevin created the Art Garage, a nonprofit dedicated to the work of the transgender/gender non-conforming community in New York City. Proud member of the COOP Youth Advisory Board. AEA. SDC Observer. kpaley.com

CALLERI CASTING (James Calleri, Paul Davis, Erica Jensen) Casting for Long Wharf for 16 seasons. Broadway: Burn This, Fool for Love, The Elephant Man (also West End), Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Of Mice and Men, Venus in Fur, 33 Variations, The Visit, A Raisin in the Sun, Chicago, James Joyce’s The Dead. National Tours: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Bright Star. Casting for Rattlestick (Pride Plays, Samuel D. Hunter’s Lewiston and Clarkston), McCarter, The Flea, The Playwrights Realm, Center Theatre Group, Alliance, Humana Festival/ATL, Classic Stage Co., Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkeley Rep, Alliance Theatre, Playwrights Horizons (10 seasons). TV: Apple’s new series “Dickinson,” also “The Path,” “Army Wives,” “Lipstick Jungle,” “Monk,” “Hope & Faith,” “Ed.” Films include Mike Cahill’s Sundance winners Another Earth. Awarded 14 Artios Awards for Outstanding Casting Achievement. Members CSA. callericasting.com