Two Turns Theatre Company Presents I AM MY OWN WIFE, Now thru 10/4

Two Turns Theatre Company will present an intimate and freshly interpreted production of Doug Wright's Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play, I Am My Own Wife, about the infamous German transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. Directed by Amy Corcoran and starring Drama Desk nominee Vince Gatton, the play will be performed in and among the furniture, art, clothing and taxidermy of RePOP (143 Roebling St., Brooklyn, NY 11211), Williamsburg's noted vintage shop. Performances begin tonight, September 23 and will run through October 4. I Am My Own Wife will perform Wednesdays through Sundays at 7:30 p.m.

For many years, Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf gave tours of her unusual Gründerzeit Museum, with its countless treasures from the German 1890s. Sitting at RePOP among vintage artifacts from intervening times and places, audiences will engage as never before with Charlotte's tale of survival in Nazi Germany and under the East German communist regime that followed. In a partnership with the Roebling Tea Room next door, the production's "lobby" will honor the Mulack-Ritze, a gay bar that Charlotte saved from Central Berlin and restored in her basement.

Director Amy Corcoran says, "History must not repeat itself, and Charlotte's story of being resolutely true to oneself in the face of incredible danger is today just as important to hear as ever. With a unique setting in close quarters with the versatile and captivating Vince Gatton in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, we hope to reach a new audience and a new generation, now a decade after Doug's remarkable play made its impact on Broadway."

As part of its community outreach, Two Turns Theatre Company will launch a fundraising campaign on September 15 and donate a portion of the production's ticket sales to the Brooklyn Community Pride Center. Additionally, LGBTQ youth will be invited to a special performance of the play followed by a talkback with the actor and director. www.lgbtbrooklyn.org

I Am My Own Wife will feature scenery by Ryan Howell, costumes by Matthew Pachtman, lighting by Zach Blane, projections by Hana Kim, and sound by Ben Bonnema.

Tickets, priced at $18, are available through SmartTix (www.smarttix.com).

Doug Wright received 2006 Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his book for the Broadway musical Grey Gardens. In 2004, he was awarded 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 for his play I Am My Own Wife. He wrote the book for Disney's The Little Mermaid, and his most recent Broadway musical is Hands on a Hardbody. Earlier in his career, Mr. Wright won an Obie Award for outstanding achievement in playwriting and the Kesselring Award for Best New American Play for Quills. He went on to write the screenplay adaptation; the film was named Best Picture by the National Board of Review and nominated for three Academy Awards. His screenplay was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and received the Paul Selvin Award from the Writer's Guild of America. For director Rob Marshall, Doug penned the television special Tony Bennett: An American Classic, which received seven Emmy Awards. For career achievement, Mr. Wright was cited with an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Tolerance Prize from the KulturForum Europa. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writer's Guild of America, East, the Screen Actor's Guild and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Directing credits include Kiki and Herb: Pardon Our Appearance in Washington DC, Philadelphia and London. Acting credits include the films Little Manhattan and Two Lovers, and the television show Law and Order. He lives in New York with his partner, singer/songwriter David Clement.

VINCE GATTON is happy to be returning to both die Gründerzeit and Two Turns Theatre Company. He played Charlotte, Doug, and the rest once before, at Barrington Stage Company in the Berkshires under the direction of Andrew Volkoff; and he co-starred with Christina LaFortune in Two Turns' inaugural production of The Turn of the Screw, directed by Ken Cerniglia. He is a founding board member of New York Shakespeare Exchange, and has appeared in NYSX's Titus Andronicus, The Life and Death of King John, Mucedorus, The Comedy of Errors, The Sonnet Project, and many ShakesBEER Pub Crawls. He received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play in David Johnston's Candy and Dorothy, which he also performed at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors' Theater in Cape Cod. Other notables: c*ckat the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca; Fully Committed at Barrington Stage; The Temperamentals at New World Stages, standing by for Michael Urie; Exquisite Potential for Project Rushmore; Perspective Coward for The Fugitive Kind; and The Americans and Johnston's Busted Jesus Comix with Blue Coyote Theater Group. He has worked with Tectonic Theater Project on the development of various projects, including Moisés Kaufman's 33 Variations and Leigh Fondakowski's Casa Cushman and SPILL. Vince is a native of Louisville, Kentucky and got his BFA in Acting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2012 he lived the trivia nerd's dream by competing on Jeopardy. He didn't win. vincegatton.com

AMY CORCORAN is a freelance director/choreographer. She received her MFA in Directing at Penn State University under Broadway director Susan Schulman, and has assisted director/choreographers including Ms. Schulman, Mark Rucker, and Christopher Gattelli on projects in Canada, London, and here in the States. She holds a BA in Psychology with honors from the University of Kansas. Favorite credits include Smokey Joe's Café, She Loves Me, Five Guys Named Moe, Andrew Lippa's Wild Party, In Trousers, Bomb-itty of Errors, Circle Mirror Transformation, Mr. Burns and Driving Miss Daisy. Her work has been seen at The Guthrie Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, and Asolo Rep, among others. She is currently attached to four new musicals as the developmental director. Amy was the inaugural SDC Noel Coward Fellow in Comedic Direction. She serves on the NAMT festival selection committee and is the Creative Associate for Dallas Summer Musicals. Amy is a proud member of SDC.

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