I AM MY OWN WIFE

INSIDE THE ENIGMA: AN INTERVIEW WITH BOB SORENSON

Artistic Intern Amzell Magaletti sat down with Arizona favorite Bob Sorenson as he was beginning rehearsals for I Am My Own Wife to discuss what it’s like preparing for this monumental one-person play.

Q: I Am My Own Wife follows the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a man who lived openly as a woman in Germany under both the Nazis and the Soviets. How do you feel playing a role that represents a real, historical figure?

A: I think that always comes with a certain responsibility that you simply cannot ignore. When you are dealing with someone that lived and breathed not that long ago and has had such an indelible impression on a lot of people, you owe it to the people that know these people to be honest to them. Doug Wright, the playwright, has certainly taken certain historical liberties for dramatic purpose in condensing her life. But as actors we have the best of all worlds, especially when representing a real person. Doug Wright is a real playwright - we know what he looks and sounds like; Charlotte von Mahlsdorf - there are pictures and there are sounds of her. A lot of the characters in this play we have to completely embellish and create as we go because we have no historical reference - like her aunt, her father and her mother. I feel like it is the best of both worlds. We get to research, we get to tap in and try to represent someone who is very real and I also get to create as well.

Q: Were you aware of the play or had you heard of Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf prior to beginning work on this show?

A: I knew more about the play than Charlotte because I heard of the play when it won the Pulitzer, and I was very aware of Jefferson Mays when he won the Tony award and all the acclaim his performance had a couple of years ago. So, I certainly had not seen it before, but I was aware. I had done a one-person show for ATC four years ago, Fully Committed, so I was very aware of this other one-person show.

Q: Playwright Doug Wright weaves together the story of over forty characters throughout the play, but there is only one actor to play everyone. How do you prepare for a role like this?

Actually I have experience with this, because this is the third one person show I have done that called for playing a lot of characters. And what we did four and half years ago with Fully Committed at ATC is that when you get to a character, you have to have patience, you have to go slowly even though you know when you actually do it, it is going to move quickly, but you cannot do that in the rehearsal process. You have to slow down and say “Here is a new person. What do we know? What do we need to know? What do we need to create? Or what can we find from reality, what facts can we assemble that will help and what do we need to make out from there?” And that’s what you do. And it can be a bit arduous and be a bit slow, but at the end of the day you have to be very specific. Because when one person is playing all these characters (especially with no costume change), you have got to be as specific as you possibly can - vocally, intention wise, focus wise. Vocally, you have to help the audience to track and to delineate all these personalities. And that’s pretty tough. And trial and error, lots of trial and error.

Q: What is your technique for character development on 40 characters? When having to use this many dialects, does it become difficult to remember the differences between them and apply them to the right characters?

A: I find the best way to start with a character is literally with the words. Reading the words on the page: what does that say? If an instinct kicks in when you read it, explore that: does it tell us enough? If not, then you really have to start to say, “What are the possibilities here?” Start to research and look into all of our possibilities. Is this an angry person, is this a soft person, a hard person, is this person older, younger? Then you really have to go, “Okay what can I tap into, what will help?”

So that is the unique challenge with this piece. One of the things that makes this play very difficult is most of the characters use German dialect. It’s a lot easier when you can say, this character is from Ireland, this one is from India, this one’s from Texas, this one is from Germany. Out of the forty-odd characters in this play, I am guessing 80% of them are German. So now it raises the bar on differentiating characters. It will be a lot of physicalization - the inflection in the voice, sturdiness, tempo and key - things like that.

Q: How did you become involved in I Am My Own Wife?

A: I am lucky that I have a relationship with Arizona Theatre Company that I have loved and adored for twelve years now. And we have gone though a lot of big journeys together. There is not one experience or one show that I can remember not loving working for this company. I have done two person shows and big cast shows. I know the people at ATC – even the women in the costume shop have known me for twelve years.

Luckily, in this particular case, I got a phone call awhile back from David Goldstein asking, “First of all would you even be interested?” They started inquiring, “What do you think about the play?” So I read it and then I went to Samantha Wyer, the director, and we talked about it. That’s what I think is the most important thing, especially in a one-person show - that the actor and director are on the same page. And as soon as Samantha and I started talking about this play we realized we were very much on the same page about how to approach it, what it should be, what it shouldn’t be. A lot of one person shows can be very much about broad characters, big characters and that cannot be the case in this show. These are very real people with very real conflicts and dilemmas. Then I think we sort of looked at each other at the time and said “I hope this works out, because this would be great.” I adore Samantha Wyer as a director and a friend. I think she is an incredible director and I trust her implicitly.

Q: Do the mysteries regarding Charlotte and her life make her more challenging to portray?

A: Very good question. Absolutely! The truth is she is a very mysterious character. We don’t know the reason why she was able to survive in this oppressive world of World War II as a gay man and a transvestite, openly and courageously. Was that because she was somehow working with the secret police or not? The play does a really nice job of portraying that line. You have to embrace that mystery all the way through.

The irony of that is the character knows who he or she is. So does that mean the actor needs to know? Well, probably. I am probably going to have to make a decision about this somewhere along the process. I am going to have to make a decision what my guilt is in all of this and then how to represent that. Charlotte was very cagey and never mentioned in her autobiography her involvement with the Stasi at all. There is always that question there.

Q. Working in Arizona for many years on many different types of plays, how do you think audiences will respond to this unique play?

A: You know that is a worry I got over many years ago. Because I learned a long time ago if the person is interesting and the story is interesting then, in a way, you almost hope the audience will come in going, “I don’t know, this sounds kind of out there to me,” and you say “Great, sit down and let’s find out together.” There are so many plays and movies about the war, about the Nazis and about surviving, but this is another completely unique way to look at this: to see the world and to see art through the eyes of a singularly unique person. And you know if you don’t know anything about transvestitism or that lifestyle, you will learn. And probably be amazed at how much more interesting it is than you thought it would be. Once you plant the seed of interest, I think you are on the right start. I find this person to be an amazingly interesting character that I think will be extremely appealing to the audiences.

Q: What lessons can we learn from the life of Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf?

A: Regardless of anything else, at the end of the day, you cannot help it, you simply have to be impressed and amazed at her resolve and her courage. There are points and instances in her life where she had to show a strength and a courage that most people could not even imagine. I think it is inspiring. I think the message is you don’t have to be any type to be influential, you don’t have to be any type to be brave, you don’t have to be any physical type, mental type, or sexual type to be important and valued and revolutionary.

Q: How long have you been performing on stage?

A: Eighth grade, I guess. Thirty-six or thirty-seven years.

Q: What has been your favorite role at ATC? Your most challenging?

A: Favorites are tough, I’ll tell you. I mean I have so many fond memories at this theatre. Again, there wasn’t one bad experience. Scapin was a huge hit, and a joy for me. Swinging on a Star, the musical, was a huge challenge. Fully Committed, The Mystery of Irma Vep. Up until now, this will be my most challenging role. Trying to play thirty five characters all by yourself. There aren’t any crutches, it is all about the performance. It’s not about fast changes or costume changes - there are no tricks. This is not only a play about many characters, but it strives for emotional depth and a way with character that most plays don’t get to.

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I Am My Own Wife