Charlotte von Mahlsdorf

The entire play is centered on Charlotte's life. Charlotte is a transvestite who lives in Germany during both the Nazi and communist regimes. When Doug meets her, she is around sixty-five. The entire play is performed by one man who plays all forty roles, but they are all done in the "costume" of Charlotte: black dress, pearls, heavy shoes and a kerchief over her white hair. Charlotte is first presented as a gay hero, but as Doug delves deeper into her story, she becomes much more complex. As a reader, or an audience member, we are never certain what Charlotte's real loyalties are. Did she turn in her friends to the Stasi under duress, or did she willingly betray the community she had supposedly been trying to save?

John Marks

John is a reporter for U.S. News & World Report in his thirties. He is from...