Theater

Who would dare to change a play that won Pulitzer and Tony prizes? Blanka Zizka is doing that with I Am My Own Wife, which won those awards last year. She's changing the concept of author Doug Wright, who wrote of a young playwright, himself, who tries to learn how a German transvestite, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, survived the Nazi and Soviet years. Because Charlotte assumed many guises, Wright has one actor portray all the characters.

Zizka is directing a new production at the Wilma, where two actors will divide the roles. Wright developed the play when he was artist-in-residence at the Wilma, between 2001 and 2003, and Zizka made helpful suggestions at that time. "It was only when I started to work on this production," she says, "that I realized Charlotte creates a myth about herself, and the gullible playwright doesn't know truth from fiction. He grew up in a different culture and a different era, so how does he know what's true?" Zizka therefore accentuates the contrast by casting people of noticeably different ages. "Now the dynamic of interrogator versus subject, and youth versus old age is clearer. And now you can see the reaction of one person to what the other says. It is now more of a play instead of a performance piece."

Wright agreed to the change "only because it's Blanka, and I love what she did with Quills [his 1997 play that Zizka directed in its world premiere]. I'm a ferocious defender of what I write, but I make an exception for Blanka. I think she can teach me new things about my own play."

I Am My Own Wife, through Oct. 23, $35-$49, Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., 215-546-7824.