In a stunning tour-de-force performance, Jefferson Mays plays Charlotte van Mahlsdorf, a real-life German transvestite who miraculously survived two of history’s most brutal regimes—Hitler’s Gestapo and the East German secret police, the Stasi. Mays’ performance, which had critics scrambling for superlatives, embodies not only the controversial Charlotte, but also playwright Doug Wright and more than 40 other characters from Charlotte’s astonishing life.