What the Constitution Means to Me
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Cititour.com Review
In life, love, even theater – timing can be everything. Take Heidi Schreck’s highly informative and incredibly moving “What the Constitution Means to Me,” now in a limited Broadway run at the Hayes Theater -- under Oliver Butler’s seamless direction -- after two sold-out Off-Broadway engagements last fall. While Schreck only alludes to what’s going on politically in this country during her 100 minutes on stage, there can be no denying that this is the right moment in history to remind us all that, despite (or because of) how the founding fathers drafted our Constitution, so many of our human rights are currently in jeopardy.
Schreck is a warm, dynamic and sometimes self-deprecating presence who easily creates an intimate rapport with the audience, which helps makes the evening feel less didactic than it might. As a result, you can easily laugh with her when, during much of the show, she re-creates her awkward but very bright 15-year-old self who toured the country’s many American Legion posts (nicely evoked by Rachel Hauck) to earn money for college by engaging in a debate contest about the Constitution, throwing around misguided metaphors about witches and crucibles with wild abandon.
Similarly, you can feel comfortable enough to cry with her (inwardly or outwardly) as she recounts the long history of shocking physical abuse many members of her mother’s family experienced: a hideous pattern that her mother and father managed not to pass on to Schreck herself. Just as importantly, though, she outlines the many violations of women’s rights inherent in the Constitution, which for much of its “life” did not deem as actual human beings worthy of protection, and how the Constitution still fails so many victims of domestic violence.
Moreover, Schreck points out, again and again, how this document reflects the beliefs of its framers, a group of white slaveholders who were far more interested in protecting themselves and their property than the “rights” of African-Americans, Native Americans and other so-called minority groups.
Better still, had Schreck been my Constitutional Law professor during my years at NYU Law School, I might actually have a better understanding of not just the Constitution as a whole, but especially the 9th and 14th amendments (which were used in tandem in 1973 to legalize abortion throughout the U.S in “Roe v. Wade,” a decision that would become especially meaningful to the 21-year-old Schreck). And I definitely wouldn’t have fallen asleep in class.
But perhaps the show’s most brilliant section is when Schreck is joined onstage by a real-life high school debate student (Rosdely Ciprian and Thursday Williams alternate performances) during the last 15-minutes. Watching these warriors go “womano a womano” over whether the Constitution should be abolished or “kept” is not just amazing – but their spirited exchange should force us all of us to think about the extreme importance of voting in the 2020 election.
But, just as importantly, seeing such well-spoken, thoughtful young women should make us believe in the future of the country – something which is so needed at a moment when hope has deserted so many people.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
https://constitutionbroadway.com
Cast
Heidi Schreck, Mike Iveson, Rosdely Ciprian & Thursday Williams
Open/Close Dates
Opening 3/31/2019
Closing 8/24/2019
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 3/14/2019
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
Hayes Theatre
240 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
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