JACKSON, Wyo. — Theater, democracy and debate collide in Off Square Theatre’s production of “What the Constitution Means to Me” by Heidi Schreck, running in the Black Box at the Center for the Arts May 11 to 21.
This boundary-breaking play breathes new life into our Constitution and imagines how it will shape the next generation of Americans.
Fifteen-year-old Heidi Schreck earned her college tuition by winning constitutional debate competitions across the U.S. In this hilarious, hopeful and achingly human new play, she resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that shaped their lives.
“I think many people don’t read the Constitution or know what it actually says,” Schreck told Time Magazine. “The big reckonings we’re having in terms of race and the original crimes of slavery, of women’s bodies and the law, of the co-equal branches of government and whether those are functioning well right now—these are all current, topical issues, but they were set into motion so long ago.”
Schreck’s play has allowed audiences to experience what she calls “an act of imagination” about the Constitution and America’s future ever since she began performing it in in 2007.
Peter Marks, The Washington Post
“Endearingly funny and deeply affecting … It would be hard to identify a work for the theater with its finger more on the pulse of America right now.”
Off Square Theatre’s production includes the theatrical debut of one of Jackson’s top speech and debate students, Jackson Hole High School senior Jheili Montiel Huerta. She joins the professional cast on stage for the debate at the end of the play, designed to activate the audience to ask themselves: “What if we were in charge of creating America today? If we were the framers, what would we do differently? What kind of future do we want for ourselves?”
A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, “What the Constitution Means to Me” had its premiere off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2018. The play opened on Broadway in 2019 and, although it was initially announced for a 12-week engagement, the Broadway production extended twice, shattering box office records.
Off Square Theatre’s production has inspired a collaboration with Wyoming Humanities to spark dialogue and encourage civic engagement around Wyoming. “Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today,” written by Cynthia and Sanford Levinson, was part of Schreck’s source material when she wrote “What the Constitution Means to Me.”
“Fault Lines in the Constitution” has inspired a community book give-away, school author visits and a writer’s workshop, all leading up to a free community conversation held in the Center Theater and livestreamed to gatherings in Sheridan, Casper, Torrington and Gillette.
“We knew that our presentation of a play about the Constitution created a rich opportunity for engaging the community with deeper civic education,” said Natalia Duncan Macker, producing artistic director. “We could not be more excited to bring the Levinsons’ voices to the table in May.”
Off Square Theatre’s programs are made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wyoming Arts Council, Wyoming Humanities and the Madame X Society. Learn more about Off Square Theatre Company here.
The runtime of this show is 100 minutes. Contact sadie@offsquare.org for accommodation information and requests.
