Putting her personal experiences out there for audiences to take in was a courageous move by a bold playwright, and it paid off for Heidi Schreck.
“What the Constitution Means to Me,” which Schreck wrote and performed on Broadway, garnered Tony nominations for both for best play and best performance by a leading actress. She’s surprised at how much attention it’s drawn, and thrilled that City Theatre is now producing the work in Miami.
“They are the first ones to be producing my play,” Shreck enthused. “It’s a pretty exciting moment for me because it’s not a piece I ever dreamed would interest so many people.”
(Justin Namon)
Elizabeth Price and Seth Trucks in City Theatre's "What the Constitution Means to me"
Shreck has been a playwright and actor for many years, and was writing for television while working on “Constitution.” She never thought it would attract such a wide audience or get to the point where other actors would be keen to play her part.
Since Shreck performed the play in New York and Washington, D.C., other actors have since taken on her role in different states. Florida is a very interesting place, she says, and she’s happy to see “Constitution” produced in a state where there are so many different views. The Miami run at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts started Dec. 1 and continues through Dec. 18.
(Morgan Sophia Photography)
Margaret Ledford, City Theatre Artistic Director
“There’s been a tour that’s gone around the country, and I had a very strong hand in that,” she said. “This production is the first time I’m letting it go into the world and I’m very moved to see that it resonated with so many people. I’m also really grateful to City Theatre for taking my grown-up baby into the world.”
“I’m so excited,” said Margaret Ledford, City Theatre’s Artistic Director. “This was such a hot title coming from Broadway. It was so well received, so poignant and so right for this very minute, that when we were able to secure the rights and be one of the first to produce it after the national tour, we jumped on it.”
Playing the Schreck lead in this production is Elizabeth Price, associate artistic producer of the New City Players company in Fort Lauderdale. Price has known Ledford since her graduate school days, and her first project out of school – a two-person play about two female scientists called “The How and the Why” – was directed by Ledford.
After seeing the streamed Amazon Prime “Constitution” special and the notice for the show, Price realized how newly relevant the piece had become – exhibiting as it does how constitutionality can critically affect our lives.
“Heidi Schreck is just an amazing person,” said Price. “So I had a conversation with Margaret, who asked me to come and read for the lead part.”
Auditioning for the part meant Price would have to give up directing “It’s a Wonderful Life” for New City Players, but her very supportive team agreed to take over if she got the part.
“We at the company are very supportive of each other and very big on collaborative efforts,” she said.
Price knew she’d made the right decision when she received the script from Ledford.
“I was blown away,” said Price. “Schreck tells the life of her family and this nation and how the Constitution has affected us. She makes it very relatable but keeps the power of the big picture within the work. This for me is one of those huge moments, a huge opportunity and a project that will change my life.”
(Eric Campbell)
Elizabeth Price plays Heidi Schreck
Schreck explained that her play is about a girl on the debate team, and also a grown woman who’s “asking very tough questions about her family history and what the country thinks of me as a woman,” she said. “I’m excited for people who think differently than me to think of the play, but also to see how like-minded people feel about it.”
She didn’t set out to write a political play. Schreck’s intention was to write it from the viewpoint of a 15-year-old, but then she revisited the work through the lens and experience of an American in this country, what she thought that meant and what her relationship to the play really was.
The result is a poignant, very personal look at her views of the United States Constitution and how, in her experience, the document has not always delivered on the protections it presents to us as citizens. Schreck shares those views through a series of personal scenarios and situations that happened to her family members.
Knowing the personal nature of the play, Price spent time with the script every day absorbing its storytelling format.
“I would say the words out loud and try to imagine that this was my story and my family. What has happened with this is the stories remind me of my own life and of my close friends, and so it makes it feel like it’s mine and mine to share,” she said.
Price added that she loves the way Schreck structured the piece, including the teenage way of thinking.
“She takes us in this way and then out to the end. It’s funny and it also makes you cry,” she said.
“This cast is phenomenal, said Ledford. “Elizabeth is tailor-made for this show; she has the intellect, earnestness, comedic chops and sincerity needed to play Heidi.”
(Eric Campbell)
Seth Trucks plays the Legionnaire
The cast consists of two actors and is almost like a monologue but not really, says Ledford. The second character on stage is a man who plays the American legionnaire running the debate.
“The script later allows for that person to introduce themselves directly to the audience, and Elizabeth in turn gets to introduce herself to the audience as playing Heidi. This happens toward the end of the play,” said Ledford.
When the play begins, both characters are in the American Legion Hall where a young Schreck delivered her speeches, earning enough money through her debate victories to pay her way through college. Schreck’s mother was a debate teacher and her father a history professor. She talks about him during the play, and their connection while preparing together for debates when she was a teenager.
“It’s a very intimate experience,” said Ledford, “and the third character is a high school debater who comes on and debates on whether to abolish the U.S. Constitution and ultimately the audience gets to vote.”
The subject matter is perfectly aligned with City Theatre’s mission, Ledford says, who shared that the venue will be following Friday performances with important public conversations that fit with the subject matter of the play, a part of the company’s community engagement efforts.
“I feel theater needs to start the harder community conversation,” said Ledford. “If we can help open the doors along the way, all the better. To be able to laugh and be in conversation with the community, those are big wins for City Theatre.”
Tickets for “What the Constitution Means to Me” are $55 and $60; they can be purchased at ArshtCenter.org.