Wenatchee native's critically acclaimed play goes all the way to Broadway and beyond
5Playwright and performer Heidi Schreck insists she did not set out to write a political play.
She simply wanted to write about her time as a teenaged debater in Wenatchee. Her mom made her enter American Legion debate contests as way to pay for college.
"I started doing it when I was 15. I actually fell in love with not so much the document, but with the stories around the document, the history," Schreck said. "I just felt like it was a beautiful thing to me. The ethos of this country."
So when Heidi set out to write a play about her experience during that time, she realized there was much more to the project than she had planned.
"I took as my guiding principle, the idea of taking the prompt of the contest seriously," Schreck shared. "So what if I really were to draw a personal connection between my own life and the constitution, which I was incapable of doing when I was 15."
That decision led to a play that has resonated with audiences and that also meant a run on Broadway.
What the "Constitution Means to Me" became a Pulitzer Prize finalist and earned two Tony Award nominations.
The play is part storytelling and part standup comedy.
Actress Cassie Beck, from Tacoma, is taking the lead for the tour at Seattle Rep and in cities throughout the country, but Heidi performed the original show and the one on Broadway.
As a long time performer, she noted this show in particular struck a chord with audiences right away.
"Even the first show, the response was overwhelming. It was unlike any response I had before," Schreck shared. "People had very intense emotional responses to it and they would come back many times."
It wasn't long after that, some producers took the show to Broadway.
"It was a very unlikely Broadway show. I was very scared, but I was like, 'Well, even if it closes after the first night, I got to be on Broadway'!" Schreck said.
But the popularity of "What the Constitution Means to Me," only grew.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg attended one of the performances.
"I found out about 5 minutes before I went on stage. I ran back to my dressing room. I was so terrified," Schreck shared. "The house was electric because people knew she was there. And then she came back stage."
Things got even more more interesting when Justice Ginsberg requested a script.
"She read the script and like 3 days later I got a packet with a case that I talk about in the show with some little flags on it suggesting that I look at that and based on that that I change one line in the play, and so I did," Schreck said. "She wanted me to change 'would have to might have.'"
It was another huge win for this unlikely hit show, which is a about a girl who realizes how the document she loved has impacted the people closest to her.
"I had to confront and think about the history of my own family," Schreck explained. "On my maternal side, there's a line of domestic violence and sexual assault. They were things I knew, but preferred not to think about. So when I started thinking about how has the document affected my life, I had to think about my mother, grandmother and my great grandmother; then was when I started to fully understand the way the document had failed them and later so many other people."
Since the show is inspired by debate, expect to see a real one on stage with actual teen debaters.
The topic is the future of our country, which makes it an experience well worth the time.
"What the Constitution Means to Me" is at Seattle Rep through Oct. 23rd, 2022.
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