I’m an avid theatergoer. As in, I see at least 50 or so theatrical productions every year. The week before the world stopped back in March, I had the great fortune of seeing the Chicago tour stop of Heidi Schreck’s sensational play What the Constitution Means to Me. It was the last live, in-person theatrical production I saw before the pandemic closed theatres in the US until, at this point, mid-2021. But man, was I glad to have seen it for a number of reasons. And when I found out the filmed version of the Broadway run was set to be released on Amazon, meaning that everyone else can now see this incredible show? Well, that was one of the best pieces of theatre news I’ve heard since March.
The concept behind What the Constitution Means to Me is deceptively simple. When Schreck (who also stars in the production) was a 15-year-old in Washington, she would travel around the country participating in speech competitions at American Legion Halls to earn scholarship money for college. Through this, she was able to earn enough money to pay for her entire college education. And, as you will see from watching the film, she was very very good at it. In the play, Schreck performs the speech she would do every weekend at hose Halls, discussing what the Constitution meant to her. While that’s the hook to start the show, it turns into a brilliant deep dive into the history of two crucial Constitutional Amendments – the Ninth and the Fourteenth, Section One – before taking a twist that truly elevates this show into the upper echelons of American drama.
Now, most Americans likely have a decent understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment – it’s the one that lays the foundation for the majority of civil rights case law, including such massive court cases as Brown v. Board of Education (the desegregation of schools and the striking down of “separate but equal”) and Obergefell v. Hodges (the granting of marriage rights to same sex couples), and it’s also the framework for Roe v. Wade. But, here’s the kicker that most folks (aside from lawyers – which, I should confess, I am) probably don’t realize: the Fourteenth Amendment on its own isn’t the reason American women have the right to choose to have an abortion or why same sex couples have the right to get married.
Nope, that would be thanks to the Ninth Amendment and the penumbra of rights contained within it. I won’t bore you with the reasoning behind that, because this isn’t a first year Constitutional Law class in law school. But I bring it up because if you were ever curious just how those cases were decided – and why those decisions continue to remain delicate and so easily overturnable should, say, someone with an originalist take on Constitutional law gain a seat on the US Supreme Court creating a 6-3 conservative majority, someone who believes that the act of finding that the Ninth Amendment means that rights not expressly enumerated within the Amendments to the Constitution can be read into them through the Fourteenth Amendment isn’t what the Founders intended so fifty or so years of case law was wrongly decided and should be overturned – watch this film and Schreck will break it all down for you with crystal clarity.
When I first saw this play last March, the world was a wholly different place than it is today. In a scant six months, things in America have deteriorated to a point many of us could never imagined in our most vivid nightmares. Watching this play live, I was moved. I laughed. I recognized that the Supreme Court was in a tenuous situation. But I didn’t think we would be right where we are as a country today. If you are someone who doesn’t understand how one person with a lifetime commitment on the highest court in America can change everything in such a way that it disenfranchises hundreds of millions of people, well, What the Constitution Means to Me will turn an abstract idea into a heartbreaking personal story of just how necessary those two crucial Amendments are to the lives of so many.
But this film isn’t just a history lesson! It’s hilariously funny. It’s so, so smart. It’s heartbreakingly sad. And it has a heck of a fun kicker in the final act that you will not want to miss. What the Constitution Means to Me is one of the best plays of the last decade. Schreck has managed to weave together key facts about US Constitutional law, her own family and past, and statistics that will shock you but not surprise you that tie the decisions made by the Supreme Court about how the Constitution protects or does not protect certain people to the actual violence, pain, and suffering of Americans. What makes the show work is how Schreck crafts this story and tells it to us. She pulls you into her thought process. She never talks down to her audience while making you understand how a single word can determine if a law can protect three children from being murdered by their father during a contentious divorce. This isn’t always an easy film to watch, but it’s extraordinary. And right now, at this moment, it’s necessary viewing.
What the Constitution Means to Me begins streaming on Amazon this Friday, October 15. Please do yourself a favor and watch this.
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