Before I saw Round House’s production of What the Constitution Means To Me, I was only vaguely aware that this play was about a teenager debating the Constitution. I hoped that it would not be tedious, or tendentious, as that description suggests – but it’s only ninety minutes long, so how bad could it be?
I was totally unprepared for how energetic, funny, poignant, timely, and engaging this production is, with its fine performance by Kimberly Gilbert in the part originated by the playwright Heidi Schreck. She speaks directly to the audience from the play’s first moments, building rapport and sympathy until we are all pulling for her. Her fictional debate opponent wouldn’t stand a chance, even if she were to materialize! Spoiler alert: she never does.
Moving seamlessly from a fifteen-year-old’s overly dramatic debate performance (“a living, warm-blooded, steamy document… It is hot and sweaty”) to her passionate examination of her family’s generational traumas as a grown woman, she embodies the emotional force to carry the audience along on the journey from uncritical admiration of our foundational text to the revelation of its basic flaws.
From the abstraction of the 14th Amendment (which guarantees “birthright citizenship” and the right to life, liberty, and property), we hear how Heidi’s grandmother and great-grandmother were abused by their husbands with no response from the police for years. Wives, it seems, were considered “property” of their husbands then, and, now, they are again in danger of losing control over their own bodies. This argument is timely indeed!
Heidi is assisted by Michael Glenn, who begins the play as the debate moderator, but as the fourth wall completely breaks down, we witness his testimony to his own journey. Then, another shift: Fadekemi Laniyonu, a student at Richard Montgomery High School, appears as herself, and an actual debate ensues, with the audience as judges. To complete the experience, a personal copy of the Constitution is handed to each audience member with the performance’s program. I’ve never experienced so passionate and dramatic a civics lesson.
The Fourth Wall Bar and Café features “7th Amendment Mac and Cheese” made with seven different cheeses; “The 26th Amendment” zero-proof cocktail (which seems ironic, as that amendment guarantees the right to vote to eighteen-year-old citizens), and two specialty cocktails: the Const-CHAI-tution, and the Susan B. Anthony.
On Opening Night at Round House, the audience has a chance to meet and congratulate the cast and creative team after the performance. This time, it involved the presentation of souvenir sock puppets to all the creatives involved. Yes, they are relevant to the play. You will just have to go see how for yourself!
What the Constitution Means To Me is playing at Round House Theatre through February 16, 2025.