What the Constitution Means to Me at PTC

Last night I went to see What The Constitution Means to Me at PTC and it is one of the most thought-provoking pieces that I have seen in a long time. It is a play written by Heidi Schreck, who performed the lead role during its run on Broadway, about her experiences as a 15-year-old student participating in an American Legion Oratorical Contest about the Constitution as a way to earn scholarship money for college. In this production the role of Heidi is played by Laura Jordan and the first part of the performance is the recreation of the speech that Heidi gave as a 15-year-old in the competition with a Legionnaire (Ben Cherry) acting as the moderator.  In her speech she specifically discusses the Ninth Amendment, which pertains to unenumerated rights such as the right to travel, the right to vote, the right to keep personal matters private, and the right to make important decisions about one's health care or body, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which pertains to equal protection under the law.  During the second part of the performance Heidi continues as her present self and relates anecdotes drawn from her own experiences, and those of the women in her family, relating to abortion, sexual assault, domestic violence, and immigration while Cherry portrays a character named Mike, based on one of Heidi's friends, who speaks about his sexuality. The point they both make, with several relevant Supreme Court cases, is that the Constitution does not protect the rights of women, racial minorities, immigrants, or those who are LGTBQ.  They argue that it wasn't designed to do so because the writers of the Constitution were mostly concerned with negative rights, or those which would not limit the freedoms of white male landowners. I found this discussion to be fascinating and I was completely riveted! The third and final part of the performance involves a parliamentary debate between Jordan (as herself) and a local student (last night's student was Naomi Cova) about whether or not the Constitution should be abolished. This debate is unique to each performance (last night Jordan argued that the Constitution should be abolished and Cova argued that it should be kept) and audience participation is encouraged. As someone who participated in debate all through high school I absolutely loved this! When Jordan had everyone in the audience who was not a straight white cisgendered male raise their hands (it was the majority), it was incredibly powerful to see how many of us are not protected and it really swayed my opinion.  However, I also found many of the arguments put forward by Cova, namely that more people need to participate in government to make changes from within, to be noteworthy as well. A member of the audience was selected at random to declare a winner and she voted to abolish. I was really impressed with Jordan because, even though these are not her stories, her delivery is spontaneous and authentic as if she is having a conversation with each member of the audience and the simple production design (sets, costumes, and lighting) keeps the focus on that dialogue. I do concede that one's enjoyment of this play will probably be directly related to the degree to which one agrees with Schreck's thesis but I also believe seeing it is a worthwhile experience that is ultimately very hopeful.  It runs at PTC through April 22 (go here for tickets).

Note:  As I previously mentioned I was on my high school debate team and I actually participated in an American Legion Oratorical Contest my senior year. I won at my school level (and received a huge trophy) but didn't move on past the state level.