What the Constitution Means to Me

[3] Schreck varies the time period in which the play takes place, performing some scenes as her modern self and others as her fifteen-year-old self participating in Constitutional debate contests.

[4] What the Constitution Means to Me has received accolades such as a nomination for Best Play in the 73rd Tony Awards and a finalist spot for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

[15] What the Constitution Means to Me was first produced at the Wild Project, in Summerworks, Clubbed Thumb's (New York City) festival for new plays in June to July 2017 in a co-production with True Love Productions.

Directed again by Oliver Butler, the cast features Heidi Schreck, Mike Iveson, Rosdely Ciprian, Thursday Williams, and Ben Beckley.

[27] The play ran at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles from January 12, 2020 to February 28, 2020, and then at Chicago's Broadway Playhouse March 4, 2020 to April 12, 2020 (closed prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

[13] The first iteration of the play came in the form of a short 10-minute presentation that Schreck performed at benefits nearly ten years after her initial idea for the show.

The play's discussion of women's rights seemed especially pertinent to audiences in 2018, in light of the then-ongoing U.S. Senate hearings to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But his invisible judiciary presence is there, affirming many of her implicit arguments, which are often indistinguishable from her deepest fears about a document with which she has had a long and complicated relationship.

[7] The idea of being a "good immigrant" is also included throughout the play; reviewers have noted the importance of this theme in parallel to President Donald Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric.

[36] In reviewing the 2018 Off-Broadway production, Thom Geier of The Wrap wrote: "Schreck is an engaging storyteller with a delivery that seems improvised even when she is sticking to her winding but always-focused script.

"[37] Critic Sara Holdren writes in New York Magazine that What the Constitution Means to Me is a "...brilliantly crafted show, harrowing and funny and humane, that accesses the political through the deeply personal.

It’s much easier to do what this show does: gather a few hundred progressives each night in a Broadway bubble and get them whooping and cheering about everything they have won for themselves in their imaginary Constitution.

The committee wrote: "A charming and incisive analysis of gender and racial biases inherent to the U.S. Constitution that examines how this living document could evolve to fit modern America.

The magazine's comment: "Schreck is a wonderful comedic actor, and her timely explanation of the intent, flaws and meaning of the Constitution arrived on Broadway at the moment in our nation’s history when we needed it most.