Berkshire on Stage

Heidi Schreck’s play What The Constitution Means To Me is an ambitious piece of theatre.  

Kate Baldwin portrays Ms. Schreck, who acted in the original Off-Broadway/Broadway productions that received two Tony Award nominations and was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  

Baldwin immediately breaks the fourth wall by telling the audience when she, acting as Heidi, was fifteen years old she participated in several speech contests throughout the nation sponsored by the American Legion.  She tells this audience that everyone in the room is a man since they are members of the American Legion.  The topic was always “The Constitution” and she always won first prize, a scholarship. The M.C. of the event (Jay Sefton) welcomes the audience, defining the rules of the presentations and then Baldwin begins.

She focuses on the fourteenth amendment which addresses Citizenship Rights, Equal Protection, Apportionment and Civil War Debt.  The word “male” is used in the amendment, but not “female.”  This is the touchstone for most of the rest of the play.  Many of the references to the practices of The Constitution imply that women are secondary citizens, even today.  She examines various clauses of this amendment and others that discriminate against women.  

Several members of the Supreme Court, designed to interpret and protect The Constitution, are heard via recordings.  Their comments reinforce the tendency to ignore women.

For instance, she cites a mother who brought a case to the Court.  Her abusive husband kidnapped their three young daughters.  She went to the police several times who ignored her request to search for the husband who later killed the girls.   The debate among the judges was about the phrase “…the police shall protect…” and the meaning of “shall.”  It was decided that it did not necessarily mean “have to,” thus defeating this woman’s case.

Schreck also reveals her personal life, especially the history of family members.  Her great-great-grandmother Theresa was brought to America from Europe by a man who paid for her upon seeing her description in a catalog.  Her Grandmother Bea was abused by her husband who also abused the girls in the family.  Due to the well-known prejudice against women, it took a long time before Bea found the strength to report him which led to a sentence of thirty years in prison. 

Of course, she refers to the fact that originally The Constitution was written by rich white men for rich white men and it still seems that way.  Schreck tells us that when she was twenty-one she had an abortion which brings up Roe V. Wade and its arguments about privacy, women’s bodies and women’s rights.  One can imagine how explosive her comments would be if the play had been written today.

There are several “side trips” through the play including a monologue by Mr. Sefton in which he sheds his American Legion identity and talks about his life. There is a mock debate between Schreck and a political activist (Isabella Brown at this performance) on the subject “Should The Constitution Be Abolished?”  Both sides have persuasive arguments.  

Co-produced by Berkshire Theatre Group and WAM Theatre at the Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, the play is seamlessly staged by WAM’s founder Kristen van Ginhoven.  The serious discourses, the personal revelations are abetted by incisive and pointed humor.  Van Ginhoven balances these aspects and has directed the actors’ speeches to be thoughtful, not diatribes.  She uses every inch of the stage as well as bringing actors into the audience.  There is a great deal of voluntary audience participation.  The pace never lags.  At an hour and forty-five minutes, the show flies. 

Baldwin is a force of nature.  From the moment she appears she owns the stage.  As the fifteen-year-old Schreck she has teen-age vivacity and endearing  awkwardness.  As the adult Schreck it is, however, the earnestness of her arguments that is most effective.  Her comic lines, of which there is a multitude including throwaways, are beautifully timed.  While the performance is well-tuned and sometimes larger-than-life, she is always under control

This is a very important play.  Baldwin/Schreck uses the above incidents and more to dramatize exactly what The Constitution means to her.

What The Constitution Means To Me, by Heidi Schreck; Director: Kristen van Ginhoven; Cast: Kate Baldwin, Jay Sefton, Zurie Adams, Isabella Brown; Scenic Designer: Juliana van Haubrich; Costume Designer: Shivanna Sooknanan; Lighting Designer: Lara Dubin; Sound Designer: Caroline Eng; Stage Manager: Samantha Leahan; Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes, no intermission;  May 18-June 4, 2023; www.berkshiretheatre.org; 413-997-4444