“WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME”
Jill Weinlein, Chief West Coast Theatre Critic
While attending the opening night of “What The Constitution Means To Me” now at the Mark Taper Forum, actress Maria Dizzia portrays playwright Heidi Schreck as a teen and adult questioning the validity of the U.S. Constitution created in the late 1700s.
Standing on a diorama style stage of a room inside an American Legion Hall, Dizzia asks the audience to become the same group of white male American Legion members who watched and judged her debate when she when she was a fifteen year old. Scenic designer Rachel Hauck enhances the set with four rows of framed black and white photos of white males lining the back wall.
We learn that Schreck was a pretty good debater, earning enough prize money to pay for her entire state college tuition. A few years ago, Schreck questioned the value and inadequacy of the Constitution, especially after our current administration gained power. She brings up the issue that it’s time to re-evaluate the documents that she was so zealous about as a teenager.
Transforming into a teen, Dizzia describes how Schreck had a “buzz cut like Annie Lennox” (the 1980s lead singer and songwriter for the band Eurythmics) and fascination with witches and actor Patrick Swayze.
Actor Mike Iveson appears in the audience as an American Legion proctor and walks onto the stage delivering questions about Amendment 9 and Amendment 14 of the Constitution. The one hiccup in this play is it was sometimes difficult to follow Dizzia transitioning from Schreck as a teen to an adult. She adds humor while revealing intimate details about the sexual and physical abuse suffered by four generations of women in her life. These personal references relate to how the amendments in the Constitution, shaped and sometimes destroyed these women.
The show details how the Constitution was written by property owning, rich white males, and how women’s rights, immigrants and citizenship rights continue to teeter today. This personal spin to each Amendment may make some in the audience uncomfortable, as she focuses on sexual assault, domestic abuse, and how immigration is dealt with under our current administration. Taped recordings of Justices Anthony Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg emphasis these points.
Later in the play, Iveson comes out of character and shares with the audience about his own sexuality and how the Constitution doesn’t always protect him, even though he is a white male.
About 75 minutes into the play Dizzia engages in a debate about why we should modify the Constitution with a precocious 15 year old debater Rosdely Ciprian. This young actress from New York takes the viewpoint that we should leave it alone.
Theatre ushers pass out The Constitution of the United Stares of America booklets by the ACLU for the audience to take home and read. As the audience listens to these two women debate, they hear both opinions and decide who they believe is right and should win. One audience member is chosen to read her final verdict aloud for all to hear.
Nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and a finalist spot for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this show will appeal to history buffs, liberals and feminists, but might make some in the audience uncomfortable as the playwright tackles abortion, equal citizen protection and immigration.
The play runs from Jan. 12 through Feb. 23, 2020.
The cast includes Maria Dizzia, Mike Iveson, Rosdely Ciprian (has been with this production since Broadway) and performs four shows a week, while Jocelyn Shek takes on the role of the young debater on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings, and during Sunday matinee shows. Gabriel Marin and Jessica Savage are understudies. Director by Oliver Butler, the creative team includes scenic design by Rachel Hauck, costume design by Michael Krass, lighting design by Jen Schriever, and sound design by Sinan Refik Zafar. The production stage manager is Nicole Olson and the casting director is Taylor Williams.
Tickets start at $79 and are available at https://www.centertheatregroup.org/ or at the box office or by phone (213)628-2772 starting at 10 a.m. weekdays, non on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday. A limited number of $15 student rush tickets are available for every performance. Tickets may be reserved beginning at 10 a.m,, the day prior, while supplies last, and must be picked up at the Box Office with valid student ID. 135 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012.