She the people: 'What the Constitution Means to Me' tells the story of four generations of extraordinary women

“What the Constitution Means to Me” is a highly personal take, not a civics lecture.

Fifteen-year-old Heidi Schreck paid her college tuition by speaking in debate competitions across the country; now in her 40s, she tells the story of four generations of extraordinary women in her family whose lives were shaped by the Constitution.

The Vortex Theatre is staging the play beginning on Friday, Oct. 18, through Sunday, Nov. 3.

“It is the most produced show in America for this year and last year,” said director Leslee Richards. “It’s because it has so much to say.”

Schreck widens her autobiographical play into a paean for basic fairness: The American Constitution, admired as it is, fails to protect all of us from violence and discrimination. She addresses themes such as women’s rights, immigration, domestic abuse and American history.

As a teenager, “she calls herself a zealot for the Constitution,” Richards said. “Thirty years later, she revisits it.”

Schreck tells of her own experience in getting an abortion when she was in her 20s and fearing sexual assault during college. She discusses the abuse of her mother and her grandmother, Bette, by Bette’s husband. She also includes the story of her great-great-grandmother, who in 1879 was sent from her home country of Germany to Washington state after being purchased from a catalog by her future husband. Schreck’s great-great-grandmother was eventually admitted to a mental hospital for “melancholia” and died at the age of 36.

“There are many examples of how the Constitution and the Supreme Court failed to protect women,” Richards said.

“It’s also very, very funny,” she continued. “It’s very smart. This is not a lecture, this is a story.”

Written by men, the Constitution is a negative rights document, Schreck maintains.

“We are in this constant distress because the new members of the Supreme Court call themselves ‘originalists,’” Richards said. “They made decisions based on what the founding fathers wanted.

“Women couldn’t vote, women were property and even the Indigenous people had no rights.”

The enslaved African American Dred Scott sued for his freedom in 1857, but the Supreme Court denied Black citizenship and upheld slavery.

“This is fascinating history,” Richards said.

The last quarter of the play ignites a debate about whether or not the Constitution should be rewritten.

The double cast features Wendy Barker, Jane deLaubenfels, Marc Comstock, Zane Barker, Mirey Lopez and Versai Knight.

“What the Constitution Means to Me” was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The play was nominated for the 2019 Tony Award for Best Play, and Schreck was nominated for the 2019 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.