Theater News

Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me to Be Taped for Future Release

The Tony-nominated play runs through August 24 on Broadway.

Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me, now running at Broadway's Hayes Theater, has recouped its investment.
Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me, now running at Broadway's Hayes Theater through August 24.
(© Joan Marcus)

Ahead of its final performance on August 24, Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me will be taped today for future release.

"We are thrilled that this landmark production is being captured, as we've always hoped for the play to be seen by the widest audience possible," the production said in a statement. There is no additional information at this time about the official release.

What the Constitution Means to Me is described as follows: "Fifteen-year-old Heidi Schreck earned her college tuition money by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States. In her boundary-breaking new play, the Obie Award winner resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between four generations of women in her own family and the founding document that dictated their rights and citizenship."

Directed by Oliver Butler, the cast of What the Constitution Means to Me includes Schreck, Mike Iveson (Gatz), and New York City high school students Rosdely Ciprian and Thursday Williams, all in their Broadway debuts. Ben Beckley understudies Iveson.

What the Constitution Means to Me was commissioned by True Love Productions and had its off-Broadway premiere in New York City at New York Theatre Workshop in the fall of 2018. The production extended twice before NYTW transferred the production to the Greenwich House Theater. The play went on to become a 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama, and the Broadway mounting earned two Tony Award nominations, including Best Play and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Schreck). It recouped its $2.5 million Broadway capitalization in July.

Following the Broadway run, the production will play a special encore engagement at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C., September 11-22, featuring the Broadway cast. A national tour of the play, featuring a new cast, will launch at Center Theater Group's Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in January 2020, with plans to play 40 weeks in 22 cities across the country.