Talk about timely.
“What the Constitution Means to Me,” now on stage at Invisible Theatre, is the play we need right now.
Playwright Heidi Schrek first presented this in 2019. The somewhat autobiographical piece is nowhere near as dry as the title might suggest.
When Schrek was 15, she traveled around to American Legion halls where the winner of a debate about the document was rewarded money. She earned enough to send herself through college.
This play begins as a reconstruction of her argument. The Constitution is the topic but her story quickly broadens to talk about her family and her personal history.
From left, David Alexander Johnston, Betsy Kruse Craig and Sawyer Gremel in “What the Constitution Means to Me.”
And using that history, she reveals the beauty of the constitution, and the horrors it can create thanks to the court’s interpretations.
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Ultimately, she zeroes in on the Constitution’s inability to acknowledge women or their rights. She gives harrowing examples of the Constitution’s neglect of women (look up the 2005 Supreme Court case “The Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales”).
She also does a deep dive into the 14th Amendment, which the current administration is ignoring in order to abolish birthright citizenship.
Betsy Kruse Craig takes on the role of Heidi with the warmth, energy and passion necessary to make us fall in love with her and listen to her.
David Alexander Johnston is the debate moderator and, later in the play, a man who projects “positive male energy” as he talks about some of the character’s challenges. This show belongs to Craig, but Johnston held his own.
Toward the end of the play, Heidi gets a new debate partner, 12-year-old seventh grader, Sawyer Gremel, who argues in favor of the constitution. The talented Gremel is remarkably poised on stage and a quick thinker.
At the end of the play she and Craig answered submitted questions from the audience. Gremel was impressive with her thoughtful and immediate responses.
Director Carrie J. Cole knew how to make the humor shine and the ideas glow. This 90-minute play felt much shorter but it packed such depth you would think it was longer.
A trip to the theater to see “Constitution” should be on your must-do list. Not only is it great entertainment, you will leave the theater with much to talk about.
“What the Constitution Means to Me” is at Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave., through Feb. 2.
Tickets are $44 at invisibletheatre.com or 520-882-9721.
The play runs about 90 minutes with no intermission.
Kathleen Allen is a longtime Tucson arts and theater writer.
