City Theatre’s ‘What the Constitution Means to Me’: All in Favor; Say “Aye!”

Tami Dixon, a CMU grad, and co-director of Bricolage Production Company, returns to triumph on City Theatre’s stage as Heidi Schreck, writer, actor and comedian. That is, when she’s not being the real Tami Dixon.

Part history lesson, part stand-up routine, a forum for live debate, an autobiographical memoir, a documentary podcast, and a tribute to women’s perseverance, What The Constitution Means To Me represents––in so many different ways––the ideal that this principal document is, as so many historians like to affirm, a “living” one. It breathes, it shouts, it offends, soothes, frustrates, and pleases. And so, too, does this riotous and riveting night of theater.

Wait, Who’s on Stage?

Heidi Schreck’s groundbreaking theatrical presentation is also a “living” one. Of course, duh, it’s live theater. But by this I mean to point out two distinct elements. First, no two performances can ever possibly be the same. (Read on, you’ll understand why.) And secondly, Schreck’s inventive narrative allows the principal actor to break “the fourth wall” as befits her delivery, the audience’s engagement, or the serendipitous magic that is theater. Sometimes she is a 15 year-old nerd reciting core amendments behind the podium of the local American Legion hall, sometimes she’s Schreck at 40 greeting the real audience, sometimes she is Tami Dixon (who otherwise plays Schreck) reacting to a real audience member, and sometimes she’s Dixon as Schreck breaking character to share how much fun she’s having doing her “schtick.” It’s all very fluid, funny, and, yet, deeply informative.

Who knew that the US Constitution is the oldest constitution of any country on the planet?  What did Justice William O. Douglas have to do with feminine hygiene? Who is Jessica Lenahan? And what is the legal meaning of “shall?”

Original and Inventive

No wonder What The Constitution Means to Me was such a gigantic hit in 2019. The play (but it’s really more a “show”) sold out on Broadway, earned two Tony nominations, had two sold out tours in Washington and LA, all before the pandemic stopped everything. And then it was filmed for Amazon Prime Video, streaming just this past October. Here, however, City Theatre and director Marc Masterson have crafted one of the first regional productions of the show. A national tour may pick up where it left off, but this is just one of a small handful of original stagings. 

Democracy in Action

As the living Heidi Schreck, Tami Dixon is truly alive on stage. Her challenge is to click with her audience — not unlike a good stand-up comic — but also to disrupt “group mentality,” to stir up empathy, to encourage participation, and to empower democracy in action. City Theatre subscribers will remember Tami Dixon’s hugely popular one-woman hit, South Side Stories, which played an extended run in the Lillie Theater in 2014. But here, cleverly, she’s never alone on stage. 

Tami Dixon as a 15 year-old nerd waiting for debate instructions from Legionnaire host, Ken Bolden, a proud American.

Alternately playing an American Legionnaire, a debate moderator, a fashionable teen expressing his sexuality, or the charming actor he really is, is Ken Bolden. But there’s more. Two different student debaters take turns sparring with Dixon on different nights. Opening night featured Lamees Subeir, a senior at North Allegheny Senior High School. Quick-witted, incredibly well-spoken, she won the evening. Swati Mylarappa, a sophomore at Fox Chapel Area High School, takes the debate podium on alternating nights. For this reason, it may be worth seeing the show twice.

What The Constitution Means to Me is the kind of stagecraft that needs to be celebrated, not just for its affirmation of the human condition, but for provoking personal doubt about understanding civil responsibility, equal rights or, indeed, the benevolence of a democratic republic. It’s a history lesson that changes every decade. And, at City Theatre, every night.

Extra Credits

“Huzzahs” must be shouted to Scenic Designer Sasha Schwartz for recreating a typical American Legion Hall of the Sixties, (which, as I think about it, probably hasn’t changed much since.) Snap a sharp salute, too, to Richard Parsakian for costume design, Greg Messmer for lighting, Tate Abdullah for sound, and Taylor Meszaros for stage management.

What The Constitution Means to Me runs until February 12 at City Theatre, 1300 Bingham Street, South Side. For tickets visit City Theatre’s website or call the box office at (412) 431-4400.

Photos: Kristi Jan Hoover

Prentiss Orr writes about theater for Entertainment Central. His latest book, The Surveyor and the Silversmith, is a history of early Euro settlements and conflicts in today’s Western Pennsylvania. 

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