What the Constitution Means to the Playwright Heidi Schreck

About this episode

<p><span>Few Americans dispute the centrality of the Constitution as a statement of our country’s goals; it is as though holy. But what the Constitution actually means to any two people may differ widely, and those differences are dramatized in a new play, on Broadway, called “What the Constitution Means to Me.” </span><span>It’s essentially a one-person show written and performed by Heidi Schreck (</span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/02/18/heidi-schreck-takes-the-constitution-to-broadway"><span>profiled</span></a><span><span> </span>in<span> </span></span><em><span>The New Yorker</span></em><span><span> </span>by Michael Schulman), and it’s her first play to reach Broadway. The performer reflects on her personal history as a high-school debate champion, when she was rewarded for upholding an officially sanctioned view of American politics that she has come to realize is a distortion. Both the play and Schreck’s performance have been nominated for Tony Awards; it’s a hit, and it’s a cultural flashpoint in an era when the phrase “constitutional crisis” is invoked almost weekly.<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/Dorothy-Wickenden"><span>Dorothy Wickenden</span></a><span><span> </span>spoke with Heidi Schreck. </span><span>Plus, SoundCloud rap—</span><span>once a marginal, willfully weird genre for amateurs—has lately created some of the biggest hits in hip-hop.</span></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>