CPH TO PRESENT HEIDI SCHRECK’S TONY-NOMINATED PLAY, WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME
Posted October 7, 2024 in Press Releases
(Cleveland, OH) Cleveland Play House (CPH) presents What the Constitution Means to Me, Heidi Schreck’s hilarious, hopeful, achingly human play. At a pivotal time in American history, the regional theatre brings Schreck’s thought-provoking play to Northeast Ohio audiences in the intimate, thrust setting of the Outcalt Theatre, located in the heart of Playhouse Square.
Directed by Linsay Firman, What the Constitution Means to Me is one of the most-produced plays in the American theater this season. Heralded by critics and audiences, this boundary-breaking production challenges attendees to consider America’s founding document from a variety of perspectives, with a live debate between the actors as well as fun audience engagement to conclude each performance.
What the Constitution Means to Me started as an Off-Broadway sensation after its original publication in 2017, before moving to Broadway in March of 2019 for an extended, sold-out run, earning numerous accolades. It had subsequent runs at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Mark Taper Forum, The Guthrie, Seattle Repertory Theatre and the McCarter Theatre, as well as theatres in Houston, Miami, Omaha, Nashville, Charlotte and Chicago. A filmed version of the play premiered on Amazon Prime Video, and was nominated for a Critics Choice Award, a PGA Award and DGA Award. What the Constitution Means to Me was named Best Play of the Year by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, Time Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, The New Yorker and more. The play was deemed by The New York Times as “not just the best play to open on Broadway this season, but also the most important,” and “more than just an unmitigated success; it’s a sensation,” by Backstage.
Cleveland Play House Artistic Director Michael Barakiva states, “We are thrilled to have hometown native Maggie Lacey back from NYC to bring this play to life. It's an extraordinary moment for every woman and every person in this country to be asking themselves what the Constitution means to them."
What the Constitution Means to Me follows fifteen-year-old Heidi, who competed for college scholarships by participating in Constitutional debate competitions across the country to support her educational aspirations of becoming an actor and writer. Switching between herself as a young woman and present day, Heidi reenacts her live debates alongside the Legionnaire of the competitions, and provides commentary on her experience as a teenager debating and speaking about the American Constitution in the 1980s. As the play progresses, Heidi returns to her present-day self to exemplify the direct effects the Constitution has on four generations of women in her own family, and people of all backgrounds across the United States. The piece is daring, emotional, ground-breaking, and humorous, and is a 2019 Tony Award nominee and 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Playwright Heidi Schreck is a Brooklyn-based actor and writer. In addition to What the Constitution Means to Me, Schreck’s catalog (Grand Concourse, Creature, and There Are No More Big Secrets) has been performed in New York City and across the country. Her screen credits include I Love Dick, Billions, Nurse Jackie, Dispatches from Elsewhere and shows in development with Amazon Studios, Plan B and A24. Schreck is the recipient of three Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award and a Theatre World Award, as well as the Horton Foote Playwriting Award and the Hull-Warriner Award from the Dramatist's Guild.
At the helm of the CPH production is Director Linsay Firman, the Director of Play Development at Ensemble Studio Theatre. At EST she has directed the world premiere of plays by Lucas Hnath and Anna Ziegler, as well as EST Marathon one-acts by Rachel Bonds, Garrett M. Brown, Darcy Fowler and Jose Rivera. She has also directed productions at The Hangar Theatre, Ma-Yi Theatre, Chester Theatre, Theatre Row and chashama. Linsay began working in new play development as the Associate Director of Soho Rep, where she was a founder and chair of Soho Rep's Writer/Director Lab. She is an alumna of the Women's Project Director's Lab, the New Dramatist’s Resident Director Program and multiple programs at the Lark.
The Cleveland Play House cast includes Cleveland native Maggie Lacey* (Heidi), Donald Carrier* (Legionnaire/Danny), who is also the Director of the Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House MFA Acting Program, Taya Offutt Decker (The Debater), Logan Dior Williams (The Debater), Tess Burgler (U/S Heidi), and Craig Joseph (U/S Legionnaire/Danny).
The creative team includes Linsay Firman (Director), Raul Abrego (Scenic Designer), Angelina Herin (Costume Designer), Alberto Segarra (Lighting Designer), Derek A. Graham (Sound Designer), and Michael Glavan (Production Dramaturg).
What the Constitution Means to Me runs from October 12 – November 3 at the Outcalt Theatre in Playhouse Square. Evening performances of What the Constitution Means to Me run Wednesday – Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. Matinee performances are held Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 p.m., and Wednesday, October 30 at 2:00 p.m. An additional evening performance is held on Sunday, October 13 at 7:00 p.m. Previews run October 12 – 17. The shows opens Friday, October 18.
Tickets start at $25. Student tickets are $15 (valid student ID required). Ohio Direction/EBT cardholders receive $5 admission to any performance (up to eight tickets). Military personnel and their immediate families receive 50% off tickets. Seniors may receive $10 off tickets. Groups of 20+ can save up to 30% on their purchase. Single tickets can be purchased by calling 216.241.6000. All tickets can be purchased by visiting clevelandplayhouse.com.
KeyBank is the 2024-2025 season sponsor for Cleveland Play House.
*indicates member of the Actors’Equity Association
For information about What the Constitution Means to Me, the rest of the 2024-2025 season, and more, please visitwww.clevelandplayhouse.com.
BIOGRAPHIES
THE CAST
TESS BURGLER (Understudy Heidi) is the Associate Artistic Director and a full-time actor-manager at Ohio Shakespeare Festival in Akron. Recent local acting credits include Hamlet (Hamlet), Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing) Rosalind (As You Like It), d'Artagnan (The The Three Musketeers...) at Ohio Shakespeare Festival; Charlotte (The Mystery of Love and Sex) at Dobama Theatre; Olivia (Twelfth Night) at Ensemble Theatre. She's also performed with Porthouse Theare, Beck Center, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Theatre IV (in Virginia), and others. Recently, she directed She Kills Monsters, The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, Love's Labour's Lost, and The Woman in Black at Ohio Shakespeare Festival; Twelfth Night, Hamlet, and She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realm at Firestone Theatre; Sweeney Todd and Cat in the Hat at Player's Guild Theatre.
DONALD CARRIER* (Legionnaire/Danny) is an actor, teacher, and director who has worked extensively in theatre and film across North America. For the Cleveland Play House, his credits include Shakespeare in Love, All the Way, Luna Gale, The Crucible, The Little Foxes, Lincolnesque, Noises Off!, Ten Chimneys, In The Next Room, or The Vibrator Play, and Yent. He spent nine seasons at the Stratford Festival, three at the Old Globe, and two at the Shaw Festival. Other favorite credits include The Duchess of Malfi (Helen Hayes Nomination), Shining City, Gross Indecency, and The School for Scandal. Selected directing credits include: The Misanthrope, Too True to be Good, Clybourne Park, Fifth of July, Middletown, The Liar and Passage (CWRU/CPH MFA Acting Program); Othello (Texas Shakespeare Festival); Becky Shaw (Dobama Theatre); The Violins of Hope (CPH/CWRU MFA Program and the Cleveland Orchestra); A Doll’s House Part 2 (Beck Center).
TAYA OFFUTT DECKER (The Debater) (she/her) is a sophomore in high school and is thrilled to be making her Cleveland Play House Debut with What the Constitution Means to Me. Past professional shows include John Brown: The Dulcimer Diaries at Century Village as young Mary Brown, Deborah in Little Miss Sunshine at Blank Canvas, and Raynell in Fences at Karamu House. Other favorite roles have included, Molly in Peter and the Star Catcher, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Astyanax in Trojan Women, Michael in Caucasian Chalk Circle, and Matilda in Matilda. Film: Demetria in Stream This with Art of Me Productions.
CRAIG JOSEPH (Understudy Legionnaire/Danny) is a proud, Ohio-raised theatre maker, happy to be making his CPH debut. By day, Craig is the Literary Director at Cleveland Play House and the Artistic Director of Seat of the Pants (seatofthepants.org), an ensemble-based, process-driven theatre company that performs around Northeast Ohio. He is also a freelance actor and director, working throughout the Midwest and Northeast with credits at Depot Theatre, Writers Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, Resonance Works, Dobama Theatre, Karamu House, Ensemble Theatre, Canton Symphony Orchestra, and Akron Symphony Orchestra, among others. Craig is a Certified Teacher of the Michael Chekhov Technique through the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium, and the proud canine father of Truman and Franklin. Thanks to his family and friends, and to you for your support of live theatre.
MAGGIE LACEY* (Heidi) (she/her) partnered with CPH under a Fox Foundation Resident Actor Grant in previous seasons, appearing in Laura Kepley’s production of The Little Foxes and in A Christmas Story. (Her earlier CPH appearances were as a child on the Brooks stage.) Recent television credits include Hotel Cocaine (MGM+), Julia (HBO Max), New Amsterdam (NBC), and I Know What You Did Last Summer (Amazon). Broadway: Our Town, Inherit the Wind, and Dividing the Estate. Off-Broadway and Regional credits include Horton Foote’s The Orphan’s Home Cycle (Signature NYC/Hartford Stage), A Doll’s House in rep with The Father at Theatre for a New Audience, The Marriage of Figaro (McCarter), and Big Times (Women’s Expressive Theatre), which she co-wrote. Other new play development includes The Upstart Creatures’ adaptation of Paradise Lost, as well as The Exchange (O’Neill Center), with Michael Barakiva. Maggie is a certified member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers. MFA: NYU Grad Acting. Special thanks to Gavin Michaels and Sarah Cuneo.
LOGAN DIOR WILLIAMS (The Debater) is a junior at Cleveland School of the Arts (CSA), is rapidly becoming a tour de force in the world of stage and film. Her performance in The Christmas House at the Cleveland Play House was truly captivating. Her portrayal of Lil Mama in Stew and Devine in brownsville song (b side for tray) at the Dobama Theater garnered critical acclaim. Logan’s talent was showcased early as seven year-old Raynell in August Wilson’s Fences at both the Aurora Community Theater and Historic Karamu Performing Arts Theater. Her appearance in award-winning films A Raging Silence, Here We Are, Cinderella Jones, and Van’s Ice Cold Lemonade highlight her exceptional range and depth. With each performance, Logan not only commands the stage and screen but leaves an indelible mark on the soul, proving that true talent transcends mere presence and becomes a force of nature.
THE CREATIVE TEAM
HEIDI SCHRECK (Playwright) is a writer and performer living in Brooklyn. Her critically-acclaimed play What the Constitution Means to Me played an extended, sold-out run on Broadway in 2019, and was nominated for two Tony Awards. It had subsequent runs at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Mark Taper Forum, the Guthrie, Seattle Repertory Theatre and the McCarter Theatre, as well as theatres in Houston, Miami, Omaha, Nashville, Charlotte and Chicago. A filmed version of the play premiered on Amazon Prime Video, and was nominated for a Critics Choice Award, a PGA Award and DGA Award. What the Constitution Means to Me was named Best of the Year by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, Time Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, The New Yorker and more. Schreck’s other plays Grand Concourse, Creature, and There Are No More Big Secrets have also been produced in NYC and all over the country. Screenwriting credits include I Love Dick, Billions, Nurse Jackie, Dispatches from Elsewhere and shows in development with Amazon Studios, Plan B and A24. She is the recipient of three Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award and a Theatre World Award, as well as the Horton Foote Playwriting Award and the Hull-Warriner Award from the Dramatists Guild. Schreck was awarded Smithsonian Magazine’s 2019 American Ingenuity Award, for her work in the Performing Arts.
LINSAY FIRMAN (Director) is Director of Play Development at EST, and Director of the EST/Sloan Project. At EST she has directed the world premiere of plays by Lucas Hnath and Anna Ziegler, as well as EST Marathon one-acts by Rachel Bonds, Garrett M. Brown, Darcy Fowler and Jose Rivera. Other productions at The Hangar Theatre, Ma-Yi Theatre, Chester Theatre, Theatre Row and chashama. Linsay began working in new play development as the Associate Director of Soho Rep, where she was a founder and chair of Soho Rep's Writer/Director Lab. Alumna of the Women's Project Director's Lab, the New Dramatists’s Resident Director Program and multiple programs at the Lark. M.F.A. from CalArts. Upcoming: World Premiere of Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? by Michael Wallek
RAUL ABREGO (Scenic Designer) is a set designer for opera, theatre, and television. His work has been seen at The Juilliard Opera Center, The Manhattan School of Music, The Spoleto Opera Festival in Italy, The Rattlestick, Cherry Lane Theater, and Intar. Notable recent projects: Adamandi for Princeton University with book and lyrics by Mel Hornyak and Elliot Valentine, Lee and directed by Georgina Escobar; Ain't Misbehavin' for Barrington Stage and Geva Theater Center, directed by Jeffrey Page; The Brobot Johnson Experience by Darian Dauchan at The Bushwick Starr; Living and Breathing by Mando Alvarado, directed by Rebecca Martinez for Two River Theater, How to Melt Ice by Amalia Oliva Rojas for Boundless Theater Company; and New Perspectives directed by Elena Araoz. Television/Film: Assistant Art Director for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 3 & 4, Ghost (Power Book 2), Art Director for Falling Water (pilot), The Outcasts (film), and Production Designer for 2009 film Cruzando.
ANGELINA M. HERIN (Costume Designer) is a costume and wig designer from the Pacific Northwest. With a captivating blend of whimsy and pragmatism, Angelina excels in plays exploring diverse perspectives and timeless stories. Her work has been seen nationally at venues including Creede Repertory Theatre, Seattle Opera, Montana Repertory Theatre, Theater at Monmouth, Texas Shakespeare Festival, and The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio. Angelina has also designed for the CWRU/CPH MFA program since 2014; previous CWRU/CPH credits include: Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Clybourne Park, and The Three Sisters. Since 2011, she’s been the Resident Costume Designer and Associate Professor of Theatre at Case Western Reserve University. As an educator, Angelina has received numerous nominations for her teaching and was awarded Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year in 2011. Website: www.angelinaherin.com.
ALBERTO SEGARRA (Lighting Designer) (he/him) is a Washington DC based lighting designer: Previous CPH credit: The Three Musketeers. Recent DC credits: Romeo & Juliet at Folger Theatre, The Hatmaker’s Wife and Two Jews Walk into a War at Theater J; The Nance at 1st Stage; The Honey Trap (Helen Hayes Award) at Solas Nua; Lend Me a Soprano and The Joy That Carries You (Helen Hayes nomination) at Olney Theatre Center; Passing Strange at Signature Theatre; Blood at the Root (Helen Hayes Award) at Theater Alliance; Look Both Way (Helen Hayes nomination) at The Kennedy Center; Sweat at Keegan; and A Year of Frog and Toad at Imagination Stage. Recent regional credits: Camelot: The Musical at Village Theatre; Jane Eyre at Alley Theatre; The Great Leap at Hangar Theatre Company/Portland Stage; Upcoming: Business Ideas at Alliance Theatre, Constellation at Constellation Theatre Company. MFA in Lighting Design from UMD-College Park albertosegarra.com.
DEREK A. GRAHAM (Sound Designer (he/him) is a sound designer, audio engineer, and composer based in Raleigh, NC. Recent CPH credits include Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (Composer); Recent regional designs include TYT 5 (Sacred Fools Theater Company); Fat Ham; They Do Not Know Harlem (PlayMakers Repertory Company); What We Look Like; Kill Move Paradise; Skeleton Crew; Wakey, Wakey; An Octaroon (Dobama Theatre); I Shall Not Be Moved/Your Negro Tour Guide (Ensemble Theatre Cincinatti). Recent regional compositions: Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Asolo Repertory Theatre); In Every Generation (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley); The Chinese Lady (Artists Repertory Theatre); Redwood (World Premiere, Portland Center Stage at the Armory. He holds an MFA in Sound Design from Ohio University and a BA in Music with an emphasis in Sound Recording Technology from Elizabeth City State University
CALLIERI JENSEN DAVIS (Casting Directors: James Calleri, Erica Jensen, Paul Davis) is a creative casting partnership of over 20 years located in NYC. They are thrilled to be working with CPH. Awarded 16 Artios Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Casting. Broadway credits include Topdog/ Underdog, The Piano Lesson, For Colored Girls..., Thoughts of a Colored Man, Burn This, Fool for Love, Venus in Fur, Hedwig & The Angry Inch, The Elephant Man (also West End), Of Mice and Men, Hughie, The Visit, 33 Variations, A Raisin in the Sun, Living on Love, Chicago, James Joyce's The Dead. TV credits include Love Life (HBO Max) Queens (ABC), Dickinson (Apple +), The Path (Hulu), Lipstick Jungle, Army Wives, Monk, Hope & Faith, and Ed. www.callerijensendavis.com
MICHAEL GLAVAN (Production Dramaturg) (he/him) is a freelance actor, director, dramaturg, teacher, and producer around NE Ohio. He is excited to be returning to this play after having produced it as Artistic Production Manager at the Depot Theatre in New York in 2023. Michael has had the good fortune to get work on and offstage with other terrific NE Ohio arts organizations such as Seat of the Pants, Dobama, Porthouse, Blank Canvas, Rubber City, Canton Players Guild, and Near West Theatre. Michael is proud to be an ensemble member of Seat of the Pants (seatofthepants.org), an ensemble-based and process-driven theatre company. He celebrates with love and gratitude his family and friends, teachers and instructors, and you for supporting and participating in live theatre. IG:@mglavan425
PAMELA SALLING* (Stage Manager) (she/her) is thrilled to be back at Cleveland Play House where previous credits include Becoming Dr. Ruth and New Ground Theatre Festival. Working in theater, opera, music, and dance, select credits include the Wayne Shorter & esperanza spaulding opera …(Iphigenia) (Kennedy Center, MASS MoCA, ArtsEmerson, Cal Performances, BroadStage); Hamlet and Love’s Labor’s Lost (The Old Globe); How to Be a Rock Critic (ArtsEmerson); Petrol Station (Kennedy Center); The Apple Family Plays: Scenes from Life in the Country, Othello, Into the Woods, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Knickerbocker, and Neighbors (The Public Theater); tears become…streams become… and De Materie (Park Avenue Armory); Blood Knot (Signature Theatre Company); A Family for All Occasions, Thinner Than Water, and Massacre (Sing to Your Children) (Labyrinth Theater Company); and extensive work with director Peter Sellars.
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
MICHAEL BARAKIVA (Artistic Director) is an Armenian-Israeli American director and writer who has staged new plays, revivals, and classics in New York City and around the country. Michael was appointed Artistic Director of Cleveland Play House in December 2023, where he served as director of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as well as co-director of CPH’s world premiere production of Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure. Barakiva’s work has been seen at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Primary Stages, Syracuse Stage, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and the Hangar Theatre, where he served as Artistic Director. He founded The Upstart Creatures, a theatre company that creates community through performance and food, as well as the Leadership Initiative Project, which equips historically excluded artists with the tools to succeed in leadership positions. Barakiva has received three Drama League directing fellowships, the Phil Killian Directing Fellowship (OSF), the David Merrick Prize in Drama, and was a Granada Artist-in-Residence at UC Davis. He led a week-long workshop on musical theatre at the International Puppet Theater in Sofia, Bulgaria, and was a presenter at the International University Theatre Festival at UNAM in Mexico City. He served as producer of Summer Camp 6 (Soho Rep) and as the Readings and Workshops Coordinator at New York Stage and Film, as well as a Primary Coach on Season 2 of MTV’s Made. As a writer, Barakiva is the recipient of a Red Bull Commission for his adaptation of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, an EST/Sloan Project Commission, and a co-author of String Theory (Connotation Press). His young adult novels have been named to the Rainbow List, Equality Family Council Reading List, The Barnes and Noble’s Perfect Valentine’s Day YA Novels list, spending over a year as Goodreads #1 LGBTQ YA Novel. Education: Vassar College, The Juilliard School.
RACHEL L. FINK (Managing Director) is thrilled to return home to Northeast Ohio as CPH’s Managing Director. Her childhood was filled with fundamental and rich Cleveland arts experiences — and it was at Heights High (Go Tigers!) that Fink’s passion for arts access, social justice, and inclusive, equitable practices was ignited. She carried those values with her as she enrolled at Case Western Reserve University, where an astute professor introduced her to the field of arts administration, and she hasn’t turned back since. The experience at CWRU led to an internship at Cleveland Play House, followed by earning an MFA in theater management at the Yale School of Drama (now the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale). After graduate school, Fink ventured west to Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California, where she founded and grew the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre into a nationally-recognized learning hub which centered theatre as an essential education and engagement tool for all ages. After 16 years at the Rep, she was ready to move on, and became the Managing Director of Theatre Bay Area, providing direct service and support to more than 300 theatres and 2,000 artists across the San Francisco Bay Area. Most recently, Fink served as the executive director of the Tony Award-winning Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois. Producing highlights include Plantation! by Kevin Douglas and directed by David Schwimmer; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, written and directed by David Catlin; Her Honor Jane Byrne, written and directed by J. Nicole Brooks (holiday radio broadcast in partnership with local NPR affiliate, WBEZ); Steadfast Tin Soldier, written and directed by Mary Zimmerman; and Lookingglass Alice, written and directed by David Catlin. Fink has held professional distinctions including co-leading the Professional Association of Chicago Theatres; and serving as a Fellow at the Civic Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago/Harris School of Public Policy; as the US delegate for the British Council’s Cultural Leadership International Programme; as a member of the American Express/Aspen Institute Fellowship for Emerging Nonprofit Leaders inaugural class; and as a 2016 artEquity facilitator cohort member.
ABOUT CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE
CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE, founded in 1915 and recipient of the 2015 Regional Theatre Tony Award, is America's first professional regional theatre. Throughout its rich history, CPH has remained dedicated to its mission to inspire, stimulate, and entertain diverse audiences across Northeast Ohio by producing plays and theatre education programs of the highest professional standards. CPH has produced more than 100 world and/or American premieres, and over its long history more than 12 million people have attended over 1,600 productions. Today, Cleveland Play House celebrates the beginning of its second century of service while performing in three state-of-the art venues at Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland. Cleveland Play House is made possible in part by state tax dollars allocated by the Ohio Legislature to the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. Cleveland Play House is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. To learn more, visit:www.clevelandplayhouse.com.
###
