Professors collaborate on play at TimeLine Theatre about women’s vulnerability, resilience and power

When she was 15-years-old, Heidi Schreck competed for scholarships in Constitution speech contests hosted by the American Legion. Years later, as the mother of twin daughters, Schreck returned to the Constitution seeking answers to explain the history of domestic violence in her Pacific Northwest hometown.

The resulting play, “What the Constitution Means to Me,” written and performed by Schreck, premiered in New York in 2018 before transferring to Broadway for five months and subsequently touring nationally. The play earned two Tony Award nominations and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. When the pandemic prematurely ended the tour, the play was filmed and broadcast on Amazon Prime.

The play is receiving its first Chicago staging at TimeLine Theatre Company. Lending their expertise to the production are Weinberg College faculty Kate Masur, a specialist in 19th-century U.S. history, and Joanna Grisinger, a legal studies specialist who regularly teaches two courses on constitutional law.

Northwestern alumni contributing to the production include Raymond Fox (’89) in the role of the Legionnaire, and Emily Marso (’12) as the play’s associate director.

Northwestern Now caught up with Masur and Grisinger about their “night job” as associate dramaturgs to ask why the play resonates and why they chose to bring history to the stage.

Continue reading this story and the interview with the professors in Northwestern Now’s story “History on stage, and the Constitution plays the lead.”