What the Constitution Means to Me

C+

This work by Heidi Schreck (Grand Concourse, "Nurse Jackie") now in previews at New York Theatre Workshop is hard to categorize. It combines memoir, civics lesson, polemic, debate and Q&A into a piece that is both engaging and frustratingly disjointed. As a teenager, Ms. Schreck earned money for college by entering American Legion contests that involved delivering an essay on one’s personal experience of the constitution combined with an extemporaneous explication of one it its amendments. The early section of the play recreates one such presentation. The contest is interrupted by personal observations that include the history of domestic abuse over several generations in her family and her own experience of the importance of Roe v. Wade. At one point, Mike Iveson (The Sound & the Fury, Gatz), the actor who has been portraying the American Legion official conducting the contest, breaks the fourth wall with some information about his own life. Next we get a debate on whether to abolish the constitution, for which Ms. Schreck’s opponent is Thursday Williams, a 17-year-old high school senior from Queens. (Ms. Williams alternates performances with Rosdely Ciprain, who is just entering high school.) The audience is invited to react enthusiastically to the debaters and one audience member is selected to be the judge. The ushers distribute pocket editions of the constitution. (It’s the second one I’ve received at a theater this summer; they were also handed out at “The Originalist.”) Finally, under dim lighting, Ms. Schreck and Ms. Williams ask each other three questions allegedly submitted by the previous audience. The questions were not very interesting, which made for a very flat ending. Fortunately, Ms. Schreck is a very appealing performer, which made the event more enjoyable than my summary might suggest. Much of it is quite entertaining, as well as educational. Nevertheless, it does ramble rather aimlessly. Its inner logic escaped me. Considering that it has been presented in various incarnations for a decade, I was surprised how unpolished it seemed. Rachel Hauck (Hadestown, Grand Concourse) has recreated an American Legion social hall, complete with wood paneling and about 200 portraits of Legion bigwigs. Michael Kress’s (Hadestown, Noises Off) costumes seemed apt. The house was barely half-full. Director Oliver Butler (The Amateurs, The Open House) has his work cut out for him bringing order to this rather chaotic event before opening night. Running time: 90 minutes; no intermission.

Fondly, Collette Richland *

The first thing you should know about this collaboration between Elevator Repair Service  (Gatz, The Select, Arguendo and The Sound and the Fury) and playwright Sibyl Kempson is that at least one-fourth of the audience did not return after intermission. If coherence and intelligibility are among your requirements for a theatrical experience, this new play at New York Theatre Workshop is definitely not for you. It has plenty of interesting characters, a clever set by David Zinn, Inspired costumes by Jacob A. Climer and Zinn and an intricate sound design by Ben Williams, assisted by Gavin Price. Unfortunately these strong points are overwhelmed by the lack of a discernible narrative arc and an unfortunate tendency to pile on the surreal and the ridiculous beyond what the play can bear. The plot, to the extent that one exists, involves a middle age couple Fritz (Vin Knight) and Mabrel (Laurena Allan) FItzhubert whose supper is interrupted by the arrival of Local Representative Wheatsun (Greig Sergeant). They show him a tiny door within the house that eventually leads them to a Grand Hotel in the Alps populated by a motley array of guests and staff. Once there, things grow increasingly incomprehensible. Nativism and ancient Rome are somehow involved. The terrific cast seem to be having a wonderful time. Notable are Mike Iveson as a priest who narrates the first part of the play while playing the piano and later plays a hotel waiter, April Matthis as the title character (a radio show host) and Fritz’s sister Dora, and Susie Sokol as a Cat Butler (really!) and the hotel’s milkmaid. I will confess that I had several chuckles along the way, but became restless during the second act when the fun became increasingly labored. ERS founder John Collins directed. Perhaps ERS should rethink the idea of working with playwrights. They did far better when they started with an existing text. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes including intermission.

Arguendo **

(Please click on the title to see the complete review.)

Elevator Repair Service, the innovative group that brought theatrical versions of The Great Gatsby (Gatz) and The Sun Also Rises (The Select) to the Public Theater, has headed off in a new direction with Arguendo. The underlying text this time is not a work of fiction, but the transcript of oral arguments from a 1991 Supreme Court case dealing with go-go dancers in Indiana. The issue under consideration is whether requiring them to wear pasties and G-strings violates their First Amendment rights. The talented cast of five (Maggie Hoffman, Mike Iveson, Vin Knight, Susie Sokol and Ben Williams) portray all nine justices, the opposing attorneys, a clerk, several reporters and an exotic dancer. The proceedings begin conventionally enough. Actors move their chairs and change their voices as they portray different justices. At a certain point they roll down ramps from their elevated platform and move around the stage to confront each attorney. The backdrop is an animated projection of legal texts that behave as it they have a life of their own, at times wildly spinning at dizzying speeds. As the case progresses, the action grows ever more surrealistic, even as the actors stick to the transcript. There’s nudity, but I guarantee that you will not find it arousing. The activity becomes so frenetic that the decision itself almost gets lost in the shuffle. There is an odd final section with Justices Ginsburg and Rehnquist comparing notes on their sartorial choices. I compliment the group for the originality of their concept. It’s clever and sometimes amusing, but, to me at least, ultimately pointless. The audience greeted it with great enthusiasm. John Collins directed. Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission.