Heidi Schreck Discusses Her Next Project, Favorite Audience Member and More!

Heidi Schreck is getting ready to wrap up her run in her Tony-nominated play, What the Constitution Means to Me, which concludes performances on August 24. The play received two Tony nominations, both for Schreck as a playwright and as an actress. The Obie-winning actress sat down with amNewYork to discuss her whirlwind year and what is next for her.

On the success of the show, which has been playing to packed houses, Schreck said "It's surreal and also very moving to me. I have been working in the theater for 25 years and this is by far the most emotionally raw and personal show I have ever created. To have audiences embrace my stories with such openheartedness has been a gift."

When asked which public figure's attendance at her show has meant the most, she exclaimed "Ruth Bader Ginsburg!"

She mentioned her new projects after this play, saying "I am working on a top-secret new play and several television projects, including a series based on a memoir called "Priestdaddy" by the brilliant poet Patricia Lockwood."

What the Constitution Means to Me will run through August 24, before heading to Washington D.C. with the original cast and then embarking on a national tour with a brand new cast.

Heidi Schreck's timely and galvanizing play, directed by Oliver Butler, became a sensation off-Broadway last fall before transferring to Broadway this spring and receiving two Tony Award nominations (Best Play, Best Actress in Leading Role in a Play), two Drama Desk Award nominations (Outstanding Play, Outstanding Actress in a Play), two Drama League Award nominations (Outstanding Production of a Play, Distinguished Performance), an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination (Outstanding New Broadway Play) and a Lucille Lortel Award nomination (Outstanding Play). It was recently named a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama.

Fifteen-year-old Heidi Schreck earned her college tuition money by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States. In her boundary-breaking new play, the Obie Award winner resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between four generations of women in her own family and the founding document that dictated their rights and citizenship. This hilarious, hopeful and "achingly human" (Exeunt Magazine) exploration breathes new life into our Constitution and imagines how it will shape the next generation of American women.

Written and performed by two-time Obie Award winner Heidi Schreck (Grand Concourse, "I Love Dick") and directed by Obie Award winner Oliver Butler (The Amateurs, The Light Years), What the Constitution Means to Me features Schreck, Mike Iveson (Gatz, The Sound and the Fury) and New York City high school students Rosdely Ciprian and Thursday Williams, all in their Broadway debuts. Ben Beckley (Small Mouth Sounds First National Tour) understudies Iveson.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos