Video: First Look at WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME at Cleveland Playhouse

Get a first look at What the Constitution Means to Me at Cleveland Play House. Performances run October 12th through November 3rd, 2024.

Playwright Heidi Schreck’s boundary-breaking, Obie Award-winning play breathes new life into the United States Constitution and imagines how it can shape the next generation of Americans. Fifteen-year-old Heidi competed for college scholarships by participating in Constitutional debate competitions across the country. In this hilarious, hopeful, and achingly human new play, Heidi recalls the profound relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that shaped their lives. A 2019 Tony Award nominee and 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalist.

About The Cast of What The Constituion Means To Me

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.

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

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.

Donald Carrier
(Legionnaire/Mike) 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/">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).

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