Kitchen Theatre And Hangar Theatre Pair Up For A Fantastic Debate WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME

Kitchen Theatre Company's 2022-2023 Season will finish with the same show that will kick off the 2023 Hangar Theatre's 2023 Summer Mainstage Series.

As their seasons merge, the two theatre companies are joining together in a historic collaboration to bring you a fantastic co-production of Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me, starring remarkable Ithaca-based actor Erica Steinhagen as Heidi and Kitchen Theatre Interim Artistic Director and Ithaca Favorite actor, Karl Gregory, as "The Legionnaire."

High School actors Maren Friedman and Phoebe Schlather, and Ithaca College student, AnnaJo Lubasi, will share the role of "student debater." This grand finale of the Kitchen Season started as a boundary stretching off-off-Broadway production, and ended up as an award-winning play on Broadway in 2019. Similarly, Ithacans will get to see What the Constitution Means to Me at the Kitchen Theatre (May 30 - June 11) before moving to the Hangar Theatre (June 15 - June 24).

Why share a show? Practically speaking, it makes perfect sense. Arts organizations all over the country are having to close their doors due to post-Covid financial struggles and low attendance rates. This spring, Ithaca's Kitchen Theatre and the Hangar Theatre decided to join forces, maximizing talents and resources, to create an extraordinary co-production that audiences will want to come back to see over and over again. According to Kitchen Theatre's Karl Gregory, "I am thrilled that the two theaters are working together. Ithaca actors, designers, and directors have long worked in both theaters, but this is the first ever co-production. It will be exciting to see how the play is the same and different in the two beautiful theaters." The Hangar Theatre's Producing Artistic Director, Shirley Serotsky agrees: "This is a perfect show to see twice. It's a unique experience that can shift from performance to performance, with audience involvement and several elements that can change nightly, including the ending! This will be a great opportunity to see how the Constitution fares when new questions are asked." Serotsky will direct the co-production at both locations, offering a variety of experiences (and endings!) for each performance that audiences will not want to miss.

Each theatre will offer a unique rendition of Schreck's story of a fifteen-year-old Heidi (Steinhagen) who paid her way through college by debating the merits of the U.S. Constitution across the Midwest. Now, as an adult, Heidi reexamines her teenage convictions, tracing that pivotal document's profound effect on four generations of women in her family in a witty and stunningly relevant piece of theatre. This HILARIOUS, DYNAMIC, and UPLIFTING award-winning show was nominated for two Tony Awards and named a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. "This is not a lecture," says Serotsky. "Schreck's delightful, surprising play is a brilliant exploration of the 'who, what, when, how, and why' of the bedrock of our democracy and where the fissures can be found." ļ»æSee it first at the Kitchen, then experience a whole new perspective (and possibly ending) at the Hangar Theatre.

For those who subscribe to both theaters, you have a choice of 1) seeing the play in both places or 2) getting an additional ticket(s) to another Hangar Show. Whatever you decide, there is no debate about it, the Kitchen and Hangar Theatre co-production of What the Constitution Means to Me is a collaboration not to be missed.

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