When I was in high school, I participated in something the Buffalo Public Schools called The Girl’s Declamation Contest, and I was also an alternate on our school’s debate team. In brief, I had a loud voice and liked to argue. Consequently I have a soft spot for these rite of passage activities which as the basis for What The Constitution Means to Me, onstage now at D’Youville Kavinoky Theatre.

Full disclosure: I’m struggling with this one. Lindsay Brandon Hunter portrays the playwright Heidi Schreck and her opening chat with the audience sets up the story. When Heidi was in high school, she was a regular on the speaking contest circuit to earn college tuition money. This forced her to learn more about the US Constitution than is usually taught in your standard classrooms and also invited her to reflect on the travails of her maternal ancestry, albeit through a teenager’s lens. These women weren’t always treated well by their spouses or the country they called home, and this –  the playwright opines – is connected to Amendments nine and  14. She also shared moments from her teen life that weren’t about her speaking contests and constitutional study yet had a profound impact on how she would perceive and experience equity and justice. In a more typically teenaged vein, she talks about what it was like to chase tuition money this way, her relationship with her mom, and her ongoing rivalry with another speaker. Then she morphs into her grown up playwright and reflects back on this experience, and then Hunter is the actor, reflecting on the playwright’s story.

And this is where I started scratching my head. Hunter was in the role of the playwright and then she herself. Was she scaling the fourth wall, speaking to the audience as the playwright or as an actor portraying the playwright? There’s more: her usual audience for her high school-era speech, she says, were white men, veterans, there to support the next generation patriots. At one point, Kodi James joins her onstage as one of these portly good ol’ guys. As Hunter slipped out of her playwright persona,  James becomes another character and they are joined on stage by a current high school student (Amara Gomez) playing herself as a current student/ and present day contestant. So which side of the fourth wall are we on?

This trio also performced a contemporary debate-style where they argue the validity and relevance of the Constitution in rapid-fire exchanges that resembled a spoken-word open mic or poetry rave.

The audience is drawn in as part of the show from the very beginning. The house lights don’t dim for several minutes and are brought back up near the end of the show. The audience is encouraged to yay and boo during the contemporary debate and an audience member is plucked from the front row to help declare the faux winner.

The construct here is interesting and the subject matter is certainly something that has been and will always be examined and argued, but as an audience member, the shifting about felt incomplete and sometimes hard to follow. You know, sort of like the US Constitution and its interpretations over time.

Donnie Woodard’s set puts us right where Schreck needs us to be: inside those slightly smoking (“please only smoke between speeches,” intones James as the Vet) American Legion post meeting rooms. Robyn Lee Horn’s direction keeps the action fast-paced. Geoffrey Tocin drops in some audio quotes from familiar Supreme Court Justices which would have been more impactful if some video showed their faces, too.

It was a curious start for D’Youville Kavinoky’s season. It was great to see some fresh faces on a familiar stage: Gomez is a high school student and James is in the university’s MFA program. Even though we’re on a college campus, it felt strangely out of place on this stage, and it hearkened back to the old days of the Alt or Subversive or a black box college stage. The actors themselves did a fine job in their respective roles and deserve every moment of applause for sure. Also on the plus side, it did make me think about the US Constitution again (the pocket version the cast distributed is handy) and yes, no one can say that it isn’t flawed and open to all levels of interpretation, especially now, and especially amendments nine and 14. 

This is Katie Malinson’s first production in her new role as Executive Artistic Director. She opened the show with some exciting news that the university’s MFA program will produce two shows on this stage later this season. I’m looking forward to these additions to the theatre line up.

What The Constitution Means to Me runs 90-ish minutes with no intermissions, and is onstage to September 24. Find info and tickets at. https://www.kavinokytheatre.com.