When audiences step into the Archbold Theater this fall, some may be greeted with a familiar sight: A linoleum floor; folding chairs; fluorescent lights; a vintage American flag; a bingo board on the wall; a giant eagle with an emblazoned seal.
It’s the set for Syracuse Stage’s 50th Anniversary season opener, “What the Constitution Means to Me,” and with all its quirks and hidden details (more on that later) it is meant to look like the inside of an American Legion Hall, a place known to countless veterans of wars past and present, young and old.
It’s also the place where the playwright, Heidi Schreck, spent many hours as a high school student from Wenatchee, Washington, delivering speeches about the U.S. Constitution in competitions for college scholarship money. Those orations, and the now-grown Schreck’s relationship to her 15-year-old self, form the thrust of this autobiographical play, which premiered off-Broadway in 2017, and would go on to be nominated for two Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
For Syracuse Stage associate artistic director Melissa Crespo (who is directing this production), and set designer Ann Beyersdorfer (a Syracuse University alumna based in New York City, whose design credits include the recent Broadway revival of “Company,” and art direction on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”), “What the Constitution Means to Me” is an opportunity to interrogate our nation’s founding document, and, perhaps more importantly, an invitation for audience and artist to collaborate on a vision for the future. After all, what is a theatre (or a democracy, for that matter) if not a meeting space, and a testing ground for ideas?
To prepare for “Constitution,” Beyersdorfer and Crespo combed through images of American Legion interiors and were first struck by their welcoming vibe.
“We noticed that most of the American Legion halls looked like inviting communal spaces,” Beyersdorfer said. “A lot of them were similar to community centers, and had that aesthetic to them, rather than something that felt more legislative or institutional. And we really wanted to bring that in, this environment that welcomed people, and different events.”
It’s that sense of community that Crespo hoped to tap into, while maintaining the bite of Schreck’s messaging. Throughout the play, the character of Heidi, portrayed in this Syracuse Stage production by Mel House, must contend with a Constitution that does not afford the same protections to women and people of color that are granted, implicitly, to men who look like the Founding Fathers. By revisiting the Legion Hall speeches from her youth, Schreck is able to investigate how this reality affected her life, and the lives of the women who raised her.
For Crespo and her artistic team, centering those ideas within a world that Central New Yorkers could relate to was essential, and audience members who look closely at Beyersdorfer’s set might also be met with some familiar faces. On the walls, staring down at Heidi as she wrestles with her past and present, are dozens of photos of veterans, proud in their uniforms, bearing silent witness alongside the audience. These include pictures of actual veterans – both men, and women – from around Central New York, a reminder of the role they’ve played in preserving our local democracy.
“We wanted to honor the service members related to the Syracuse area either directly or through a relative who lives here,” Crespo said. “It’s rare to see yourself represented in such a meaningful way at the theatre, so it’s been a real joy to collect the photos and see folks respond to their relatives on our set.”
And this easter egg hits even closer to home for some folks who work at Syracuse Stage: Amongst those selected for the production by prop supervisor Mara Tunnicliff are pictures that were submitted by staff and board members; over 30 photos of themselves, their parents, their partners, or their children adorn the set.
These touches, along with other details – Christmas lights strung up, paper links left over from a celebration, the bingo board – act as a reminder that American Legions do not serve a single purpose, that they, just like the document so under scrutiny (and the theatre itself) are flexible, and ever-changing. For Beyersdorfer, that flexibility has come to represent the work that she, Crespo, and the rest of the team have brought to life onstage.
“The first time I read the play, I had one idea, one perspective,” she said. “The second time I read it, my ideas and opinions were changing. When I listened to the first rehearsal, I had a different opinion, again. That’s what we’re trying to convey as storytellers and collaborators: to encourage our audiences to come and watch, and engage in conversation.”
Crespo echoed that sentiment, adding: “This play is so important to us as Americans, especially with how divided we are. And theaters, I consider them community spaces. They are civic spaces.”
Details:
What: “What the Constitution Means to Me”
When: Runs Friday, Sept. 15 through Sunday, Oct. 1
Where: Syracuse Stage, 820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse
Tickets/info: Visit syracusestage.org