{"id":4583,"date":"2025-10-14T20:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T20:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/4583\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T20:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T20:39:09","slug":"what-the-constitution-means-to-me-scores-its-points-in-anaheim-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/4583\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018What the Constitution Means to Me\u2019 scores its points in Anaheim \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the absorbing and timely \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me,\u201d which opened last weekend at Chance Theater, the main character says halfway along \u201cThere are no tangents in this show.\u201d<\/p>\n

That would seem an unlikely pronouncement since the line immediately follows a tearful lament about the fate of a sock puppet monkey named George the Second\u2019s Friend and leads into dry, recorded audio of a Supreme Court justice considering a constitutional amendment and wondering whether the word \u201cshall\u201d actually means \u201cshall.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in her Pulitzer Prize-nominated 2017 work, playwright Heidi Schreck\u2019s imaginative weave of constitutional debate with personal and familial reminiscence adroitly steers a clear, focused questioning and indictment of America\u2019s historical lack of a legal framework for providing women protection and minimal recourse from violent mistreatment by men.<\/p>\n

A satisfying non-tangent: all this emerges in a manner that\u2019s neither dry nor grim.<\/p>\n

Schreck originally performed the autobiographical main role herself. At Chance the role is superbly delivered by a stellar acting resource of the theater\u2019s recent seasons, Aubrey Saverino.<\/p>\n

\"Aubrey<\/p>\n

Aubrey Saverino and Robert Foran star in \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me,\u201d playing at Chance Theater through Oct. 26. (Photo by Doug Catiller)\n<\/p>\n

\"Aubrey<\/p>\n

Aubrey Saverino in \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me\u201d at Chance Theater. (Photo by Doug Catiller)\n<\/p>\n

\"Aubrey<\/p>\n

Aubrey Saverino and Robert Foran star in \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me\u201d at Chance Theater. (Photo by Doug Catiller)\n<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Foran and Aubrey Saverino appear in \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me,\u201d playing at Chance Theater through Oct. 26. (Photo by Doug Catiller)\n<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Foran stars in \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me\u201d at Chance Theater. (Photo by Doug Catiller)\n<\/p>\n

\"Aubrey<\/p>\n

Aubrey Saverino stars in \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me,\u201d playing at Chance Theater in Anaheim through Oct. 26. (Photo by Doug Catiller)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

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Aubrey Saverino and Robert Foran star in \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me,\u201d playing at Chance Theater through Oct. 26. (Photo by Doug Catiller)\n<\/p>\n

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Memorably in 2023 Saverino fully occupied the one-woman play \u201cMatinicus: The Story of Abigail Burgess.\u201d<\/p>\n

That confident tight-wire act, with its time shifts and various mini-characterizations, was a useful precedence for her here as the predominant presence in this three-performer, intermissionless piece.<\/p>\n

Sporting an animated smile, and an appropriately tri-colored bright red blazer, white top and blue jeans, Saverino introduces herself \u2014 \u201cHi, I\u2019m Heidi!\u201d \u2014 as an overeager 15-year-old raising college money by endeavoring to win debates at American Legion halls.<\/p>\n

In this guise, Saverino is breathless with excitement. From describing the Constitution as a \u201cliving, warm-blooded, steamy document\u201d to personal asides \u2014 Patrick Swayze and \u201cDirty Dancing\u201d are a recurring preoccupation \u2014 the actress ends declarative sentences with little wheezy gulps of air, excitedly barreling ahead to her next point.<\/p>\n

A strength of the show is the nontheatrical, matter-of-fact manner in which the Heidi character often breaks the fourth wall.<\/p>\n

This funds Saverino the naturalistic tonal shifts into her character\u2019s feminist, middle-aged adult self, summoning memories and deductions about the lives of her grandmother and mother.<\/p>\n

These are more forcefully delivered and notably punctuated at one point with a 15-second wrenching wail \u2014 \u201cinherited trauma\u201d as the character describes it.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take much guesswork to sense that Saverino\u00a0 and director Katie Chidester have worked the timings and pauses in the dialogue into a compelling strength.<\/p>\n

The other character on stage throughout is simply titled \u201cLegionnaire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Foran appears in a scene from \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me\u201d at Chance Theater. (Photo by Doug Catiller)<\/p>\n

In that role actor Robert Foran both runs and moderates the debates. He also delivers an open, heartfelt monologue from his character\u2019s life about coming to terms with being a \u201csoft,\u201d bullied youth and how he welled up confidence without toxic behavior.<\/p>\n

Chance\u2019s production is deceivingly straightforward and staid.<\/p>\n

American and American Legion flags on stands are at the back of stage while drab, last-century brown paneled walls flank the sides, bearing the weight of three rows of black and white photos of stern-faced, unforgiving legionnaires.<\/p>\n

Mostly, it\u2019s a straightforward rendering, with light director Kara Ramlow\u2019s occasional lighting cues providing subtle shadings to amplify the spoken words.<\/p>\n

The show ends with an added swerve of perspective.<\/p>\n

As a postscript, \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me\u201d ends with a 20-minute debate about whether the Constitution should be abolished.<\/p>\n

Saverino, now identifying as herself, introduces a whip-sharp Orange County High School of the Arts teen named Reya Shah (Shah rotates performances with another teen named Maria Wang).<\/p>\n

\"ReyaReya Shah and Aubrey Saverino appear in a scene from \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me\u201d at Chance Theater. (Photo by Doug Catiller)<\/p>\n

After Foran tossed a coin, Shah chose to argue for keeping the Constitution, Saverino for dispensing it. The audience was encouraged to hoot and holler as points were scored through the back-and-forth arguments.<\/p>\n

Following the spirited exchange, a random audience member (guaranteed not a plant \u2026 at my performance it turned out to be someone I once worked with, no idea this wise a jurist was in the house) is chosen to represent the audience and in this case the Constitution continuing to stand was the winner.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, it is the audience experiencing this compelling piece of personalized political theater who depart as winners.<\/p>\n

\u2018What the Constitution Means to Me\u2019<\/p>\n

Rating: 3 1\/2 (of four) stars<\/p>\n

When: Through Oct. 26. 8 p.m. Fridays, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays.<\/p>\n

Where: Chance Theater, Cripe Stage, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim<\/p>\n

Tickets: $12-$48<\/p>\n

Information: 888-455-4212; chancetheater.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the absorbing and timely \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me,\u201d which opened last weekend at Chance Theater,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,5311,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-4583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news","11":"tag-theater-arts","12":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}