美国国家公共电台 NPR Staging A Debate Over 'What The Constitution Means To Me'

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

When Heidi Schreck was a teenager, she went to American Legion halls across the Pacific Northwest and participated in constitutional debates to win tuition money for college. Now in her 40s, Heidi Schreck has created a new theater piece, "What The Constitution Means To Me," that officially opens on Broadway tomorrow night. Jeff Lunden reports it's kind of a personal memoir/civics town hall, and it's also funny.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE²: In "What The Constitution Means To Me," Heidi Schreck recreates her high-school debate contests.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME")

MIKE IVESON: (As character) Clause Three - nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Your time begins now.

HEIDI SCHRECK: (As character) Clause Three is the most miraculous³ in our entire Constitution, the due process clause. We stole it from the Magna Carta. It ensures that the government cannot lock you up, take your stuff or kill you without a good reason.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHRECK: I thought it would be fun to go back and make a piece about that contest and also, in doing that, just trace how much my understanding of our country has changed in the last 30 years and my understanding of myself and also my understanding of the lives of four generations of women in my family and how their existence had been shaped by this document, circumscribed⁴ by this document and, in some ways, harmed by this document.

LUNDEN: In particular, her mother.

SCHRECK: This play is like a love letter to my mom that took me a very long time to write.

LUNDEN: Her mother and grandmother both suffered abuse. And her mother testified against her stepfather.

SCHRECK: I remember she wrote a letter to the editor when I was in high school supporting a girl who would come out to accuse a teacher of sexually abusing her. And this is in the '80s. She wrote a letter, talked about her own abuse. And I just - you know, 30 years later, I now fully⁵ apprehend⁶ the incredible bravery it took for her to testify against a sexual abuser at age 14.

LUNDEN: Schreck reveals her family's painful history of abuse through the prism of the Constitution. New York Magazine's theater critic Sara Holdren saw the show off Broadway last fall on the evening after the Blasey Ford-Kavanaugh hearings, where the Supreme⁷ Court nominee⁸ faced allegations of sexual misconduct.

SARA HOLDREN: And it's rather terrifying because she goes back and kind of traces the ways in which dehumanization is written into the document and then, as time progresses, was, you know, maybe amended⁹ or maybe kind of stitched over or maybe brought forward.

LUNDEN: The amendments¹¹ are key, says playwright¹² and actress Heidi Schreck.

SCHRECK: A lot of the decisions that later happened in regard to women's bodies were located primarily in the 14th Amendment¹⁰ and the Ninth Amendment, which is my very favorite amendment, this little tiny magic amendment right there at the end of the Bill of Rights that says there are rights that we did not list in this document. You have those rights. We don't know what they are. We're not going to tell you, but they're there.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "WHAT THE CONSTITUTIONS MEAN TO ME")

SCHRECK: (As character) Justice Harry¹³ Blackmun used the Ninth Amendment to find the right to privacy in the 14th Amendment. And he argued that this gave a woman the right to decide what to do with her own body. Well, actually, he argued that a doctor and his patient have a right to privacy so that he can decide what to do with her body.

(LAUGHTER)

LUNDEN: The audience takes away different things from the play with each changing news cycle, says director Oliver Butler.

OLIVER BUTLER: When she talks about the 14th Amendment protecting you from the government, taking anything or anyone from you - before we became aware of the children being taken away from their parents at the border, that didn't hit in the same way.

LUNDEN: As Heidi Schreck developed the piece, she was surprised at how the things she'd written hit her when she performed it in workshops.

SCHRECK: I found that when I spoke¹⁴ it out loud in public that I was overwhelmed by terror and grief. So I thought I would really like not to be alone up here. Who could be up here with me?

LUNDEN: So she decided¹⁵ to include the proctor of the contest, played by Mike Iveson, and to create an actual debate with an actual teenager.

THURSDAY WILLIAMS: My name is Thursday Williams. I am 17 years old. I go to school at William Cullen Bryant High School in Queens.

LUNDEN: Thursday Williams hopes one day to serve in Congress. In a partially¹⁶ improvised¹⁷ debate at the end of the show, she makes the case for preserving the Constitution.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME")

WILLIAMS: (As character) The Constitution is the key to our liberation. We have all the oldest active constitution in the world. My opponent wants us to think this is a bad thing. But the reason it has lasted so long is because it gives we the people the tools we need to free ourselves from tyranny.

LUNDEN: It's heady stuff, says Williams, who alternates performances with another young debater.

WILLIAMS: In the part of the play, the role that I got is defending this document that once didn't protect me. But I think it's a matter of how we move forward and how I'm now in this document and I'm now protected. And we're going to continue moving forward.

LUNDEN: Moving forward, Heidi Schreck says, after the Broadway run, she'd like to take the show on the road to states both blue and red in the hopes that it will spark civic¹ debate.

SCHRECK: It's designed to be that, to open up into an actual conversation and to make space for us all to be in a room together and think about the future of our country and what we want our lives to look like and what's important right now and to actually talk to each other.

LUNDEN: For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

1 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

4 circumscribed   

adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定

参考例句：

• The power of the monarchy was circumscribed by the new law. 君主统治的权力受到了新法律的制约。
• His activities have been severely circumscribed since his illness. 自生病以来他的行动一直受到严格的限制。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 apprehend   

vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑

参考例句：

• I apprehend no worsening of the situation.我不担心局势会恶化。
• Police have not apprehended her killer.警察还未抓获谋杀她的凶手。

7 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

8 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

9 Amended   

adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He asked to see the amended version. 他要求看修订本。
• He amended his speech by making some additions and deletions. 他对讲稿作了些增删修改。

10 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

11 amendments   

（法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案

参考例句：

• The committee does not adequately consult others when drafting amendments. 委员会在起草修正案时没有充分征求他人的意见。
• Please propose amendments and addenda to the first draft of the document. 请对这个文件的初稿提出修改和补充意见。

12 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

13 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

17 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。