City Theatre and THE Adrienne
Arsht Center for the Performing
Arts of Miami-Dade County present
the Southeastern premiere of
December 1-18
Ziff Ballet Opera House
Carnival Studio Theater
SUSAN WESTFALL PLAYWRIGHTS STAGE
A NOTE FROM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MARGARET M. LEDFORD
Live theater has the unique ability to gather community members together for a shared experience, sparking important conversations. It is through these conversations that a new understanding, empathy and compassion for others can develop, maybe even for the person sitting right next to you. Whether or not your neighbors hold the same views or values as you, we can connect and laugh while doing it! City Theatre’s production of Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me invites you to share a dialogue about the document that governs each life in this shared space. I'd like to leave you with a reminder of the importance of digging deep and challenging our truths. In 1776, when Thomas Jefferson penned, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” he had over 150 people enslaved.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
City Theatre acknowledges the lands and waterways on which we create theater are ancestral, traditional and contemporary homelands of sovereign Native Nations. We offer our respect and gratitude to the Seminole, Miccosukee, Taino and Tequesta people as the original stewards of the land and appreciate the ongoing relationship Indigenous people maintain with the land to this day. It is important to recognize the violence, dispossession and removal that has scarred this land, as well as the resiliency and strength of Native Nations. This acknowledgment reflects our sincere commitment to recognizing the historical and ongoing legacy of colonialism and honoring Indigenous people everywhere. Learn more about Native lands and the local Nations that still exist today by visiting native-land.ca. To see how City Theatre is working toward creating social equity in our community, visit citytheatre.com.
CITY THEATRE'S partners
and sponsors
RUN TIME: 100 minutes. No intermission.
The taking of photographs or recording of any kind is strictly prohibited.
WHAT THE CONSTITUTION
MEANS TO ME
FEATURING
ELIZABETH PRICE*
SETH TRUCKS
JANINE RAQUEL JOHNSON
MELISSA ALMAGUER
SCENIC DESIGNER
JODI DELLAVENTURA
STAGE MANAGER
NAOMI ZAPATA*
COSTUME DESIGN
ELLIS TILLMAN
SCENIC ARTIST
GANESSA GOLDSMITH PROCTOR
LIGHTING DESIGN
ERIC NELSON
SOUND DESIGN
MATT COREY
PRODUCTION MANAGER
DAVID L. RADUNSKY
DIRECTED BY
MARGARET M. LEDFORD
Presented with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners. Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A., a City Theatre sponsor since 1996, is the Presenting Sponsor of this production. DLA Piper is City Theatre’s Pocket Constitution Sponsor, generously providing each audience member with a pocket-size copy of the U.S Constitution to take home. This production is also made possible by the Miami Downtown Development Authority as part of the Miami DDA’s Downtown Creative Collaborators.
What the Constitution Means to Me is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. concordtheatricals.com
Cast
Heidi
ELIZABETH PRICE*
American Legionnaire
SETH TRUCKS
Debater
JANINE RAQUEL JOHNSON
Standby for Heidi
MELISSA ALMAGUER
Creative Team
Playwright
HEIDI SCHRECK
Director
MARGARET M. LEDFORD
Stage Manager
NAOMI ZAPATA*
Production Manager
DAVID L. RADUNSKY
Scenic Design
JODI DELLAVENTURA
Lighting Design
ERIC NELSON
Sound Design
MATT COREY
Costume Design
ELLIS TILLMAN
Scenic Artist
GENESSA GOLDSMITH PROCTOR
Talkback Moderator
DEBORAH MAGDALENA
City Theatre Staff
Artistic Director
MARGARET M. LEDFORD
Executive Director
GLADYS RAMÍREZ
Accountant
ERNEST PORTER
Social Media Coordinator
DIANA GARLE
Development Consultant
REM CABRERA
Special Projects Director
GAIL GARRISAN
Webmaster
KENNY WYNN
*Appearing through an agreement between this theater, City Theatre and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
WHO'S WHO
ELIZABETH PRICE* (Heidi)
Elizabeth is a stage, screen and voice actor, director and producer based in South Florida. She received her MFA in Acting from Florida Atlantic University, where she taught acting for the past nine years. She serves as associate artistic director for New City Players, a professional theater company in Fort Lauderdale. South Florida stage acting credits include: Rx; Villainous Company; An Accident; Reborning (Boca Stage), Little Montgomery; Falling; Twelfth Night (New City Players), This Random World (Theatre Lab), Son (Island City Stage), Crooked; Dance Nation; The Importance of Being Earnest (Thinking Cap), Standing on Ceremony; Island Shorts (City Theatre), The How and the Why (Arts Garage), Reservoir Dolls; The Normal Heart (Outre). She’s also acted and directed in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, New Orleans and New Mexico, and has received two Silver Palm Awards, a Big Easy Award and three Carbonell Award nominations for acting and directing.
SETH TRUCKS (American Legionnaire)
South Florida credits include Zoetic Stage: Voice three (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), Ensemble (Frankenstein). Actors Playhouse: Phil/Ensemble (On Your Feet), Michel (Murder on the Orient Express). New City Players: Macbeth (Macbeth). Thinking Cap Theatre: Edgar (King Lear). Stage Door Theatre: Frances (La Cage Aux Folles). Outré Theatre: Ned Weeks (The Normal Heart), Winston Smith (1984), Rodrigo (Othello). Evening Star: Estragon (Waiting for Godot), Macbeth (Macbeth), Antipholus (The Comedy of Errors), Inspector Pratt (Murdered to Death). Florida Shakespeare Theatre: Hamlet (Hamlet). Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival: Richard (Richard II), Bottom (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Octavius (Antony and Cleopatra), Horatio (Hamlet), Dogberry (Much Ado About Nothing), Dromios (Comedy of Errors). Entre-Acte Theatrix: Narrator (Rocky Horror Show), Trekkie Monster (Avenue Q).
JANINE RAQUEL JOHNSON (Debater)
Janine is a recent graduate of the New World School of the Arts. This past summer, she participated in the British American Drama Academy’s (BADA) intensive program, Midsummer in Oxford, located in the United Kingdom. Her most recent credits include Zinnia in the podcast Where or When with Lost Girls Theatre.
MELISSA ALMAGUER (standby for Heidi)
Melissa is a Miami-based actress, teacher, producer and director with a BFA in performance from FIU. Recent credits include Right Angles, Art Heist at the Arsht Center and the Kravis Center, and the immersive theatrical experience Amparo, produced by Broadway Factor. As a theater artist, Melissa collaborated in various roles with companies such as Miami New Drama; Abre Camino; O, Miami Poetry Festival; Main Street Players; White Rose Miami; Miami Theatre Center; New Theatre; and City Theatre. Over the summer, she directed the world premiere play Borrowed by Jim Kierstead (Broadway Factor), which was adapted into an independent film (Broadway United, El Central Productions) on which Melissa worked as a line producer. She is also a proud teacher who enjoys sharing her appreciation and love of theater with her students. One of her favorite roles is being madrina to her three nieces. She is thrilled and grateful to be working with City Theatre again. @miamimeli
HEIDI SCHRECK (Playwright)
Schreck is a writer and performer living in Brooklyn. Her critically acclaimed, award-winning play What the Constitution Means to Me played an extended, sold-out run on Broadway in 2019 and was nominated for two Tony Awards. It had subsequent sold-out runs at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. A filmed version of What the Constitution Means to Me, starring Schreck, premiered in October 2020 on Amazon Prime Video and was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award, a PGA Award and a DGA Award. What the Constitution Means to Me was named Best of the Year by The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Time magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, The New Yorker and more; NPR named it one of the “50 Great Pop Culture Moments” of 2019.
DEBORAH MAGDALENA (talkback moderator)
Whether she’s producing a spoken word event or music festival or playing the role of a santera or vixen, Deborah Magdalena makes every emotion real. Select TV/film credits include Sesame Street (CTW), Apollo Comedy Hour (Tribune Entertainment), Safe Harbor (Warner Brothers), Striptease (Castle Rock), Holyman (Caravan) and For Love or Country (HBO). Poetically, she has released CDs Spoken Soul: A Survival Kit of Poetry, Deborah Magdalena LIVE and FUNKdalena. Founder of Spoken Soul Festival. Past instructor for the Arsht Center’s nationally acclaimed AileyCamp Miami. Part of the Kennedy Center’s Teaching Artists Presents and past spokesperson for YoungArts.
MARGARET M. LEDFORD (artistic director)
Margaret hails from Chattanooga, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Speech from the University of Tennessee. She has directed plays, musicals and readings all over South Florida, including Promethean Theatre (resident director for eight years), Palm Beach Dramaworks, GableStage, Florida Reparatory Theatre, Naked Stage, New Theatre, Delray Beach Arts Garage, Mosaic Theatre, Caldwell Theatre Company, Florida Stage, Island City Stage, Thinking Cap Theatre and Theatre Lab. She studied cubist-expressionistic scenography post-WWI at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. Margaret is a national reviewer for the National YoungArts Foundation in theater and musical theater, a member of Actors’ Equity Association and a co-founder and creator at Mangrove Creative Collective. An eight-time Carbonell Award nominee for best director and winner of multiple Silver Palm awards for direction, she has been City Theatre’s artistic director since 2017.
GLADYS RAMÍREZ (executive director)
Gladys is City Theatre's new executive director, guiding the company through its 28th season. She began her career with City Theatre as an actor and director for nearly a dozen iterations of "Shorts" productions. After a five year stint working in museums, Gladys returns to theater and brings her formidable creative and administrative skills to the company. Formerly, as director of audience engagement at the Norton Museum of Art, she produced Art After Dark, the Norton’s signature public program welcoming over 20,000 guests annually, and managed its virtual presence, which received over 50,000 unique views annually. A proponent of equity and access in the arts, she founded the Norton’s Staff Diversity Committee. Previously, she developed community engagement partnerships and events at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Gladys is a proud graduate of Miami’s New World School of the Arts with her BFA in Theater.
DAVID L. RADUNSKY (production manager)
David has been in theater since 1966. Of course, he was 8 then, but he was a good electrician. He has worked for many companies, most of which he no longer remembers. Highlights: Studying under Gilbert Hemsley, assistant to Michael Philippi, Wisdom Bridge, St. Nicholas, New American, Coconut Grove Playhouse and Promethean. He is not dead yet and glad to be part of the 28th season.
NAOMI ZAPATA* (stage manager)
South Florida credits include: IlluminArts, Actors' Playhouse, The Amparo Experience, Orchestra Miami, City Theatre, Miami New Drama, Miami Theater Center, Mosaic Theatre, Acme Acting Company, Florida Shakespeare Theatre, Florida Grand Opera, Coconut Grove Playhouse and New World Symphony. New York credits include: Brooklyn Academy of Music, La MaMa E.T.C., Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and the New York Philharmonic. National credits include: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Naomi holds a BFA in Stage Management from North Carolina School of the Arts and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
JODI DELLAVENTURA (scenic design)
Jodi is excited to be a part of the design team for City Theatre’s production of What the Constitution Means to Me. For City Theatre, she designed the sets for Summer Shorts, Three Little Birds, Building the Wall and Winter Shorts. Other scenic design credits: Ring of Fire, One Man, Two Guvnors, Once, All the Way and Murder Ballad (Actors’ Playhouse); Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, American Son, Fear Up Harsh and The Great God Pan (Zoetic Stage); Bright Colors and Bold Patterns, HIR,and Buyer & Cellar (Island City Stage), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Slow Burn Theatre), Into the Woods and The Nether (Carbonell Award) (Area Stage Company); and Seven Deadly Sins (associate scenic design) (Miami New Drama). Jodi is currently the prop master/set dresser at Actors’ Playhouse.
ERIC NELSON (lighting design)
Originally from Tucson, Arizona, Eric Nelson has been a part of South Florida theater for 15+ years. As a lighting designer, Nelson has worked nationally on hundreds of productions. Some of them include: DoubleDare2000, Murder Ballad (Carbonell nomination), Fahrenheit 451 (Carbonell nomination), Overactive Letdown (world premiere), Likeness (world premiere) and The Soul of Gershwin (Carbonell Nomination), just to name a few. He is a frequent designer for City Theatre. As pedagogue, Nelson gladly shares his talents with several local schools and community theater programs.
GENESSA GOLDSMITH PROCTOR (scenic artist)
Genessa is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, the labor union and professional association of designers, artists and craftspeople.
MATT COREY (sound design)
Matt earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in bassoon performance at the University of Miami, and currently performs with the Symphonia in Boca Raton. He has earned Carbonell Awards for his designs of The Pillowman, Talk Radio, Broadsword, Blasted, The Birds, The Mountaintop, The Night of the Iguana and Every Brilliant Thing at Zoetic Stage. By day, Matt is president and CEO of Insight for the Blind in Fort Lauderdale, a 47-year-old charity devoted to recording books, magazines and other accessible media for the blind and print-disabled.
ELLIS TILLMAN (costume design)
Ellis’ job with City Theatre has always been a creative challenge. Dolphins on the subway, mayflies that live only one day, Mothra looking for a job, a 6-foot-3 tooth fairy and the infamous toaster foot are just a few of the requests of the job. Ellis was nominated for a Barrymore Award in Philadelphia for Enchanted April at the Walnut Street Theatre. He was awarded Los Angeles’ Dramalogue for Bermuda Avenue Triangle with Bea Arthur, and has three times won the Carbonell Award. He made his Broadway debut as costume designer for Urban Cowboy the Musical.
DIANA GARLE (social media coordinator)
Diana is a bicoastal Latinx actor who has multiple commercials, TV series and films under her belt, such as playing Nina in A Postcard to Nina that premiered at HBO’s NYLFF. Recently, Diana was the lead in 9 Windows, a feature film opposite William Forsythe set to release early 2023. Diana is the official voice for Google Latin America. Next, she will star in the film El Reggaetonero. Special thanks to her City Theatre family, Mami and Abuelo, and to Danny for all you do to help her dreams come true. Follow her journey on Instagram @dianagarle.
REM CABRERA (development consultant)
Rem is the former Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs’ Senior Cultural Administrator and Chief of Cultural Development. The Remy Awards for outstanding service in the South Florida theater community are named in his honor. Rem is also on City Theatre’s artistic board. He lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
GAIL GARRISAN (special projects director)
Gail was the founding artistic director of City Theatre and currently serves as director of special projects and is a member of the board of directors. Garrisan has directed productions and conducted acting workshops at venues throughout South Florida, as well as nationally. She is a teaching artist at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (adult acting). She was an assistant professor at New World School of the Arts for seven years, teaching acting and directing. She has a three-tiered private coaching practice for professional actors; students preparing for high school and college auditions; and business professionals seeking presentation techniques. She holds an MFA in Directing and a BFA in Dramatic Literature. She is a member of SDC, FPTA, and TCG. In 2018, Garrisan received the George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts.
CITY THEATRE is an award-winning professional theater company founded in 1996 by Susan J. Westfall, Stephanie Norman and Elena Wohl. Based in Miami, City Theatre is dedicated to the development of new works. City Theatre has produced hundreds of short plays by well-known and emerging writers discovered through its National Award for Short Playwriting Contest. It commissions plays by South Florida-connected playwrights for its SHORT CUTS Middle School Tour. CITY READS, presented in partnership with Books & Books, invites the community to enjoy a selection of short plays and participate in a conversation about the works and issues presented. The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation at the Miami Foundation funded the launch of HOMEGROWN, a program launched to nurture, elevate and promote Miami’s BIPOC writers and develop new plays authentic to Miami. City Theatre has made its main-stage home at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts’ Carnival Studio Theatre since 2007. The signature SUMMER SHORTS FESTIVAL enjoyed its milestone 25th anniversary here in 2022. City Theatre produces full-length plays as part of the Arsht Center’s Theatre Up Close Series, including WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME. In 2016, City Theatre was honored by the Carbonell Committee with the prestigious Bill Von Maurer Award, in recognition of significant contributions to South Florida theater development for the company’s dedication to the short-form-play format and fostering new play development. The company was recognized by Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava in honor of “City Theatre 25th Anniversary Day” on June 9, 2021.
ACTORS' EQUITY ASSOCIATION (“Equity"), founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers. Equity fosters the art of live theater as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Actors’ Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. #EquityWorks
CITY THEATRE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Alan Fein
Chairman Emeritus
Susan J. Westfall
Company Co-founder
Chandler Culwell, Esq.
Sarala Dee
Andy Elisburg
Mark Fenaughty
Gail Garrisan
Jason Mays, Esq.
Yvette Morrell
David Rothstein, Esq.
Daniel Shatz, Esq.
Morgan Swing, Esq.
Kearey O. Wan, Esq.
Patricia Woodson
STAFF
Margaret Ledford, Artistic Director
Gladys Ramírez, Executive Director
Ernest Porter, Accountant
Diana Garle, Social Media Coordinator
Rem Cabrera, Development Consultant
Gail Garrisan, Special Projects Director
Kenneth Wynn, Web Development
SPECIAL THANKS
Susan J. Westfall, Alan Fein, Jennifer Buttrick, Chandler Culwell, Alice Simons, Miami-Dade Urban Debate League, Cydney Edwards, Ardith Bronson, Coral Del Mar Lopez, Osvaldo J. Garcia, Allan Respondek, Brian Lehuring, Eric Nelson, Jodi Dellaventura, Joseph Cloud, George Trudeau and Beregovoy Studios, Damaris Del Valle, Carmen Maria Vizcaino, Diana C. Mendez, Michele Samaroo, Christopher Demos-Brown, Broward College Theater Department, Natalie Taveras, John Hinchey.