Turning race and extremism into healing

The American stage has long served as a place where we gather to confront the deeper truths of who we are. Across the generations, playwrights and performers have turned the theater into a kind of public square, inviting us to face our history, our contradictions, and our aspirations. In recent years, works as different as Hamilton and What the Constitution Means to Me have shown how powerful theatre can be for both reflection and change. They tell us that democracy is not only debated in courtrooms or decided at the ballot box; it is equally shaped by the stories we tell, the questions we ask, and the courage we summon to look deeply within ourselves.

Recently, at Cape May Stage in Cape May, New Jersey, I attended a performance of What the Constitution Means to Me. The play centers on fifteen-year-old Heidi Schreck, who financed her college education by winning national constitutional debate competitions, using the nation’s founding document as both a guide and a lens for interpreting the world.