What the Constitution Means to Me

In the second part of the play, Heidi stages a somewhat extemporaneous debate. In the original Broadway production, Heidi invited two local high school debating champions, Rosdely Ciprian (in “The Debate”) and Thursday Williams (in “Alternate Debate”), to rotate performances as Heidi’s opponent to participate in a parliamentary-style debate on whether the United States should abolish the Constitution. The published text includes transcripts of the debate from one night of each girls’ performances, although subsequent productions of the play should procure their own young debaters to argue extemporaneously rather than simply staging these transcripts. Rosdely, who is 15, introduces herself to the audience. She notes that the Constitution is complicated in that it both protects Americans and causes many of the nation’s problems, but for the sake of debate, Heidi and Rosdely will each take a side. Rosdely also disagrees with Heidi’s suggestion that the document is a crucible. Rather, she believes it is like a human being. It’s imperfect and incapable of perfection, but it is also able to be improved. Rosdely adds that the 9th amendment is like a character she once created, an AI that knows everything that has and will happen.