In Heidi Schreck's autobiographical 2017 play What the Constitution Means to Me, the playwright juxtaposes two periods in her life, and how it affected her perspective on America's foundational document: as a high-school student earning scholarship money from competitive presentations about the Constitution; and as an adult, having developed a more complex perspective on where the Constitution has succeeded and failed. For actor Laura Jordan—who plays Heidi in Pioneer Theatre Company's production of What the Constitution Means to Me—her own experience represents a similar evolution in understanding American history.

"I remember in first or second grade, having a 'Pilgrims and Indians' feast for Thanksgiving," she recalls. "You know, making construction-paper feather headdresses, or Pilgrim hats. And that was a real thing that happened. The holiday was definitely presented to me as a child as, "What a wonderful time this was for everybody; the Pilgrims were so grateful and definitely didn't do anything shitty to them in return."

Developing a complex relationship with a document that many Americans revere almost as divinely-inspired is at the center of What the Constitution Means to Me, and Jordan relates to the way people's perspectives on the Constitution can be impacted by their experience. "I grew up in mid-Michigan, at that time a fairly purple area, though now it would be very red," she says. "I was taught what I was taught, and believed what I believed: 'Yay, Constitution!' Since then, I have been other places, moved other places. You can't be in this career unless you're willing to learn certain things and open your mind, and I can see where a lot of this document doesn't work anymore for a lot of people, or what does work about it came about very late. People in my hometown wouldn't even want to hear this discussion."

That evolving understanding for Jordan continued with her work on the show itself, where some of the historical information and personal anecdotes shared by the playwright force a recognition that the Constitution has not always been a force for unequivocal good—particularly given the propensity for ideologies to shape interpretations of its text.

"There are some hard statistics that come up, some Supreme Court decisions that come up, that in a very privileged way that I wasn't aware of, that are really devastating and shocking," Jordan says. "There's the letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law, and even though the intent of this is really different, you're going to push it in this direction."

The ability to view this one document from some very different perspectives also provides the foundation for one of Schreck's unique dramatic conceits within the play. At each performance, the show concludes with a debate—between Jordan's character and an actual local high-school student—during which each participant, based on flipping a coin, must argue either for or against the idea that the Constitution should be abolished and started over from scratch. According to Jordan, that more extemporaneous segment has forced her to see that question as one without a single obvious, clear-cut answer.

"I deal with both sides of this issue," she says. "I have my arguments for keeping, and my arguments for abolishing. I have become very immersed in seeing both sides of the issue.

"I do ultimately, at the end of the day, think it's necessary to have a working knowledge on both sides of many issues. The truth is, very few things are black-and-white. As much as today's discourse tries to tell you there's only one right answer, there really isn't. It is very helpful to be able to argue effectively for both sides."

That ability to see both sides, Jordan believes, fits well with her own perspective on where we now stand, in a country with a conservative Supreme Court and many concerns about the direction of the country. "I am by nature kind of an optimistic person, oddly. I'm cynical in a lot of ways, but in general I tend towards optimism. So I get frustrated when people say, 'If such-and-such happens, I'm moving to Canada.' Please don't get me wrong, this country has a lot of problems. But this country is not like any other country that has existed, in terms of diversity, how it was created, how long it's lasted. This experiment is revolutionary, and I think that's worth supporting and helping.

"I do get discouraged, of course I do, but I think the level of engagement of regular citizens feels much higher than I ever remember it feeling before. Protesting felt very 'over there' when I was younger; now I think people are much more aware of what's happening and being engaged. I think there's a lot worth saving and working towards."