Libertyville's Beth Lacke examines Constitutional conundrum in 'What the Constitution Means to Me'
Beth Lacke got her first laugh as a kindergartner playing a lamp in the class Nativity play, during which she forgot her line. Someone whispered in her ear and Lacke blurted "baa, baa" as a wave of laughter rippled through the audience.
"Yes, please," the Libertyville actress recalled thinking to herself, "more of that."
That experience pretty much sealed the professional fate of Lacke, a veteran of Amazon's "Night Sky," the Disney+ "High School Musical: The Series" and other TV series, who returned from Los Angeles to star in TimeLine Theatre's "What the Constitution Means to Me." TimeLine's production is the first Chicago-based production of actor/playwright Heidi Schreck's Pulitzer Prize-finalist Broadway hit, whose 2020 Chicago run was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a youngster growing up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Lacke participated in a summer program at the university, where she fell in love with theater.
"For a kid that never felt cool, who wasn't athletic ... I found my people," she said.
When she was 14, the family moved to Libertyville. Lacke enrolled at Carmel Catholic High School, where she performed in plays and musicals. On opening night of one of the shows, a favorite teacher gave Lacke a flower with a card that read: "It would be a shame if you didn't pursue acting as a career."
"It was the first time someone besides my family encouraged me," she said.
Having determined her purpose, Lacke developed a plan, which involved attending the Theatre School at DePaul University. It was the only school to which she applied and she didn't get in. Instead, she enrolled in a different program, planning to audition again. Then life intervened. At 18, Lacke had her son. A year later, on her second try, she was admitted. A professor told the young mother she wasn't going to make it through the demanding conservatory program. With family support, she prevailed.
"I didn't give myself any outs," said the 1998 DePaul graduate. "I couldn't afford not to succeed."
She first appeared at TimeLine in its revival of Clifford Odets' "Awake and Sing!" in 2002, the same year she won a Joseph Jefferson Award for supporting actress in Collaboraction's "The Life and Times of a Tulsa Lovechild: A Road Trip."
Roles at Steppenwolf, Goodman and Lookingglass theaters followed, along with stints on TV and in film. She returned to TimeLine for 2010's "Frost/Nixon" and is back again to star in Schreck's semi-autobiographical play about her experience competing in American Legion-sponsored Constitutional debates to earn college tuition money.
More significantly, the play (which memorably addresses reproductive rights), examines the Constitution, a magnificent, albeit flawed, document drafted by and for white male landowners to the exclusion of Indigenous people, people of color, members of the LGBTQIA community and women. It concludes with a debate between Lacke and a teenager (Sophie Ackerman and Makalah Simpson alternating in the role) on whether to keep the Constitution or scrap it in favor of a new version.
"This role is a dream," she said. "It's a dream play. It's so smart, so funny and so full of heart and emotionality."
The play is a conversation, according to Lacke, which isn't something people with differing viewpoints have these days. People don't talk to each other, she continues. Or, if they do, they talk only to those with whom they agree.
Many of us don't sit through difficult conversations, she said. "We walk out of the room. We turn off the TV. We're not listening ... You have to listen."
TimeLine co-founder and artistic director PJ Powers wanted to produce "What the Constitution Means to Me" since 2018, when it premiered off-Broadway around the same time as the Senate confirmation hearings for now Supreme Court associate justice Brett Kavanaugh.
After reading the script, Powers was determined to produce the play at TimeLine, whose mission is to "tell stories inspired by history that connect with today's social and political issues."
"Like a dog with a bone," Powers pursued the rights, telling licensers "when you're able to license it, we want it." Partnering with Broadway in Chicago helped make possible the production of the play, which is especially timely in the wake of last year's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturning Roe V. Wade, the 1973 ruling that struck down abortion bans as unconstitutional under the 9th and 14th amendments.
With the 2020 national tour suspended during the pandemic, the play "hasn't had its full due here in Chicago," Powers said. "In light of the Dobbs decision, it really hasn't had its due."
"There's something inspiring and hopeful about this play," he said. "Heidi (the playwright) doesn't shy away from imperfections of the Constitution or the country or our nation's history," but she approaches it "through a lens of hope that embraces democracy in all of its messy imperfections."
This is no "finger-wagging, Leftie piece," Powers said. Rather it is a "call to action that can, and should, inspire people to not be complacent and to become more engaged in our electorate."
Lacke hopes TimeLine audiences leave the theater feeling engaged and empowered.
"We all have a part to play in keeping democracy alive," she said.
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"What the Constitution Means to Me"
When: Previews at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, May 10-12; 4 p.m. Saturday, May 13; 2 p.m. Sunday, May 14; and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 16. The show opens Wednesday, May 17, and runs 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday through July 2. Also, 7:30 p.m. May 24, June 7 and 21; 2 p.m. June 1, 15, 22 and 29
Where: TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington St., Chicago, (773) 281-8463, ext. 6, or timelinetheatre.com
Tickets: $25-$62
COVID-19 precautions: Masks optional, required at certain performances