The Evolution of a Justice
Lot 74¤
SCHRECK'S AWARD WINNING PLAY INSCRIBED TO RUTH BADER GINSBURG. SCHRECK, HEIDI. What the Constitution Means to Me. Self-published, 2019?
19 – 27 January 2022, 12:00 EST
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Find your local specialistSCHRECK'S AWARD WINNING PLAY INSCRIBED TO RUTH BADER GINSBURG.
SCHRECK, HEIDI. What the Constitution Means to Me. Self-published, 2019? Paperback, publisher's pictorial wrappers.
PRESENTATION COPY, ANNOTATED WITH 2 NOTES BY JUSTICE GINSBURG INSIDE THE FRONT COVER, AND INSCRIBED BY SCHRECK: "To Justice Ginsburg, Thank you for all you have done to make this country better and more humane. We love you, Heidi Schreck."
Schreck's play was first produced in 2016 and went to Broadway in 2019, winning both an Obie and New York Drama Critics Circle award for Best American Play as well as two Tony awards, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. The play closes with a voice recording of Ruth Bader Ginsburg asking the question, "When will there be enough women on the court?" and answering her own question: "My answer is, when there are 9." In June 2019 Ginsburg attended the Broadway production, and met Schreck backstage. As Schreck recalled in an interview with Time magazine:
"We all were speechless. Thursday Williams, one of our great debaters [who is featured in the final segment of the show], always had an RBG pencil tucked behind her ear when she performed. That night, she thought the audience was very out of control, making noises she hadn't heard before. When we told her that Justice Ginsburg was in the audience, she collapsed to the floor. Justice Ginsburg then came backstage, which was delightful. She was sitting down and stood up to hug Thursday—I remember being incredibly moved by that.
She sent a nice letter to us afterward and asked us for a copy of the script. I told my stage manager I was nervous to send it to her, because I was sure she would find errors in it. He said, 'Oh, Heidi, stop it. She doesn't have time to read your play. This is just a symbolic act.'
A few days later, I got a Fedex package that had a copy of one of the cases that I discussed flagged with some things to look at, and then a letter thanking me for the script and giving me two notes. One had to do with changing a piece of language from 'would have' to 'might have.' She wanted me to be more precise with my language. The other one had to do with how to talk about the Equal Rights Amendment."
Beneath the front cover in this copy, Ginsburg has made three short autograph notes: "40 Castle Rock v Gonzalez 2005," the 2005 Supreme Court case that inspired the play; "43 If ERA she would have been protected," perhaps related to Schreck's "... how to talk about the Equal Rights Amendment"; and "NY just one state away."
Called by the New York Times "not just the best play to open on Broadway so far this season, but also the most important," Schreck's Constitution was produced for television by Amazon studios on the eve of the 2020 election. Schreck has won multiple awards as both actor and playwright, and stands as one of the brightest voices in American theater.
PRESENTATION COPY, ANNOTATED WITH 2 NOTES BY JUSTICE GINSBURG INSIDE THE FRONT COVER, AND INSCRIBED BY SCHRECK: "To Justice Ginsburg, Thank you for all you have done to make this country better and more humane. We love you, Heidi Schreck."
Schreck's play was first produced in 2016 and went to Broadway in 2019, winning both an Obie and New York Drama Critics Circle award for Best American Play as well as two Tony awards, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. The play closes with a voice recording of Ruth Bader Ginsburg asking the question, "When will there be enough women on the court?" and answering her own question: "My answer is, when there are 9." In June 2019 Ginsburg attended the Broadway production, and met Schreck backstage. As Schreck recalled in an interview with Time magazine:
"We all were speechless. Thursday Williams, one of our great debaters [who is featured in the final segment of the show], always had an RBG pencil tucked behind her ear when she performed. That night, she thought the audience was very out of control, making noises she hadn't heard before. When we told her that Justice Ginsburg was in the audience, she collapsed to the floor. Justice Ginsburg then came backstage, which was delightful. She was sitting down and stood up to hug Thursday—I remember being incredibly moved by that.
She sent a nice letter to us afterward and asked us for a copy of the script. I told my stage manager I was nervous to send it to her, because I was sure she would find errors in it. He said, 'Oh, Heidi, stop it. She doesn't have time to read your play. This is just a symbolic act.'
A few days later, I got a Fedex package that had a copy of one of the cases that I discussed flagged with some things to look at, and then a letter thanking me for the script and giving me two notes. One had to do with changing a piece of language from 'would have' to 'might have.' She wanted me to be more precise with my language. The other one had to do with how to talk about the Equal Rights Amendment."
Beneath the front cover in this copy, Ginsburg has made three short autograph notes: "40 Castle Rock v Gonzalez 2005," the 2005 Supreme Court case that inspired the play; "43 If ERA she would have been protected," perhaps related to Schreck's "... how to talk about the Equal Rights Amendment"; and "NY just one state away."
Called by the New York Times "not just the best play to open on Broadway so far this season, but also the most important," Schreck's Constitution was produced for television by Amazon studios on the eve of the 2020 election. Schreck has won multiple awards as both actor and playwright, and stands as one of the brightest voices in American theater.
