Liesbeth Powers/Inland 360
Director David Lee-Painter and Kelly Quinnett, head of performance at the University of Idaho, center, talk before a run-through of “What the Constitution Means to Me,” by Heidi Shreck, at The Forge Theater on the Moscow campus.
University of Idaho professor David-Lee Painter’s last turn as a director before he retires at the end of the school year is no softball.
“What the Constitution Means to Me,” written by former Wenatchee, Wash., resident Heidi Schreck, delivers a clear message about the U.S. Constitution: “that it’s not really serving everyone as well as it could, and that we need to take some action,” Lee-Painter said.
The Tony-nominated play, which premiered on Broadway in 2019 with Schreck in the main role, examines the fundamental document’s shortcomings, touching on domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and abortion.
“The play is not a rant and it’s not a lecture,” Lee-Painter said. “It’s a hopeful call to action, especially to our younger folks because they are our hope for the future — and our now, too.”
Professor and actor Kelly Quinnett, with whom Lee-Painter has worked for most of his 30 years at UI, stars in the Idaho Repertory Theatre production opening Thursday, Nov. 30, at the Forge Theater on the Moscow campus.
Liesbeth Powers/Inland 360
Kelly Quinnett, head of performance at the University of Idaho, rehearses Monday for “What the Constitution Means to Me,” by Heidi Shreck, at The Forge Theater in Moscow.
Quinnett said the abilities she’s admired over those years together were as present as ever as she and Lee-Painter prepared for his last show before retirement.
“I know that he trusts me as an artist,” she said. “He’s able to make you feel like everything that you do is just magic.”
The work, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, is one Lee-Painter teaches his students in his play analysis class. He thought maybe it was theater for young audiences, along the lines of “Schoolhouse Rock,” when he stumbled on it four years ago.
“I was quickly disabused of that,” he said.
The script draws both on Schreck’s real-life experiences as a teenager giving speeches about the Constitution and on the lives of generations of women in her family.
“Ultimately you have to wrestle with the fact it wasn’t written as a document to protect women, and that’s neither here nor there — it’s just what it is,” Quinnett said. “The question ultimately is, ‘What can we do to make things better?’ ”
Liesbeth Powers/Inland 360
Quinnett stars in Idaho Repertory Theatre’s production of “What the Constitution Means to Me.”
It’s a personal story, Lee-Painter said, and “really important.”
“The play is really funny and really moving, so bring your smiles and your Kleenex,” he said. “And Kelly is just brilliant in it.”
His years at UI have gone past “in the blink of an eye,” he said, noting he’s been fortunate to teach in the same place for so long.
“I think I’ve just been so lucky to love what I do and to do 52 plays here,” he said.
He and his wife, Nancy Lee-Painter, who is retired from teaching theater at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, appreciate the Moscow community, he said, and plan to stay here.
“It’s been a great place to be, to raise our family and to make a life, and I’m very grateful,” he said.
“He’s irreplaceable,” Quinnett said. “It’s going to be very difficult to not have him around.”
Stone (she/her) can be reached at mstone@inland360.com.
IF YOU GO
Idaho Repertory Theatre: “What the Constitution Means to Me”
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Forge Theatre, 404 Sweet Ave., University of Idaho, Moscow.
Tickets: Free for University of Idaho students; $5-$25 for the general public. Opening night tickets are $10 for the public. Available at uitickets.com or at the door an hour before the show.
Of note: The show contains mentions of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and discussions of abortion and its stigmatization.
