Off Square Theatre Company and Wyoming Humanities are excited to welcome authors Cynthia and Sanford Levinson to Teton County this May. Across various venues and events, the Levinsons will engage our community in a lively discussion about the US Constitution, expanding on themes found in their book, Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today.
The Levinsons’ visit will culminate in a community-wide conversation in the Center Theater on May 16 at 6:30pm. This free event will be an interactive presentation that includes audience interaction, inviting those present to think critically about the US Constitution and how we apply it. The Levinsons will conduct a book signing following the presentation. The presentation will also be live streamed to audiences around the state. While this event is unticketed, interested audience members can register to receive updates and reminders.
Teton County will get ready for this community conversation starting this April, when the community-wide book giveaway of Fault Lines in the Constitution will begin. Beginning April 18, copies of the book will be available for pickup at the Front Desk of the Library while supplies last.
Upon their arrival, the Levinsons will engage with young minds through several visits at Teton County School District elementary and middle schools as well as with participants in Jackson Hole Writers’ Almost Authors program.
For those in our community interested in the behind-the-scenes story of writing and publishing a non-fiction book, the Levinsons will lead a writer’s workshop at the Library on May 13 at 3pm. The workshop will take place in Ordway and attendees will learn more about the Levinsons’ process, how they each brought their individual expertise to the project, and what it was like to partner with their spouse.
For those who may wonder what a live theatre company has to do with constitutional scholarship, look no further than Off Square Theatre’s upcoming production of What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck. “We knew that our presentation of a play about the Constitution created a rich opportunity for engaging the community with deeper civic education,” said Natalia Duncan Macker, Producing Artistic Director. “The Levinsons’ book was part of Heidi’s source material when she wrote the play, and we could not be more excited to bring their voices to the table in May to communities all over the state activate democracy.” (Tickets are on sale now for What the Constitution Means to Me!)
The Levinsons’ visit and the community book giveaway are made possible in part by additional support from the Wonder Institute, the Center for the Book, Almost Authors, and the Teton County Library Foundation.
Key Dates
- April 18 – Community giveaway of Fault Lines begins at the Library
- May 13 – Adult Writer’s workshop (Library, Ordway, 3pm)
- May 16 – Community Conversation (Center Theater, 6:30pm)
Author Biographies
Cynthia Levinson holds degrees from Wellesley College and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. After teaching and consulting for many years, she now writes nonfiction books for young readers that focus on social justice, including The Youngest Marcher and The People’s Painter. Her books have won numerous awards, including the Sibert Medal, the Carter G. Woodson Book Award, and the Jane Addams Book Award. She loves doing research in the places she writes about—and she’s currently writing a book on space! Cynthia and her husband, Sandy, have two daughters, four grandchildren, and two grand puppies.
Sanford Levinson is an American legal scholar, a professor in the Law School and the Department of Government at the University of Texas, and a frequent visiting professor at Harvard Law School. He holds degrees from Duke, Stanford, and Harvard Universities and is the author of several adult books on the Constitution, including Constitutional Faith (1988, 2d ed. 2011); Our Undemocratic Constitution (2006); and Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance (2012); and, most recently, An Argument Open to All: Reading The Federalist in the 21st Century (2015).
