By Carrie Chapter, Philadelphia Theatre Company

On June 13^th Philadelphia Theatre Company celebrated Colin Quinn’s solo show, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, with a dazzling, packed Opening Night performance. Up until curtain, a winding swath of latecomers stood in line by the box office asking to buy any remaining tickets – a testament to the force field Quinn tends to conjure around his latest masterwork.

The production marks the second time Quinn has taken the stage at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre. In the summer of 2012, PTC presented a limited engagement of his other historical romp, LONG STORY SHORT, a comically immodest, 75-minute look at the history of the world, which was directed by Jerry Seinfeld.

This time, Quinn has narrowed his scope. UNCONSTITUTIONAL reexamines the events around the writing of The Constitution, and how its creation has impacted the adolescence of America as a country and as a culture. Quite simply, it’s a story about growing pains and the sins (and virtues) of the father.

In some strange way, because the show is having its Philadelphia premiere while discussing the founding fathers convening in the city of brotherly love, it is not that vast of a thematic jump from the original PTC season schedule. To backtrack slightly, originally, Philadelphia Theatre was scheduled to close out the 2013-2014 season with the Philadelphia premiere of Colman Domingo’s one-man show, A BOY AND HIS SOUL, in which Domingo recalls his boyhood growing up in Philadelphia. But, when the run of the performance conflicted with his shooting schedule for an upcoming film, PTC replaced it with Colin Quinn’s UNCONSTITUTIONAL, which was originally scheduled to run later in the summer. So, in some sense, a solo performance about a boy born and raised in Philadelphia was exchanged with a solo performance about a country born and raised in Philadelphia. In other words, both could be tagged as The Philadelphia Story – with the strain of puberty intact.

The PTC Education Dept. gets framed at the Opening Night of UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Photo credit: Carol Flannery

On Independence Day, July 4^th, PTC will present a special matinee performance of UNCONSTITUTIONAL, which will include a party atmosphere with free snacks, Happy Hour drink prices and a chance to meet Colin Quinn. Appropriately, tickets for the performance are only $17.76. You have time to brush up on your early American history – UNCONSTITUTIONAL rocks the cradle of liberty until July 6^th.