ACFNY SUPPORTED | HEDY! THE LIFE & INVENTIONS OF HEDY LAMARR
In honor of Hedy Lamarr’s 102nd Birthday, the United Solo Theatre Festival presents the World Premiere of HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lammar, a new solo play,
Written and Performed by Heather Massie
Directed by Joan Kane
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE
Hedy Lamarr, glamorous siren of the silver screen, was more than the most beautiful woman in the world. She invented frequency hopping and spread spectrum technology that makes the world of wireless communication tick. From Austria to Hollywood, WWII, torpedoes, ecstasy, and intrigue to the very cell phone in your pocket, she was there!
This play explores the life, inventions and person of Hedy Lamarr. Viennese-born Hollywood film star of the 1930s-1950s, and known as the most beautiful woman in the world, Hedy Lamarr stored away from the knowledge of munitions while married to an Austrian arms dealer, Fritz Mandl. She employed this knowledge to support the US Navy’s war effort during WWII by inventing the secret communication system to make torpedoes more accurate. Also referred to as frequency hopping or spread spectrum technology, her invention is used today in cell phones, WiFi, CDMA, GPS, Bluetooth and a myriad of other wireless systems. Thanks to the mind of this beautiful film star!
Lighting – Bruce A! Kraemer
Costumes – Cat Fisher
Sound – Jacob Subotnick
Projections – Jim Marlowe & Charles Marlowe
Dialects – Page Clements
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Heather Massie is a New York City-based actor and writer. Originally from Virginia, Ms. Massie was always fascinated by the sciences, especially astronomy, and has always carried a keen interest in space travel. She attended the Roanoke Valley Governor’s School for Science and Technology in high school and went on to study astrophysics at the University of Virginia. Always fascinated with asking and seeking to answer the questions of Who We Are, Why We Are Here, and Where We Are Going, Ms. Massie turned her inquisitive nature to a parallel way of exploring these questions: the arts. She then studied theatre arts at The Virginia Tech School of the Arts, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Massie has performed in various cabarets in NYC, recently performing songs from The Sound of Music: the film vs. the play, highlighting the different ways music was used in each, on Governor’s Island with the Museum of Music Project. She was subsequently invited by the Austrian Consul General, Georg Heindl, to perform for a welcome ceremony for the new Austrian Ambassador to the United Nations, Jan Kickert. In an effort to join her love of science with her passion for theatre, Ms. Massie wrote and will perform her show on the life and inventions of Hollywood actress, Hedy Lamarr, with ultimate plans to perform it across the United States and around the world.
Joan Kane is the founding artistic director of Ego Actus and recently directed I Know What Boys Want at Theatre Row, Six Characters in Search of an Author in Oslo, Norway and Kafka’s Belinda in Prague. She also directed both Safe and What Do You Mean at 59e59 theaters and in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, getting four-star reviews for each. Joan was named to the Indie Theatre Hall of Fame by nytheatre.com. She has directed plays and readings for the Lark Play Development Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theater for the New City, Urban Stages, the Bleecker St Theater, the Workshop Theater, Nylon Fusion, Abingdon Theatre, Oberon Theatre, the Samuel French Short Play Festival, Planet Connections Festivity, the Midtown International Festival, the Prague Fringe Festival, the Dramatists Guild, NY Madness, the Players Club, the Lambs Club and the Actors Studio. She has been nominated for Outstanding Direction Awards three times each in the MITF and Planet Connections winning once. Joan has an MFA in Directing from The New School, an MS in Museum Education from Bank Street College and is a member of The New York Madness Company, the Dramatists Guild, the League of Professional Theatre Women and the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers.
TICKETS
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VENUE
United Solo Theatre Festival
Theatre Row 410 W 42nd St., NY, NY