Stowe Theatre Guild welcomes back theatre-goers with play on Hedy Lamarr

September 4, 2021  |  By Waterbury Roundabout  

Heather Massie as Hedy Lamarr. Photo by Al Foote III

Next weekend, the Stowe Theatre Guild Presents its first live show since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

New York City performer Heather Massie wrote “HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr” as the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Grange Hall Cultural Center in Waterbury in 2016. Since then, she’s toured the world with this unique one-woman production. 

This week, she returns to Vermont to present the award-winning play that celebrates women in science through theatre. 

Billed as “a true story of Hollywood glamour and scientific genius,” the show tells the story of 1930s-1950s movie star Hedy Lamarr who was also an accomplished scientist and inventor. Lamarr’s contributions to science included wireless communications technology used in torpedo systems during World War II and still key to today’s cell phone, WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth devices. 

“The show's mission is to inspire audiences to find ways to make the world a better place, to encourage young women in science and technology, and to establish Hedy Lamarr as a role model for intelligence, ingenuity, and invention,” Massie explains. 

Writer and performer Massie studied astrophysics before turning to the theatre. In this original play, she interacts with the audience while playing 35 other characters in Hedy’s story including Jimmy Stewart and Bette Davis. 

Massie has toured across the U.S., the U.K., Europe and Africa with performances in theatres and museums, arts and science festivals, schools and universities, in addition to presenting the play off Broadway in New York City. Learn more about the show at HeatherMassie.com/HEDY.  

Heather Massie portrays Hedy Lamarr in her original play, 'HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr,' on stage in Stowe, Sept. 11-12. Photo by Charley Marlowe.

Performances are Saturday, Sept. 11, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 12, at 2:30 p.m. at the Stowe Theatre, 67 Main St. Tickets: $20 adults; $18 students with i.d.; $14 seniors 65+ and children 12 and under. 

Stowe Theatre Guild requires all patrons, volunteers, cast, and crew to be fully vaccinated unless under the age of 12 or medically ineligible (as determined by a physician). Cast members remove masks when performing. 

More details and tickets are online at stowetheatre.com/2021.