Auckland Arts Festival 2025: HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr
Did you know a woman invented the tech behind WiFi—and she was also a huge movie star? This one-woman show tells Hedy Lamarr's story to inspire the next generation of scientists, especially women in STEM.
Did you know that a woman invented the tech behind WiFi? And that she was one of the biggest movie stars of her time? A crackerjack of a one-woman theatre show, HEDY! is the rollicking true yarn of Hedy Lamarr, whose bombshell looks — dubbed “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World” by Hollywood’s publicity machine — overshadowed her scientific genius. Creator Heather Massie not only embodies Hedy and a cast of (36!) Tinseltown greats with real spunk, but it’s her drive to inspire the next gen — especially women in STEM — that got us excited about bringing her message and Hedy’s story to young Aucklanders.
Heather Massie is an actor and writer from New York. She studied both astrophysics and theatre in university, and combined her love of the sciences and performing arts into HEDY!The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, which is the first in a planned trilogy of solo shows celebrating women in science. Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-born actor and inventor who found fame during the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s in starring roles for film studio MGM. In 1942, she co-invented and patented Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum with composer George Antheil. Massie portrays not only Lamarr but a host of characters, including Hollywood legends James Stewart, Bette Davis and Louis B. Mayer.
Gorgeous … Heather Massie is the image of Hedy Lamarr -Total Theater
Heather Massie's Hedy Lamarr play is highly inventive -The Irish News
In a balance of high energy and poise, Heather Massie is no less than captivating. -The Huffington Post
Presented by:
Auckland Arts Festival 2025
Direction: Blake Walton, Leslie Kincaid Burby
Projections:
Jim Marlowe, Charley Marlowe
Sound Design: Jacob Subotnick, Andy Evan Cohen
Dialects: Page Clements
Technical Director: Dan Leary
Photography: Al Foote III, Charley Marlowe, Monica Callan, Inspirefest.
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