46 | MARCH 7 • 2024 
J
N

ARTS&LIFE
THEATER

A 

one-performer, award-winning 
biographic play, Hedy! The Life & 
Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, will 
have two performances, March 14-15, at 
the West Bloomfield Berman Center for 
the Performing Arts. The play title gives 
the essence of the production about the 
late movie star born of Jewish heritage. 
Both presentations will be the same 
with the matinee on the second day hav-
ing some accommodations for audience 
members experiencing cognitive issues. 
The idea has to do with keeping people in 
touch with community activities.
The Alzheimer’s Association Michigan 
Chapter is offering free tickets for those 
with medical verification of Alzheimer’s or 
dementia and their caregivers while other 
members of the audience pay regular tick-
et prices. Lighting and sound adjustments, 
as well as volunteers, will be among the 
enhancements.
“We’re going to be implementing these 
accommodations to make dementia, 
Alzheimer’s and sensory-needing ticket 
holders feel a very friendly atmosphere,” 

said Heather Massie, who wrote the pro-
duction she has performed worldwide 
since 2016. 
“I’ve been talking to Eric Maher, 
senior director of event Operations at the 
Berman Center, to make all the things we 
do a really enjoyable experience.”
The play, which has Massie portraying 
Hedy and calling 36 famous characters 
into the drama with vocal styles, will 
emphasize how Lamarr gained attention as 
a beautiful movie star but did not get suf-
ficient credit for technical advancements 
she devised and since have been incorpo-
rated into wireless communications.
This will be the first of three Massie-
written productions saluting women 
achievers and encouraging young women 
into advanced professions. The idea fits 
Massie’s personal lifeline as she studied 
astrophysics and theater before becoming 
an actress-writer. 
Massie ultimately wants to develop plays 
in recognition of astronaut-physicist Sally 
Ride and possibly primatologist-anthro-
pologist Jane Goodall.

“I was looking for a woman in science, 
and I found Hedy,” Massie said about her 
venture into writing after appearing in 
various productions around the coun-
try, early on with the play The Long Way 
Home. “Through these shows that I am 
developing, I get to do all the things I 
wanted to do when I was 8 years old.”
Massie, raised and university-educated 
in Virginia, is now living in New York and 
has different versions of the show depend-
ing on the age group viewing the presenta-
tion. The production she will be doing in 
West Bloomfield is the longest, lasting 95 
minutes and including information about 
Hedy’s Jewish heritage. 
“Hedy left Austria in about 1937,” 
Massie said while describing Lamarr’s 
early performance years. “Part of that was 
to escape her possessive husband (one of 
six), Fritz Mandl, who was an arms and 
munitions dealer. 
According to Hedy’s best friend, Arlene 
Roxbury, Hedy overheard dinner conver-
sation from buyers of munitions and knew 
that something was going to happen soon, 

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Hedy: The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14, and 1 p.m. Friday, 
March 15, at the Berman Center for the Performing Arts in the West Bloomfield J (Jewish Community Center). $25-
$45. Free tickets will be available for appropriate audience members through March 8 by registering with the 
Alzheimer’s Association Michigan Chapter through Kayla Jakel at (248) 996-1056 or kjakel@alz.org.

Details

Heather Massie’s one-performer play 
will have special accommodations for 
those with cognitive issues.

Hedy: The Life 
& Inventions 
of Hedy 
Lamarr

Heather Massie 
as Hedy Lamarr in 
Hedy! The Life & 
Inventions of Hedy 
Lamarr

