Heather Massie (Writer / Solo Performer) is a NYC Actor and Writer. Originally from Virginia, Ms. Massie has always been fascinated by the sciences, especially Astronomy. She studied Astrophysics at the University of Virginia, and Theatre Arts at The Virginia Tech School of the Arts, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Ms. Massie has performed extensively regionally and nationally with: Mill Mountain Theatre, Allenberry Playhouse, Flat Rock Playhouse, Phoenix Theatre, Arizona Jewish Theatre Company, Nearly Naked Theatre, Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, Southwest Shakespeare, Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, and Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival. In NYC she has performed at Signature Theatre in readings of the plays Legends and Apples & Oranges by playwright Leslie Lee. She is a member of WorkShop Theater, Manhattan Theatre Works, NyLon Fusion Theatre, Firebone Theatre, Abingdon Theatre, and the Negro Ensemble Company. She has also performed on Theatre Row, at LaMaMa, Metropolitan Playhouse, The Lamb’s Theatre, 45th St. Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Dramatists Guild, New Dramatists, The Actors Studio, and more. She received the Jean Dalrymple Award for Best Supporting Actor and received three AriZoni Award Nominations. She served as a Cultural Envoy to Zimbabwe for the 2008 Intwasa Arts Festival, and worked in Ecuador and St. Petersburg, Russia. Ms. Massie collaborated for many years with the late Tony-Nominated playwright Mr. Leslie Lee, another scientist turned artist. She performed at LaMaMa in his plays The Book of Lambert, and Mina, about the life of painter-poet, Mina Loy; and in Mr. Lee’s musical Martin: A New American Musical with music and lyrics by Charles Strouse, with the Negro Ensemble Company. Upon Mr. Lee’s passing in 2014, Ms. Massie founded the Leslie Lee Legacy Foundation to foster the continued production of Mr. Lee’s writings.   

In an effort to join her love of science with her passion for theatre, Ms. Massie wrote and performs her solo show HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr. She has been awarded as the Outstanding Actress in a Staged Reading - 2016 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, NYC; Festival Bestseller - 2016 United Solo Festival, NYC; Best Actress - 2017 SaraSolo Festival, Sarasota, FL; Official Selection - 2017 DivaFest, Indianapolis, IN; Inaugural Artist-In-Residence - Grange Hall Cultural Center, Waterbury Center, VT; Audience Choice Award - Shenandoah Fringe 2017, Staunton, VA; Best Actress, 2017 Galway Fringe, Ireland; Audience Choice & Sold Out Awards - 2017 IndyFringe, Indianapolis, IN; Outstanding Performance in a Solo Show - 2017 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, NYC; and the Best Hustle Award – 2017 Charm City Fringe. She performs the show in memory of her dear friend, playwright Leslie Lee, in her Leslie Lee Memorial Tour. She was sponsored by the US Embassy, Zimbabwe for the 2017 Intwasa Arts Festival in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and the 2018 Harare International Festival of the Arts in Harare, Zimbabwe; and went on to perform in an extensive tour of South Africa in the Unizulu Science Centre, Science Festival in Durban, South Africa, May, 2018; the Thope Foundation in Khayelitsha, South Africa, May, 2018; the Makukhanye Art Room in Khayelitsha, South Africa, May, 2018; with Women in Tech Cape Town at Alexander Bar, Cafe & Theatre, Cape Town, South Africa, May, 2018; George Arts Theatre in George, South Africa, May, 2018; and the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, May-June, 2018. She performed in Inspirefest 2018 in Dublin, Ireland, June 2018 in the 2000 seat Bord Gáis Energy Theatre; at the Dublin Science Gallery hosted by Women in Technology & Science in Dublin, Ireland, June 2018; at Accidental Theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, July 2018; at Áras Éanna Arts Centre on Inisheer, Aran Islands, Ireland, July 2018; at Halla Rónáin on Inishmore, Aran Islands, Ireland, July 2018; in the Gothenburg Fringe, Gothenburg, Sweden, August, 2018; in the New York New Works Theater Festival at the Acorn Theatre on Theatre Row, NYC, September, 2018; in the Scranton Fringe Festival September, 2018; at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia at Old Cabell Hall, October, 2018; and at the historic Players Club in NYC, November, 2018.

She performed in the OnStage! Festival, Rome, Italy, January 24 & 25, 2019; followed by a tour of Ireland to St John’s Theatre, Listowel, Co. Kerry, Ireland - February 1, 2019; The Village Arts Centre, Kilworth, Co. Cork, Ireland - February 7, 2019; the Friars’ Gate Theatre, Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, Ireland - February 8, 2019; and Tech Amergin, Waterville, Co. Kerry, Ireland - February 10, 2019.

She delivered two performances at Virginia Tech in her hometown of Blacksburg, Virginia, March 22, 2019 for Women’s Month at The Cube in the Moss Arts Center, sponsored by the Virginia Tech Science Festival, the Kevin T. Crofton Dept of Aerospace & Ocean Engineering, the Bradley Dept of Electrical & Computer Engineering, the Virginia Tech Women’s Center, the Moss Arts Center, and the Institute for Creativity, Arts & Technology. She performed with ACANSA, the Arts Festival of the South in North Little Rock, Arkansas April 25, 2019; and at the Town Hall Theatre, Mainstage in Galway, Ireland, May 29, 2019.

Massie served as a 2019 Fulbright Specialist to South Africa, through the US State Department, World Learning, and the US Embassy South Africa to perform with RedFest, the Rural Education Festival in Giyani and Tzaneen, South Africa, July 22-25, 2019; with Inkcubeko Youth & Science Centre in George, South Africa for National Science Week, July 27 - Aug 3, 2019; with Christoph Meyer Maths & Science Centre in Mseleni, South Africa, Aug 5-10, 2019; and at Theatre On The Square in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, August 13-24, 2019. 

She then performed the show with Gamut Theatre Group - Harrisburg, PA - October 2019, with the AHA! Festival - Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden - November 2019; and showcased the show at APAP 2020 in NYC in Jan 2020. She performed with the Stone Hill Arts Series, Stone Hill Church of Princeton - Princeton, NJ - February 8, 2020; with the PRO.ACT Festival in Kyiv, Ukraine - Feb 28-Mar 1, 2020 earning the Best Performance Award; with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory - Laurel, MD - March 6, 2020; and with Doudna Fine Arts Center - Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL - March 10-12, 2020. Due to the worldwide pandemic, her heavy itinerary for 2020 was put on pause. Many engagements have been rescheduled and several are to be determined.

After a pandemic hiatus Massie returned to live performance with a Sold Out and Extened Run at the National WWII Museum in BB's Stage Door Canteen in New Orleans, LA - May 21-30, 2021. She then traveled to Iceland sponsored by a US Embassy Iceland Grant for the RVK Fringe Festival - Reykjavík, Iceland - July 3-11, 2021 playing at the prestigious Tjarnarbíó Theater, and was awarded The Character Actor Award, and The Maine Award (awarding her participation in the PortFringe Festival in Portland, ME in June 2022). As she was to have appeared as part of the Main Programme for the National Arts Festival in 2020, and live events were still not possible in 2021, one of her performances was streamed live from Reykjavík, Iceland to the National Arts Festival - Grahamstown/Makhanda, South Africa Virtual on July 10, 2021 for a truly cross-continental, cross-cultural event, which employed Hedy Lamarr's technology!

Massie then performed for the Stowe Theatre Guild in Stowe, VT - Sept 11&12, 2021; and for Suffolk Community College in Brentwood, NY - Oct 27, 2021. And in November she travelled to Italy by special invitation to perform with Lucido’s Festival "Extraordinary Women" in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy - Nov 18-21, 2021.

She has also presented the show in the following events:Private Virtual Performance - Zurich, Switzerland - Jan 24, 2022Tubac Center of the Arts - Tubac, AZ - Jan 28, 2022Willcox Theater and Arts - Willcox, AZ - Jan 29, 2022CPAC Community Performance & Art Center - Green Valley, AZ - Jan 31, 2022High Point Theatre - High Point, NC - (previously Feb 24) Rescheduled to Oct 7, 2022Goodwill Theatre - Johnson City, NY - Mar 11 (private) & 12 (public), 2022District Theatre - Indianapolis, IN - Mar 18-20, 2022New York Mills Regional Cultural Center - New York Mills, MN - Apr 13, 2022Sweden Tour sponsored by the US Embassy Sweden & the US Dept of State:UPPTECH Science Center - Jönköping, Sweden - Apr 26-28, 2022Navet Science Center - Borås, Sweden - May 3-5, 2022Vetenskapsfestivalen - Intn’l Science Festival - Gothenburg, Sweden - May 6&7, 2022Vetenskapsfestivalen Show: May 6 @7PM & Lecture: May 7 @4pmFinland shows sponsored by Mid Atlantic Arts USArtists International:FinFringe - Turku, Finland - May 11&14, 2022Tom Tits Experiment Science Museum - Södertälje, Sweden - May 17-18, 2022Cincy Fringe - Cincinnati, OH - June 5-11, 2022PortFringe - Portland, ME - June 14-18, 2022Virginia 4-H All Stars Centennial - Lecture - Blacksburg, VA - July 30, 2022WAA Conference - Calgary, Canada - Aug 29 - Sept 1, 2022

And is scheduled to perform the show for the following events:Scifest Africa - Grahamstown/Makhanda, South Africa - Sept 7-10, 2022Cairo Days International Monodrama Festival - Cairo, Egypt - Sept 12-16, 2022TBD - Intwasa Arts Festival - Bulawayo, Zimbabwe - Sept 26 - Oct 1, 2022High Point Theatre - High Point, NC - Oct 7, 2022 - preceded by a Hedy Lamarr Film FestivalZeiterion Performing Arts Center, New Bedford, MA - Nov 1, 2022 - preceded & followed by a Hedy Lamarr Film FestivalSigma Xi Conference - Alexandria, VA - Nov 5, 2022Upper Manhattan - NYC - Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Grant - TBA 22/23Amityville Women’s Club - Amityville, NY - Jan 10, 2023APAP Conference - NYC- Jan 12-17, 2023Desert Hills Presbyterian Church - Scottsdale, AZ - Jan 27, 2023Sarasota Jewish Theatre - Sarasota, FL - Feb 22-26, 2023Kirkland Fine Arts Center, Millikin University - Decatur, IL - Apr 21, 2023

Plans are underway for further production in international festivals, regional theatres, universities, museums, libraries, schools, and scientific and cultural organizations.

Further production dates can be found at the show’s homepage www.HeatherMassie.com/Hedy and at www.heathermassie.com/hedy/upcoming

HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr is the first in Massie’s planned trilogy of shows celebrating women in science. Her second is to be Flying with Sally Ride! America’s First Woman in Space. In February 2019 she was the Resident Artist at the Áras Éanna Arts Centre on the island of Inisheer in the Aran Islands, Co. Galway, Ireland, for the research phase of this new work. She continued this work in an Artist Residency with the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center in New York Mills, MN in April, 2022.

Further info at www.heathermassie.com/hedy  

See Heather's Acting Resume HERE