Frequency Hopper

Synopsis:

In 1914, Hedwig Eva was born to Gertrude and Emil Kiesler in Austria. Hedy was a precocious only child who was equally gifted in the performing arts as she was the sciences. Her life changed when naziism extended to her country and she learned first hand of its evils.
Performing in plays in Berlin, and bearing witness to Hilter’s impact on her first marriage to an arms dealer, she is determined to support the Allied Forces. Hedy changes her last name to Lamarr, leaves Austria, and accepts an offer to work with director, Max Reinhardt in Hollywood, for MGM Studios. Her gender and appearance are lauded while her intelligence and dedication to ending the war through science and technology are dismissed and belittled. The show features a score of Viennese waltzes, mini-operas and American style jazz standards.

Characters:

Young Hedwig: 5 year old Hedwig Kiesler, the only child to parents Gertrude and Emil Kiesler.
Gertrude Kiesler: Supportive mother to Hedwig, is a professional pianist, introduces her daughter to piano, music theory, dancing. Admittedly she would have wanted a son but makes do with Hedy. Lefthanded and stigmatized for it.
Emil Kiesler: Supportive Jewish Austrian Banker father to Hedy. He has a knack for mechanical engineering and takes Hedy on long walks, giving her opportunities to figure things out, identify problems and invent solutions to them.
Hedy Lamarr: 30-year-old Hedy has been working as an inventor and professional actor and producer in California for several years now. The intensity of the MGM Hollywood game is wearing on her, and she can’t stand being rewarded for apathy while 1000’s of allied forces are
being slaughtered everyday overseas. She and George Anthiel work tirelessly in their spare time to patent her Frequency-hopping technology that would ensure torpedos would find their targets and help end World War II.
Max Reinhardt: German director and playboy. Max is accustomed to having dalliances with most of the starlets he promotes. He is not used to Hedy and grows to respect her over the years, supporting her in negotiations with MGM. 40’s.
George Anthiel: The “Bad-boy of Composing,” George is a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none, but oftentimes better than a master-of-one! He assists Hedy with her technology by constructing an apparatus that replicates the system a player piano uses to produce organized sound. They have a fling but he knows she’s too much for him. 30’s.
Gustav Machatý: Hedy’s first big-break director for the film “Exstase,” who sees Hedy’s talent a mile away. Hedy tells him her parents never emphasized her beauty so when he connects her to the bigwigs in Hollywood who know how to make a pretty lady a bombshell, she signs up!
40’s.
Cecile Demille: Famous Hollywood director who hosts and produces the radio plays she would be invited to perform on. He is rich and powerful, manipulative and distant. 50’s.
Bruce Cabot: Bruce is also actor and he and Hedy meet on set of Comrade X, and he serves as a blessed distraction from King Vidor’s idiocy. 30’s.
King Vidor: Hollywood director who doesn’t respect anything about Hedy that isn’t skin-deep.
Abusive, power-hungry, bigoted. He wants to be better but he just can’t be bothered. Visits his
mother every Christmas, superficially affable. 30’s.
Ann Sothern: talented and overlooked actor. She and Hedy meet on set of the film “The Crossroads” and strike up a friendship. She admires Hedy’s calm and confident demeanor more than her looks. She looks up to Hedy but also wants a bit of her stardom to come her way, willing to absorb the sexual harassment and discrimination Hedy faces for a bit of the money and limelight. Solid friend. Survived Hepatitis after receiving an impure injection, negatively impacting her appearance and film career. 30’s.
John Loder: Actor, husband and father of their three children, John is a decent guy all around and appreciates Hedy’s European sensibility and intelligence, coming from Britain himself and having worked in Berlin, like Hedy. Served in the Great War and was disabled by sciatica and gunshot wounds. 30’s.
Charlie Chaplin: dated Hedy briefly, and was a Jewish actor, writer and entertainer in the United States. He can relate to Hedy in that only one aspect (comedian) of his character could be represented and distributed. Manages depression and anxiety and deals with the mental illness of his parents. 30’s.
Howard Hughes: dated Hedy briefly, and credited her with improving the aerodynamics of many of his airplane designs to go faster with less turbulence due to her studies of bird and fish locomotion. Manages Obsessive-Compulsive traits. 40’s.
Arlene Roxbury: actor and friend, whose relationship with Hedy would prove enduring and with whom Hedy could turn after her marriages ended and when she struggled with the stresses of single motherhood. Non-judgmental, kind, smart. 60’s-70’s.
Denise Loder: Hedy’s daughter. Kind, thoughtful, expressive, intelligent like her mother. 40’s
Anthony Loder: Hedy’s second son. Quiet, intelligent, artistic like his mother. 40’s.
James Lamarr Loder: Hedy’s adopted estranged son. Truthful about his mother’s varying aspects. 50’s.

Resources:

Play can be accessed by emailing the author at recreationhealing@gmail.com for the script.

Warnings:

adoption trauma, self-image/plastic surgery trauma, depictions of misogyny and racism of the time