Interview with our season apprentice: Heids Macdonald
- What are you looking forward to most about the apprenticeship?
I have always wanted an opportunity to pour myself into the work of theatre without any other attachments. I have been a nurse for ten years, and it has always been done in tandem to my work as a theatre artist (whether when I was in theatre school or in the years that followed). I can’t wait to wake up each day knowing that my primary purpose for this season is to glean from and pour into the art form that means so much to me.
- Could you share a piece of theatre that moved you?
Gosh…I have seen a lot of plays, and so many of them have left a lasting impression. I guess I want to talk about the first time I saw “Da Kink in my Hair” at Theatre Calgary (2016). I grew up in a mixed race home, where there were white biological children and black adopted children. I loved growing up in this environment, but I was never aware of the ways that my black siblings experienced racism. I was a privileged white Canadian that thought that sort of thing just doesn’t happen here. Frankly, living in ignorance is so easy and attractive. But seeing that play was one of the first times that a piece of theatre caused me to examine an assumption I had held my whole life. In the years since then, I have had profound conversations with both my siblings and my BIPOC friends about their experiences of how racism in Canada affects them. However, I would say that the lasting impact of this theatrical experience goes further than that. It invited me into asking all sorts of questions about assumptions I had taken for granted my whole life. I think that moment was pivotal in setting me on a trajectory as an artist (a queer one at that) who wants to rigorously examine how marginalized communities are ignored or harmed when those who the system benefits do not look at themselves.
- Is there a fictional place you’d like to visit?
Call me cliche, but I have to say Narnia. Those stories have always meant so much to me, and I feel like Narnia is a home away from home that I’ve only visited in my imagination. Ideally, I want to go when Cair Paravel is giving a feast, and the wine is flowing like a river. If you meet me, ask me about my Narnia tattoo. It’s a whole half sleeve.
- What’s one of your non-theatrical specialties?
A chance to brag about myself? Yes please. I am a very good soccer player. When I was a teenager, I wanted to play for the women’s national team (though was never that good), and I still get giddy whenever the Olympics or Women’s World Cup rolls around. I watch it half wishing that it was me on that pitch. As an extension though, acting in “The Wolves” is a dream of mine where I can combine my soccer and theatre passions.
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