The School of Dramatic Arts’ “The Heidi Chronicles” wasted no time drawing the audience into Heidi’s world this weekend at Bing Theatre. 

Jody Watley’s 1987 hit “Looking for a New Love” played as people scrolled through their digital programs, a soundtrack choice that in hindsight became the perfect foreshadowing of the drama about to unfold. As the house lights dimmed, the curtain stayed fully closed, concealing the set. 

SDA offered a performance that felt both timely and timeless. The play followed Heidi Holland, an art historian whose journey spanned from the 1960s to the 1980s as she navigated friendships, protests, affairs, career milestones and moments of self-reckoning in New York City. It asked what it means for a woman to shape her own life rather than live by the expectations of others.

At center stage stood an old classroom projector screen, and, across the ruby-red fabric behind it, two enormous female faces appeared, their features wrinkled by the folds as they stared out at the audience. 

To kick off the show, Kalālapa Winter entered as an unnamed Columbia University student, bopping down the aisle from the back of the theater toward the stage listening to a Walkman, school sweatshirt on and ’80s hair bouncing. In character, she recited the theater rules and delivered the land acknowledgment as if it were a homework assignment spoken to an invisible classmate. Clever and unexpected, it immediately drew the audience in.

Moments later, Madeline Magaña as Heidi began her lecture, addressing the crowd as her students. Her first “class” introduced forgotten women artists nearly erased by history, and suddenly the haunting faces on the curtain made sense.

The set design masterfully conjured the atmosphere. When the curtain opened, the set unfolded like a scrapbook, transforming seamlessly into the different eras of Heidi’s life while calendar dates projected onto the walls marked time shifts. 

Heidi’s wardrobe changes happened onstage, guided by a lover or friend, so that a shirt pulled off or a skirt being fastened became its own story of the years between scenes: What could have been simple transitions became moments that carried meaning. 

The heart of the play, though, lay in the authenticity behind Heidi’s relationships. Sydnie Raé as Susan gave an immediately believable performance as Heidi’s lifelong best friend. Their chemistry felt real from the start. Their friendship grounded the play and became a throughline of trust and connection for the audience to follow.

Pedro Coelho as Peter delivered one of the strongest performances of the production. His energy was electric, his humor infectious, and his presence filled each scene. His coming-out moment charged the air. The audience fell silent, hanging onto each word, as he shared his truth with Heidi. 

His bond with Magaña’s Heidi and their “Will & Grace” shifts from comic banter to deep tenderness was magic. Their relationship provided the emotional core of the production, offering both joy and ache as the story unfolded.

Kapil Kanagasabai as Scoop gave a very different energy. His slow, deliberate delivery and slick charm embodied the slimy magazine man who floated in and out of Heidi’s life, the kind of character who made the audience silently plead, “Not him, Heidi, anyone but him.” 

Several directorial and atmospheric choices stood out as particularly effective. In one dramatic scene, Heidi appeared on a television talk show seated between Scoop and Peter. As the two men spoke over her, she sank into her chair, barely able to get a word or two out before being drowned out by their competing voices. The blocking captured the suffocation of being silenced even while trying to speak.

The production found room for humor as well. At a baby shower set in 1980, Savannah Biscoe as Betsy and Winter as Lisa earned big laughs with perfectly timed pregnant waddles across the stage that were funny and believable. Even Oscar Salvaggio’s quick turn as a comically snooty waiter in a later restaurant scene was a delight, reminding the audience that every role adds to the texture of the world.

The emotional climax arrived poignantly with Heidi’s monologue at her high school alma mater. Magaña let the scene build with a voice that was strong yet trembling at times, her eyes brimming with tears, as she spoke of the right to live life on her own terms and refuse the script written by society. The audience felt both her ache and the power of her self-reflection thanks to Magaña’s powerful and nuanced performance — a truly unforgettable showstopping moment.

From set and sound to costumes and blocking, every department worked in harmony to make this production a living canvas. Each performance added depth, every detail chosen with care. This version of “The Heidi Chronicles” was both funny and sharp yet also bruised and tender. 

It was a story that didn’t leave the audience at curtain call: It lingered in the chest like a song half-remembered, reminding everyone that the stories of women, of friends, of protest, of lives fully lived, are never just history. They are always right now.