Heather Hodgson Kosoy

An actress by passion, this Canadian native is bringing a rip-roaring comedy to the Bahamian stage for a good cause. She tells Cara Hunt about her acting journey and what led her to these shores.

Several years ago, Heather Hodgson Kosoy found herself at a crossroads in her life. She could, as was the original plan, sit the Canadian bar exam, or she could go to acting school and fulfil a long-held dream.

“I knew that if I pursued a law degree, I would spend the rest of my Iife wondering, ‘What if’,” she told Tribune Weekend.

The decision to follow her heart and pursue an acting career is one she has never regretted.

Heather’s acting career has been quite fulfilling. She has performed across Canada on a variety of stages and as a company member of both Drayton Entertainment and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

She has also been featured in a variety of Canadian and American film and television productions, including a recurring role in CityTV’s awardwinning television series “Meet the Family” and the award-winning short film “Pink”, of which she also executive producer.

“Acting has always been something that I wanted to do. It is something that is just deep in my soul. It’s a passion and just makes me come alive. I love that feeling of being able to transport an audience some place,” she said.

And this weekend, Heather hopes to do just that.

She will be starring in the stage play “The Long Weekend” by Norm Foster, directed by Chris McHarge and produced by Heather’s 2Hoops Productions. Proceeds from the comedy benefit will go towards the Bahamas National Trust, the Bahamas Feeding Network and Lend A Hand.

The the two-act, two-hour comedy (with a 20-minute intermission) also stars Bahamian attorney and actor D Sean Nottage, playwright and actor Stephen Sparks, whose host of TV credits include “Warehouse 13” and “Lost Girl”, and Alison Lawrence, who most recently appeared in Amazon Prime’s “The Lake”, and was seen in “Ghosts” (CBS) and “Murdoch Mysteries” (CBC).

The comedy is about two couples who during an “unplugged” weekend see the true nature of their relationships come to the surface. The four so-called ‘best friends’ slowly discover how they really feel about each other. The play is full of non-stop, mischievous fun and scrumptious plot twists, and there are plenty of surprises.

“It’s very funny,” Heather said. “You will laugh out loud. In fact, we estimate that the play will last about 15 minutes longer than the script to accommodate the laugh breaks.

“There is nothing depressing about this script and that is something that people really need now, because things have been so challenging recently; the play is just a great escape,” she said.

The play was a long time coming. It was originally scheduled to run March 2020. But the pandemic put the brakes on the project.

“We were four days into rehearsal when the clock stopped, “she said.

“We had to figure out how to get the actors out of the Bahamas instead of how to get them ready for the show,” she said.

Despite the long delay, Heather said it was easy to get back into character.

“We did have to recast one of the actresses because of scheduling conflicts, but it was easy to pick back up and have everything fall back into place.”

Heather also serves as a producer for the play, which has been a fun and challenging aspect of bringing the production to the stage.

“Usually, I get up around 6am and do a lot of the production work and get that out of the way before we start rehearsals. Producing and performing are like apples and oranges,” she explained.

“Performing is a lot more instructual and producing is more analytical.”

It’s not Heather’s first time producing and starring in a production in the Bahamas.

In 2019, she co-produced “The Love List” with Atlantis, a comedy that sold out night after night.

And just how did the Canadian native end up on the Bahamian stage?

“I fell in love,” she joked.

She met her husband, David Kosoy, a Bahamian resident and president of New Providence Capital Management, in 2014 while he was visiting Canada and eventually followed him back the Bahamas for a visit, and then just never left.

While Heather has acted for both the stage and TV, she said theatre will always be her first love.

“The theatre is just a living, breathing creature. TV and film are alive but just in a different way,” she said.

One of her favourite TV appearances was the Canadian reality show “Meet the Parents”.

It is a hidden camera show where prospective suitors meet their partners’ parents who pretend that they are crazy.

“It was a lot of improv and was just a lot of fun to play one of the parents,” she said,

Heather said she enjoys feeding off her audience; something that can only happen during live performances.

“Although I can and have done drama, comedy is my favourite.”

“The Long Weekend” will also be comedy with a purpose. Production