We are so excited to welcome Candie Heidelberg-Denison to our team as our new Education Manager! She is a warm, engaging, and passionate educator who is always looking for ways to inspire and motivate those around her. It’s obvious just how much she cares about students and helping them succeed in their goals. Candie has a knack for connecting with everyone she meets and making them feel excited about theatre.

She has taught locally at the Governor’s School for the Arts, Norfolk State University, and The Hurrah Players. She has an MFA in Acting from Regent University.

We sat down with her this week to get to know her better. Read the interview below!

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So, Candie, what is your role at Virginia Stage Company?

I am the new Community Relations & Education Manager. I will be working with Student Matinees, School & Community tours, and aiding in strengthening VSC's educational and community relationships.

Before working at VSC, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?

I was once an MC at an entertainment company, where I worked bar/bat mitzvah's and all types of birthday/anniversary parties. The elaborate decor and goody swag was epic! I came home one weekend with a life sized cardboard cut out of an academy award statue.

What would people never guess you do in your role?

People would never guess that I spend a lot of my time in a beautiful office on the 14th floor of a building and not in the theatre.

What's your favorite restaurant Downtown or local experience? 
My favorite restaurant downtown is Hokkaido! I have spent so many bdays, cast gatherings, and friend and family dinners there that they know me by name.

If your life could be immortalized on stage, what would the show be like?

The show would be a musical, titled This Life, I'm Shocked, with fabulous costuming and torch songs. All the cast would be larger than life representations of people and experiences in my past that anyone could relate to.

Do you have a hidden talent?

I can keep 3 hula hoops going at once. 1 on each arm, and 1 around my neck.

That’s amazing! I would also like a demonstration. What other activities do you enjoy outside of work?

I am a classic film lover. I love, love autobiographies of stars of the 1950's.

Let’s see. Do you have a favorite… (long, dramatic pause to increase the tension) flower?

My favorite flower is the gardenia. The shape of the petals are calming. It's sent reminds me of sweetness and joy!

I regard the theater as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.
-Thornton Wilder