My entire family is steeped in the performing arts. My mother is a concert pianist. At the age of 19, my mother debuted at New York Times Hall to rave reviews. My father is a concert violinist who debuted at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1941, also to rave reviews. I grew up listening to rehearsals and performances—solo recitals and concerts with my mother accompanying my father on the piano. Despite their talents, they did not support the family through their musical careers. They did continue to work as musicians and, in later years, gave recitals and duo performances. You can view a gallery of selected photos here.
The children of my family chose slightly different artistic pursuits. My sister, Joanie Fritz Zosike, first studied opera. Later she branched out into theatre. Action Racket Theatre, of which she is co-founder, is featured on the Web & Tech page. My brother, Carl Hieger, started as a singer whose focus was musical theatre, and later opera. He now works as a tenor in the chorus of the Zürich Opera House in Switzerland. My roots are in musical theatre. I later branched out into writing, as did my sister. We both attended a playwrighting workshop with Off-Off Broadway playwright George Birimisa. In New York, we work as writers and actors in avant-garde theatre companies. Two are highlighted to the right. One such company is the Wycherly Systers, a satirical song group that takes standards and Broadway tunes and re-writes the lyrics to make them topical. In this group, I play a troll named Trolletto. Here is a small photo gallery from performance. My sister plays one of the Systers named Isolde Sigrunde. You can view a small gallery of her performance here.
