THE LONELY SOLDIER MONOLOGUES BY HELEN BENEDICT

I said, "Don't look at me like I'm your little sister, 'cause I'm not. I'm a soldier, not a gender. I'm a soldier just like you."

Female veterans of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan recount their experiences.

Pumphouse Theatre, October 17th to 27th, 2012, Tuesdays through Saturdays 7:30 pm curtain, plus 2:00 pm matinees on the Saturdays and Sundays.

Mature content, may not be suitable for younger audiences.

Starring: Brooklyn Carl, Steven Levy, Taylor Thompson, Carly McKee, Amanda (Liz) Cutting, Michelle McKey, Gayl Veinotte, and Kristen Padayas.

Directed by Eric Pettifor. Stage Manager, Kelley Cheetham. Lighting Design, Michelle McAulay.

The Lonely Soldier Artists

Brooklyn Carl, from a small town of 5000 people, made her way to Calgary to pursue her dream of a career in acting. Recently graduated from Mount Royal University, Brooklyn is extremely excited to begin working on her first professional show, with the cast and crew of The Lonely Soldier Monologues. Previous shows include: Twelfth Night; Or What You Will, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Besides acting she's very interested in music, and is one of two members in the band Somatic Symmetry. Besides pursuing her dreams of theatre, and music, she can also be found behind the lens of a camera, taking head shots, or just taking in the scenery. Brooklyn played the roles of MARIA Sanchez, age 21 Army Specialist, served Iraq 2005 - 2006 California (Mexican-American).

Amanda Liz Cutting is thrilled to be a part of Artist Collective Theatre's ensemble. Selected credits include Comedy of Errors (Luciana), Macbeth (1st Witch), Rumors (Chris), Frankenstein (Elizabeth), Under Milk Wood (9 Characters), Until the Glass Stops Working (Gillian) and a Poker Girls webisode. Recently she finished portraying Clair in Rel8Shun. She is a Mount Royal University Graduate in Theatre Arts and will have the honour of directing a bunch of talented artists in Morpheus Theater's production of The Diary of Anne Frank. Amanda played the role of ANNA Peterford, age 24 Army Specialist, served Iraq 2003 - 2004 Wisconsin (white, middle class, small town) Daycare teacher prior to deployment.

Steven Levy is a recent graduate of the Mount Royal Theatre Program where he had roles in plays such as The Amazing Adventures of the Marvellous Monkey King, Alberta Rose and Twelfth Night. This is his first professional show and is very excited to be working on The Lonely Soldier Monologues with the rest of the cast and crew. As well as acting, Steven is also a magician and a member of a local Calgary band named After the Sun, in which he plays guitar, sings and writes music. Steven played all of the men who appear throughout the monologues.

Michelle McAulay has worked in theatre now for three years, focusing mainly on lighting. She is from Nanaimo BC where she attends Vancouver Island University. She is one year away from completing her Bachelor of Arts with Minors in Theatre and Creative Writing. She is very excited to be working on this production and hopes you enjoy the show! Michelle held the position of Lighting Designer.

Carly McKee is a Calgary based performer and graduate of the BFA Drama program at the University of Calgary. She is an Artistic Associate with Theatre Transit and one half of the project ArtBox! Calgary. Recent performance credits include For Art's Sake (Quest Theatre), A Clean Slate Christmas and I Am I (Theatre Transit) and Radioheaded 2: A Listening Party to Watch (One Yellow Rabbit). Up next for Carly is Fever Pitch (Evergreen Theatre) and participation in the Citadel/Banff Center Professional Program and The Penelopiad (Citadel Theatre). She'd like to thank the lovely cast and crew of The Lonely Solider Monologues and her family, friends and husband for their never-ending support. Carly played the role of TERRIS Dewalt-Johnson, age 37 Army Sergeant, served Iraq 2005 - 2006 Grew up in Washington, DC, in tough neighbourhood, army was ticket out, lives now in Georgia.

Michelle McKey recently graduated with a BFA in Drama and BA in English, with a creative writing concentration, from the University of Calgary. She is a poet, playwright, director.... oh ya, and actor. Selected past stage credits include Shooshoo and Vlum (Wagonstage), Bones for Otto, Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout, Trojan Women, and Fair Liberty's Call (U of C). Michelle is thrilled to be part of The Lonely Soldier Monologues, and is looking forward to working with this stellar cast. On the grand life-picture scale, she would like to thank those who began the journey with her, those who joined mid-way, and those sticking around for the credit roll. You're the reason, the inspiration, the motive, and the goal! Michelle played the role of MIRIAM Ruffalo, age 27 Air Force Sergeant, served Afghanistan 2006 Southern US, attractive ("Air Force Barbie") 3rd generation Air Force, photographer/public affairs specialist.

Kristen Padayas is a graduate of Grant MacEwan's Theatre Arts Program. She's appeared in two Edmonton Fringe Festival hits, Space with Panties Productions and the musical Bare with Patient Mango Theatre which was nominated for a 2012 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Best Fringe Production. She starred in the 2010 revival of On the Banks of the Nut and the world premiere The Scent of Compulsion. She also participates in DIE-NASTY (Edmonton's improvised live soap opera) and produces a monthly musical variety show called Oh Susanna! hosted by Mark Meer. She made her Calgary theatre debut this year in Theatre Transit's production of The Goodbye Day. Kristen played the role of SYLVIA Gonzalez, age 20 Army Specialist, served Iraq 2003 - 2004 Wisconsin (small town, Latina).

Eric Pettifor has directed such plays as Shakespeare's Cymbeline, Noel Coward's The Vortex, and Edward Albee's Seascape. He recently assistant directed Rel8shun, which ran at the Pumphouse this June and in one act form at the Nanaimo Fringe Festival. On the acting front last season he played the evil Mr. Griffin in Scorpio's production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and St. Peter in their production of Dan Gibbon's Salvage. He will be playing Otto Frank in Morpheus Theatre's production of The Diary of Anne Frank this year. He is thrilled to have assembled such a talented and creative group of people for The Lonely Soldier Monologues. Eric held the position of Director.

Taylor Thompson may be remembered by regular patrons of Morpheus Theatre as the singing hotdog in the 2011 panto Peter Pan, unaware that she was also the brilliant actor behind Nana the Dog in that same production. She also played the role of Julie Johnson in Workshop Theatre's Pack of Lies. In June she took on a major role in Rel8shun, which she repeated at the Nanaimo Fringe. Crissy was something of a religious zealot, and being cast as an evangelical Christian in The Lonely Soldier Monologues has caused Taylor to begin wondering if she's being type cast. Taylor played the role of CLARA Henderson, age 19 Army Specialist, served Iraq 2005 - 2006 Montana (small town) religious background/vocation.

Gayl Veinotte has performed on Calgary stages for 15 years. Most recently, she wrote and performed her own play, The Legend of the Tight Golden Ass at two Fringe festivals. Other credits include Rose, in Martin Sherman's one-woman play, Rose, and Harriet, the lead in Back to Beulah by W.O. Mitchell. She has acted in numerous Shakespearean plays, and took Blaize from Portia Couglan to the Acting Irish International Theatre Festival in Chicago in 2010. Gayl played the role of SANTIAGA Flores, age 46 Army Sergeant First Class, served Iraq 2004 but 22 yrs service total Native-American, strong identification with her culture.