PMJ Productions' THE LONELY SOLDIER MONOLOGUES Plays The Cockpit, Now thru May 31

PMJ Productions presents The Lonely Soldier Monologues by Helen Benedict, running today, May 6th - 31st 2015, at The Cockpit. Press Night: Thursday, May 7th 2015, 7.30pm.

US Army Specialist Natasha Schuette, 21, was pressured not to report being assaulted by her drill sergeant during basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Though she was harassed by her assailant's fellow drill instructors, she refused to back down and Staff Sgt. Louis Corral is now serving four years in prison for assaulting her and four other female trainees. The US Army rewarded Natasha for her courage to report her assault and the Sexual Harassment/ Assault Response & Prevention office distributed a training video featuring her story.

The Lonely Soldier Monologues is a brave verbatim play that looks at the lives of 7 women who served in the US Armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are experiences that until now, have been often unheard and commonly suppressed from the public. This is not just a US Military problem. It is also relevant in the UK. In 2014, the coroner at Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement's inquest said the following "Bullying and the lingering effect of an alleged rape were factors in the suicide."

This is a story that many people within the armed forces do not want told.

Helen Benedict - Helen Benedict is an award-winning playwright who has testified twice to Congress on behalf of women soldiers and lectures at colleges and military academies in the USA about gender justice and the military. Along with her articles about the sexual assault of women in the military, The Lonely Soldier (book and play) inspired the award-winning documentary, The Invisible War, shown to acclaim at Sundance, 2012. Helen Benedict is in the UK for the production at The Cockpit in May 2015 and will be conducting Q&A sessions regarding her work. She is still fighting the fight for equality, acknowledgment and justice for women. helenbenedict.com.

PMJ Productions - PMJ Productions was founded in 2014 by Prav MJ after participating in the Stage One New Producers Course to support innovative theatre projects. This is PMJ Productions' first collaboration and is with Liminal Space - her original company founded in 2010 that produces and develops new contemporary writing from emerging writers that challenge and inspire audiences. liminalspace10.com.

Mary F. Calvert - The compelling photograph for The Lonely Soldier Monologues is by Mary F. Calvert who is committed to using photography to affect meaningful social change and is known for producing work on gender based, human rights issues. She has won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award twice and is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist in Feature Photography. In 2013, Calvert was the recipient of the Canon Female Photojournalist Award at Visa Pour L'Image in Perpignan, France for her project The Battle Within: Sexual Violence in America's Military. maryfcalvert.com.

DETAILS:

The Lonely Soldier Monologues

PMJ Productions (in association with Liminal Space)

May 6th - 31st 2015

Wednesday - Saturday, 7.30pm Sunday matinees, 3.00pm

The Cockpit, Gateforth Street, London NW8 8EH

US and UK Military Justice, Professor Helen Benedict and LIBERTY, May 14th
Domestic and Sexual Violence in the UK, Dr Susan Bewley, May 21st
Military Justice and the UK Government, Madeleine Moon MP, May 27th

£14 (full price), £12 (concessions)
Theatre Box Office (thecockpit.org.uk), 0207 258 2925

Marylebone station (8 min walk) Edgware Road station (8 min walk) Baker Street station (14 min walk)

Website (lonelysoldier.co.uk) Twitter (twitter.com/LSpace10)

Photo © Mary F. Calvert/ZUMA Wire

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