Heroine 

It takes grit to be the only woman in the entire platoon. It takes courage to lead your squad into combat, when your assailant is within. But it takes heroism to finally talk about it.

We’ve been working with actress and writer Mary Jane Wells to develop her new solo show Heroine based on the true story of Danna Davies.

Danna served for 10 years in the US armed forces as a Special Operations Officer, a Drill Sergeant, a Staff Sergeant and a Squad Leader.  Her multiple deployments included helping Rwanda after the genocide and to tear down the Berlin wall.  She was awarded many medals during her service, including two Purple Hearts. She was the only woman in her entire company and led a squad into combat.  She is also a survivor of military sexual trauma.  When she led a secret mission into the Middle East, she and her assailant were two of the few survivors. Heroine is a human story about one female soldier’s experiences, and what healing and forgiveness really mean.

This is an extremely thought provoking piece of theatre with an extremely important story that should be told. Audience feedback: Heroine

Mary Jane Wells trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and worked in Scottish Theatre for 12 years before moving to the US where she now acts and writes.  Heroine received an Artist Exchange with Aberdeen Performing Arts in June 2015. Mary Jane worked with director and voice coach Susan Worsfold and scenographer Paul Burgess. Aberdeen Performing Arts provided the creative team with space and time to develop Heroine and to explore the healing potential of theatre and the human voice.

We are working with Mary Jane to take Heroine through to full production.

image credit: Chris Fink at finkfolio.com