They were duchesses and shop girls, from farms and great cities.  They were ultimate sophisticates and completely naive. They had in common only that they embodied compassion amidst the chaos of war as they nursed the armies of their worlds.

In the years between 1809 and 1949, years paralleling the long battle for women's rights in the western world, nurses to the armies of Great Britain and America took an incredible journey from being, in the contemporary dismissive phrase, "camp followers," to being respected and admired officers in their countries' armed forces.

And during their journey, they wrote! In official reports, field journals and letters home, in notes in their photograph albums, in diaries and manuscripts both published and unpublished they recounted their adventures, fears, sorrows, privations and triumphs, and their sisters recorded their deaths.

In this one-person presentation by actor Bonda Lewis, you will hear their stories, share their extraordinary courage, vision and laughter, and follow their growth from un-acknowledged healer-heroes who followed their husbands, brothers and sons to battle, to commissioned officers of dignity and acknowledged power. Meet an extraordinary family who walked the path that led their journey from camp followers to commissioned officers; meet the women who ignited

The Powder Keg

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