Independence: The True Story of Dr. Mary Walker

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Join actress Kathie Barnes for this one-woman play about the incredible Dr. Mary Walker, followed by a live/virtual Q&A discussion featuring Kathie Barnes and playwright Lloyd J. Schwartz.
Of all the 3,200 Congressional Medal of Honor winners, Dr. Mary Walker is the only woman to win our country’s highest award for heroism. She was a Civil War surgeon, dress reform crusader, women’s rights activist, suffragist, feminist, and abolitionist. Walker did not take her husband’s name upon marriage, and their wedding vows did NOT have the word OBEY in them. She was a prisoner of war, and strong patriot.
And yet, writer/director Lloyd J. Schwartz had never heard of her. But he couldn’t shake the idea that Dr. Walker’s life was dramatic and could captivate an audience. INDEPENDENCE, produced by Tina Dwyer, had its world premiere, fittingly, in Seneca Falls, New York (the birthplace of the women’s movement), as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote in New York.
Advanced Ticket Price: $23 plus tax and fees
Day of Show Ticket Price: $25 plus taxes and fees
Though a prolific writer/producer in TV and Film (Brady Bunch, Gilligan’s Island, Alice, Baywatch), Lloyd J. Schwartz is proudest of his accomplishments in theatre. He has had 34 plays produced, and has garnered 16 Valley Theatre League awards.

One day, Schwartz read a one page article on Dr. Mary Walker, Civil War surgeon and the only woman to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Yet he had never heard of her. Normally adverse to one-person plays, Schwartz couldn’t shake the idea that Dr. Walker’s life was dramatic, intense, pertinent and could captivate an audience. INDEPENDENCE, produced by Tina Dwyer, had its world premiere fittingly in Seneca Falls, New York (the birthplace of the women’s movement), as part of the 100th Anniversary Celebration of women getting the right to vote in New York.

Kathie Barnes, who plays Dr. Mary Walker in Independence, has enjoyed a wide variety of roles in film, television and even digital having been a series regular in Warner Brothers first online series DECEPTION. Other favorite roles include a semi-regular role on ABC’s “All My Children”, Laura in “The Guiding Light” and Nona in the film “Jimmi”. She previously worked with author/director Lloyd Schwartz on two of her favorite theatrical roles, “What Are We Going to Say to Her?” and the poignant “Poems for Mary.” She notes that Dr. Mary Walker is truly a hero and she is touched and honored to portray her.