![]() ![]() The set was breathtaking with a large clock on the side of the stage and a brick backdrop. The bruising makeup on Irene, Kathryn, and Grace’s jaws was masterfully done, and it felt as though the audience was seeing the real progression of the worker’s so called “radium jaw.” We wanted to give the impression that this isn’t now,” Meehan said.Ĭostumes, hair, and makeup all add to the illusion of the stage. “We really tried to capture the 20’s with the costumes and get a feeling for the time. The costumes reflected the 1920s with girls in long fitted dresses and men in old fashioned suits and suspenders. “We’re so blessed to have such an awesome student director, Isabelle Del Sesto, who put in so much effort in blocking and props and stage directing, it was just incredible! I think all in all, the actors and backstage crew were all as prepared as they could’ve been and performed a show that really came from their hearts,” Branch said. These elements elevated the believability of the performance to new heights. Sophomore student director Isabelle Del Sesto, stage manager Johan Kallen, and the rest of stage crew were able to transport the audience to the 1920’s with gorgeous set design, killer costumes, and amazing sound and light design. “Even though the events of Radium Girls takes place a hundred years ago… there are a lot of things that resonate now,” Meehan said, “A couple of those things are first, the idea of a company doing things that aren’t necessarily great and trying to cover them up or buy people off. For a period of time, radium was seen as a magnificent cure for diseases, but science later proves it to be deadly. One of the show’s most noteworthy themes is questioning science. The play ends with Arthur Roeder consumed with guilt as he looks at the frail and dying Grace Fryer.Īccording to Meehan, Radium Girls is loaded with heavy, important themes that are emphasized through it’s dramatic and fast-paced plot. His wife Diana (Anna Cain) questions the morality of what he’s doing to keep himself afloat and fears the public humiliation the court case brings. Roeder’s personal relationships are damaged as his company begins to be scrutinized by the public. As she falls ill, Grace finds herself at odds with not only the corporation, but her friends and family too. With the help of the Executive Director of the New Jersey Consumer’s League Katherine Wiley (Olivia Olson), Graces goes to court against the U.S. The United States Radium Corporation assures the workers that the company is not responsible, but Kathryn begins to doubt this when she fall ill as well. All seems well for the working class protagonist, however, everything starts to crumble when Irene falls ill and dies of unknown causes. Grace has a great life, a paying job, and a loving boyfriend Tom Kriender (Cameron Beattie). The public begins to spread radium elixirs across the nation as a miracle cure and cannot get enough of the potion. The two news reporters help narrate the story through the eyes of the public.ĭuring this time, Madame Curie (Brady Sugrue) experiments with radium and believes it is a cure for cancer. Then two news reporters, Nancy Jane Harlan or “Sob Sister” (Jen McFarland) and Jane Youngwood (Raven Joyce) take the stage. The three women smile and laugh as they tediously paint the dials with luminescent paint. MacNeil (Anna Cain) introducing Arthur to Grace and her coworkers Kathryn Schaub (Riley Morris), and Irene Rudolph (Olivia Olson). The story follows one of the factory workers, Grace Fryer, played by senior Faith Branch, as she fights for compensation from her employer Arthur Roeder, played by senior Cameron Burrill. That basically means your jaw is dying, it’s a condition now known as radium jaw,” Director and drama teacher Ed Meehan said. “ suffer from anemia, bone fractures, and necrosis of the jaw. The workers, nicknamed radium girls, slowly develop painful, terminal radiation sickness that kills them within a year of diagnosis. The young women are instructed to lick the tips of their brushes to make clean points for the intricate work, but that will soon end their lives. Each day, the girls painstakingly paint hundreds of watch dials embellished with glowing radium paint on the clock faces for the soldiers fighting in World War II and public fashion. The play Radium Girls tells the true story of young women working in watchmaking factories during the 1920’s. With only a year to live, the girls decide to spend their last days fighting against death and the United States Radium Corporation. ![]() With a only a year left to live and 250,000 dollars to spend, what would you do? In the 1920’s, factory workers named “the radium girls” are faced with this question as time slowly slips away from them. By Fiona Burrows and Clara Kobashigawa, Staff Writer and News Editor ![]()
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