Radium Girls

Dramat Froshow 2019

by D.W. Gregory

An image of a dialpainter with a green glow reflecting from the watch to her face

Radium Girls is a piece of historical fiction based on the events that took place in Orange, New Jersey between 1918 and 1928, when radium was a recent discovery thought to be a scientific miracle and its dangers were unknown. The story begins with an adult Grace Fryer reminiscing about her youth in the U.S. Radium Corporation’s dial-painting factory as she describes it to her lawyer in preparation for court. We are then introduced to a young Grace, her best friends Kathryn and Irene, and Arthur Roeder, the new plant manager. The girls are reminded to point the brushes on their lips in order to save the company spending on rags. They are unaware that the paint they are consuming will kill them. A few years later, Grace is engaged, Roeder has become president of the company, and the factory girls have started to become fatally ill. The rest of the play follows the lawsuit of the dying women against the corporation that poisoned them. Roeder struggles to admit his fault in the women’s deaths while protecting his company. The story is closely followed and exploited by the sensationalist press that caters to the observing public. It was one of the first major lawsuits to bring to light issues of workers’ rights and workplace safety. Their story also inevitably brings up the gender-based tension of female workers suing a board of men, the class privilege that separated them, the public’s sick obsession with tragedy, and the importance of science.

 
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Performance Dates & Times

April 4, 2019 - 8:00pm

April 5, 2019 - 8:00pm

April 6, 2019 - 2:00pm

April 6, 2019 - 8:00pm

Location

Yale Repertory Theatre

Venue Accessibility: 
Building is accessible via an elevator entrance around the left side of the building. Travel between the orchestra level and the lobby and facilities is accessible via the same elevator.

Performers

Grace Fryer
Arthur Roeder
Irene/Ms. Wiley
Tom/Reporter
Sob Sister/Board Member #1
Markley/Flinn/Drinker
Kathryn Schaub/Board Member #3/Harriet
Martland/Knef/Lovesick Cowboy
Berry/Elderly Widow/Bailey/Shopgirl/Madame Curie
Lee/Photographer
Mrs. Roeder/Store Owner/Board Member #2/MacNeil
Court/Venecine Salesman/Customer
Zelunjo Chumajaegbu
Clerk/Mrs. Fryer/Societywoman/Mrs. Michaels
Von Sochoky/Male Shopper

Production Team

Director
Associate
Producer
Stage Manager
Associate
Stage Manager
Lighting Designer
Head Electrician
Costume Designer
Dramaturg
Makeup Artist
Technical Director
Andre Papasavas
Sound Engineer
Sound Designer
Set Designer
Robert Lopez
Graphic Designer
Michelle Li
Associate
Producer
Nyeda Sam
Assistant
Stage Manager
Assistant
Makeup Artist
Props Supervisor
Costumes Team
Assistant
Stage Manager
Sets Team
Aliesa Bahri
Costumes Team
Ellie Latham
Projections Designer