By Mike Koch
Live theater returns to Black Box Theater (BBT) on Friday, January 28 for three weekends of DW Gregory’s “Radium Girls” directed by Autumn Gieb.
The play will be performed on Friday and Saturday, March 28-29. January and 4th-5th and 11.-12. Performed February at 8 p.m.; at 2:30 p.m. Sundays 6 and 13 February; and at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 10.
Tickets are $15 general admission, $12 for students and seniors over 65, and $10 for all seating for Thursday, February 10th’s performance.
The cast includes Debbie Jo Felix, David Arias, Autry Sutcliff, Penny Bever, Nancy Clein Tafoya, Lisa Taylor, Doug Abbott, Joseluis Solorzano and Genno Tafoya.
The show’s set design was by Joshua Taulbee; lighting design by Bekah Taulbee; makeup by Naomi Gomez; Gabe Brilliante is the stage manager; and Peter Herman is the technical director.
“Radium Girls,” for whom the piece is named, were factory workers in New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut, beginning in 1917, who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch faces brightly colored.
“In 1926, radium was a miracle drug, Madame Curie was an international celebrity, and luminous clocks were all the rage—until the girls who painted them contracted a mysterious disease,” reads a synopsis of the play at www.dramaticpublishing.com. “Inspired by a true story, Radium Girls follows the struggles of dial painter Grace Fryer as she fights for her day in court. Her main antagonist is her former employer, Arthur Roeder, an idealistic man who cannot bring himself to believe that the same element that shrinks tumors could have something to do with the horrific outbreak of disease among his employees. However, as the case unfolds, Grace not only battles with the US Radium Corporation, but also with her own family and friends, who fear her campaign for justice will backfire.”
“I was drawn to this play because it’s a part of the story that doesn’t get talked about a lot,” Gieb said. “Although there was a lot of press coverage at the time, you will hardly read about it in the history books. This is an important story that needs to be told. Not only did these women suffer physically, but they also had to fight to have their illnesses recognized at all and employers to protect their employees from dangerous conditions. These women, some as young as 15, were being exploited by a large corporation. This is a true David and Goliath story.”
Artists whose work will be featured in the BBT Lobby Gallery during Radium Girls include Diana Ayres,
Margaret Bernstein, Rick Bernstein, Luci Bromberg, Rebecca Courtney, Penny Duncklee, Linda Elkins, Kris Karstead, Meredith Loring, Jan Minow, Gabriele Teich, Lara Teich and Carol Witham.
BBT is located at 430 N. Main St. Downtown.
For reservations and more information, call BBT at 575-523-1223.
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