Shopgirl is one of the bystanders to hear the story of the radium girls in the papers, and is shocked by the amount of money theyre asking for. For the dial painters, proximity to radium seemed like a dream, even though the work itself was taxing and the girls were pressured to be exacting in their application of the paint. The radium girls actually believed they were getting healthier by working with the new wonder drug the most. But it also celebrates our individual courage the daily record, morristown, n. You will need to print this off, or pick one up at lunches, fill it out, and bring it with the signed contract to your audition time. Radium girls radium girls synopsis in 1926, radium was a miracle cure, madame curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage until the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. Selected monologues from radium girls including video examples, context and character information. Radium girls may speak to our collective capacity for denial. In the book, the radium girls, kate moore introduces readers to these real women, who lived in new jersey and in illinois.
The audience was riveted by the story and wanted to learn. It takes over 1,500 years for the effects of radium to wear off. The action flows nicely from scene to scene, told through the eyes of one radium girl and her struggles to get justice for her condition. In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, madame curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage until. How do you think todays world would be different had the radium girls not fought back against the radium companies. And finally, the radium girls get a small cameo in this xkcd comic.
Radium girls postscript endless forms most beautiful. Inspired by a true story, radium girls traces the efforts of grace fryer, a dial painter, as she. By the 2010s, the radium girl were finally getting some overdue recognition. Radium girls is a work of historical fiction based on events that occurred in and around orange, n. I think what i find the most sad about the newspaper coverage is that they all refer to the girls as the living dead. The radium girls were the first people who worked, for years, with one of the worlds most radioactive substances and suffered the consequences.
A few years ago, while living in london, the author went online to search for great plays for women, and she found these shining lives, a play by melanie marnich about the radium poisonings and. A century ago a wondrous substance promised to cure disease and revolutionize consumer goods. The radium girls are so referred to because they were employed to paint watch dials. This means that the bodies of the women and parts of the towns in which they worked remain poisonous to this day. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe. It is the powerful tale of a group of ordinary women from the roaring twenties, who themselves learned how to roar. The story has been told in a number of forms, including the 2000 play, radium girls. And moment of science has a script on the radium girls in the works.
Theatre to present radium girls university of central arkansas. Ben is thrilled to return to the stage in his final fall play at nicolet. The 1999 drama radium girls is receiving a new staging at orange coast college, and lr miranda lennert, fallon james, ayla valentine play a few of the thousands of reallife women factory. Young, naive and conscientious, the shining girls kept lipdipping and painting to achieve that precise point even when. Radium girls play pdf radium girls is a fastpaced stage. The us radium corporation were a bunch of snakes, but radium dial was downright criminal. Gregorys gripping drama based on the true story of female laborers who were poisoned and killed by their factorys radiumbased paint. The 1920s set the backdrop for a time and place where scientific discoveries were rampant and quick.
Drawing on previously unpublished sourcesincluding diaries, letters, and court transcripts, as well as original interviews with the womens relativesthe radium girls is an intimate narrative account of an unforgettable true story. Stuff you missed in history class featured the radium girls in their sept. Grace explains to her mother why she is going to court rather than take a settlement from the radium company. Radium girls 2018 h productions cedar springs high school. In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, madame curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage until the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. It is a wonderful sad, but wonderful reflection on the radium girls and their battle for justice, as well as a warning to even modern audiences regarding the proper treatment of employees, and caution in the face of the unknown. The high demand for radium is at the heart of kate moores book, the radium girls. British author moore felix the railway cat, 2017 takes a slice of ugly american history from nearly a century ago, telling a compelling narrative that could be ripped from recent headlines. Npr books the incredible true story of the women who fought americas undark danger. View to southwest of alden street facade of original building right and c19441950 postu. Her chief adversary is her former employer, arthur roeder, an idealistic man.
In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, madame curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rageuntil the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, madame curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rageuntil the girls who painted. A commitment must be made to this show to make every rehearsal. The interrogator from the carol burnett show full sketch duration. Inspired by a true story, radium girls traces the efforts of grace fryer. Besides unique character development, the cast will be working very hard with script and character analysis, dramatic elements, blocking, and transitions.
The forgotten story of the radium girls, whose deaths saved thousands of workers lives. The radium girls saga holds an important place in the history of both the field of health physics and the labor rights movement. Discussion of themes and motifs in kate moores the radium girls. Still, according to moore, they felt incredibly lucky. By the 1970s there were estimated to be over 10 million watches and clocks in the usa with luminous ra226 dials, like the one depicted in fig. The radium girls literally glowed from their workand. Both companies repeatedly lied to the girls and to the courts and it was actually enraging to read about the ordeal they put the radium girls through. A new york times, usa today, and wall street journal bestseller. Once a connection was finally made between the girls symptoms and radium poisoning, many of the girls.
The right of individual workers to sue for damages from corporations due to labor abuse was established as a result of the radium girls case. Inspired by a true story, radium girls traces the efforts of grace fryer, a dial painter, as she fights for her day in court. The dark story of americas shining women, kate moore tells the story of how these dial painters took on. In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, madame curie an international celebrity. Radium girls is a powerful production covering the women who used the radium pant on watch dials in the 20s. The radium girls characters listed with descriptions.
Plot summary of radium girls in 1926, radium was a miracle cure, madame curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rageuntil the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. The morals and general ideas framed and changed the entire case of the radium girls. Radium is a miracle cure, madame curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage. The carol burnett show official recommended for you. A weakactor will play the character without the vital sincerity she requires, given a melodramatic. Based on the true story of the women and men who worked for the u. Radium is a naturally occurring element, most of which is found in uranium ore. Your first task is to read through the script over the weekend. The ensemble plays board members, members of the public and various press as the scenes require.
Radium girls radium girls synopsis radium girls character. Though radium girls ranges from 1918 through the 1940s, the bulk of the narrative is centered on events in new jersey in the mid 1920s the play highlights grace, irene, and kathryn who paint dials in the u. Review by melissa blankestyn, porta hs, petersburg, ill. Kate moore, author of the radium girls kate moores new book digs into the short, painful lives of the radium girls, who worked painting luminous dials on.
The main characters in kate moores 2017 nonfiction book the radium girls are the young women who worked in two us factories painting clock and watch dials with radioactive radium paint. The curies newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. The first two lines are lines of dialogue which can be included as part of the monologue or not. Inspired by a true story, radium girls traces the e orts of grace fryer, a dial painter, as she ghts for her day in court. Radium girls traces the efforts of grace fryer, a dial painter, as she fights for her day.
During world war i, hundreds of young women went to work in clock factories, painting watch dials with. Also, musician pat burtis wrote a song and dedicated a record album to the radium girls a few years back. One act play competition is highly rigorous and we are. The best new play in new jersey professional theatre the starledger this is the oneact version for the fulllength version click here. The radium girls makes it impossible for you to ignore these womens incredible stories, and proves why, now more than ever, we cant afford to ignore science, either. With such a coveted job, these shining girls are the luckiest alive until they begin to fall mysteriously ill. Of course there are a lot more stories, articles, and other resources on the radium girls.
A wry examination of the commercialization of science and the twin american obsessions with the pursuit of health and. In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, madame curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rageuntil the girls who painted them began to. The rehearsal schedule for radium girls will be very demanding. The struggle between moneyimage and doing what is right is forefront. Radium girls revisits historic court case that led to. Radium girls one act version d w gregory every play. Came across the play on a slow day at work and read it before the shift was over. All 173 characters in the radium girls are listed by chapter with character descriptions included. Radium girls around before the deadly effects of their work with radium had begun to present themselves. The radium girls left us all an extraordinary legacy.
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