Credit: Sofia Pazolli

Join WSPN’s Sofia Pazolli, Ariana Shang, and Isabella Jolon to discuss Wayland High School’s Spring Play, “Radium Girls”.

On May 7, 8 and 9, Wayland High School Theater Ensemble (WHSTE) hosted their spring play, “Radium Girls,” originally written by playwright D.W. Gregory. The play was directed by student director Ryan Watts, and acted by members of of WHSTE.

“I want those people to look at me, I want them to look at me and explain how it’s my fault I got sick working in their factory,” freshman Lily Rose Hage said onstage during the play.

“Radium Girls” brings light to the suffering of women factory workers who painted dials with a radium based paint. They were forced to mold the paintbrushes contaminated with paint in their mouths to achieve precision. The radium contained in the paint left them with decomposing jaws, little money and death at their doorstep.

The production is set in the 1920’s in Orange New Jersey, in the U.S. Radium Plant. The plant employed many women, from poorer families, who often left school in search of a paycheck to support the younger children still at home.

Radium Girls follows the story of three factory women workers: Grace Fryer, played by Hage, Irene Rudolph played by sophomore Abigail Fallace and Katheryn Schaub played by Eloise Coppola as they pursue justice by targeting the radium plant and its owner, Arthur Roeder.

Senior Marley Eggers, who played Roeder, the head of the U.S Radium Corporation and one of the show’s central antagonists, faced allegations raised against the U.S. Radium Corporation. Roeder is faced with a moral dilemma: Does he save the girls or does he choose the company? Eggers explained how the production carried a deeper meaning beyond the stage.

“I think [the show] was chosen specifically for its poignant story,” Eggers said. “The emotional connection the audience can have with the characters relates to [how] companies nowadays mistreat their workers.”

As the U.S. radium plant tries to conceal the reality, the girls are dying, but they won’t give up without a fight. Even as their jaws stiffened and their futures faded, Fryer and others continued to battle the corporation. The girls sued the plant and used newspapers to spread their stories, hoping to raise awareness. While the play provides no finite conclusion on these events, we can be inspired by their determination.

WHSTE director Aiden O’Hara hopes the audience walked out of the play invigorated by the story of young women who refused to give up, even when no one wanted to listen.

“This is a message about courage and resiliency,” O’Hara said. “What we can be really inspired by was [the radium girls] determination to fight for justice and what was right, hopefully the audience gets that.”

Senior Ellen Rearden played Katherine Wiley, the New Jersey consumer’s league chairman who helps Grace Fryer sue the plant and bring awareness to the cause.

Reardon felt privileged to be a part of this production and loves how the show brings history to life.

“It feels like a privilege to be playing this role,” Reardon said. “I feel like this story is important because it brings you back into history.”

As the seniors close out their final production, they are glad to have put on one last show with a community who has supported them since even before their first lines on stage.

“The kindness in the community [is my favorite part],” Eggers said. “Everyone there is so welcoming, even if you aren’t as confident in something, they are there to support you [with] everything.”

Ryann Watts, director of this production, opened the show by sharing with the audience that the meaning of a play is only truly derived by those who watch it.

From curtain to curtain, this story left a glowing message to each actor, theatre-goer and future thespian: Even if you have never spoken up all your life, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have a voice.