'RADIUM GIRLS' Tells Rarely Heard True Story

It’s a true story that many are unfamiliar with and three generations removed from the cast that will be telling it, yet the powerful message of social activism in Radium Girls is as relevant today as it was when it took place.

"Radium Girls" takes place in 1926, a time when unbridled scientific innovation and cutting-edge discoveries were defining the era. In this time period, radium was a miracle cure, Madame Curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage.  Young high school girls were hired and paid well for a prestigious job of painting radium paint on the dials of wristwatches for the military and popular alarm clocks for the general public.

Radium Girls follows the lives of three girls who were hired while in high school to be “dial painters” at a radium plant in Orange, New Jersey. In order to make the fine lines required, the girls would put the paintbrushes in their mouths to make the pointed tips. The show relays the story of the difficult fight for justice after the girls are sickened to death by the radium-laced paint.

“It’s the portrayal of a true, dark, disturbing story of corporate greed,” said Director Mary Rotella. “It’s a fast-moving ensemble piece about science, greed, power, courage and determination, especially of one young woman to stand up and fight for the rights of all the young women.”