Above: Algonquin’s winter production next week is a one act drama inspired by a true story. (images cropped from flyer)
Algonquin is putting on its winter play next week. “Radium Girls”, a drama with humor that is inspired by true events.
The one act play will be performed in their small Black Box Theater on Thursday, March 3rd and Friday, March 4th at 7:00 pm.
ARHS’ Arts blog (GonkArts.org) promotes:
This event truly is special, because other than the advising/direction, the students create the entire performance. The sets, props, costumes, poster logo, lights, stage management, and crew are all being designed and run by our talented students.
Admission to the play is free, but limited. GonkStage explains:
Please reserve your tickets here for Thursday or Friday evening.
Separate forms must be filled out if you wish to attend both evenings. If capacity limits are reached on either night, we may contact you to let you know that only one performance is available. For fairness, preference for advanced registration for any one performance will be given to individuals who have only registered to see the show once.
The GonkStage clarifies that walk-in attendance will be available only if pre-registration doesn’t fill to capacity.
Both websites also share a synopsis of the plot:
Radium Girls, by D.W. Gregory, tells the story of the women who worked for the U.S. Radium Corporation in the 1920’s. The workers of the factory were responsible for working with and handling radium as they painted radium-laced glow-in-the-dark paint on the dials of watches. The women were told that the radium was safe and, in order to paint the fine detail on the dials, they were instructed to point their brushes between their lips. As factory owners and scientists, familiar with the effects of radium, took precautions against harmful radiation, the women who worked for the company started to get ill and die.
The play focuses on Grace Fryer (a dial painter) and her efforts to take the U.S. Radium Corporation to court. The show is dramatic, but written with humor. It provokes thought and sheds light on matters of equity, commercialization of science, and trading human rights for financial profit.
The traditional winter selection of a one act drama allows the students to take part in the annual METG ( Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild) festival.
On Saturday, March 6th, ARHS will host four other schools for an METG “Mass Theater Celebration”. Those plays are:
- This Is A Robbery by St. Sebastians School
- Radium Girls by ARHS
- It’s Not You, It’s Me by Arlington Catholic High School
- Defying Gravity by The Newman School
- In The Forests Of The Night by Gloucester High School
Algonquin students are able to attend Radium Girls (at 2:45 pm) for free. However, it won’t be open to the public and even students aren’t able to attend the other shows.
Updated (3/1/22 9:01 am): I initially noted that I was unsure if the public was allowed to attend Saturday’s performances. I received the above clarification from ARHS’ Arts Department.
