TA News

This November, Thetford Academy’s Drama Department is excited to present Radium Girls by D.W. Gregory. Inspired by a true story, Radium Girls takes place in 1926, a time when radium was a miraculous treatment, Madame Curie was a global celebrity, and luminous watches were the newest fashion item—that is, until the girls who painted them started to get sick with an unexplained illness.

The play follows the efforts of Grace Fryer, a dial painter, as she fights for her day in court. Her chief adversary is her former employer, Arthur Roeder, an idealistic man who cannot bring himself to believe that the same element that shrinks tumors could have anything to do with the terrifying rash of illnesses among his employees.

Radium Girls is a fast-moving, highly theatrical play that is written with warmth and humor. Praised by critics as a “powerful” and “engrossing” drama, this play presents a humorous and unapologetic view of the particularly American preoccupations with wealth, health, and the commercialization of science. Thetford Academy’s performance of Radium Girls is produced by special arrangement with THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY of Woodstock, Illinois.

Performances will take place in the Martha Jane Rich Theater at Thetford Academy and will be presented by two separate casts, the “Shubert Cast” and the “Gerschwin Cast.” Full cast and crew lists below. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults and are available for pre-purchase below.

Showtimes: November 17, 7pm (Shubert Cast), November 18, 3pm (Shubert Cast), November 18 7pm (Gershwin Cast), November 19 3pm (Gershwin Cast).

Cast and Crew

Directed by Jeff Seabaugh, Performing Arts Teacher, Thetford Academy