Stories like these are a bittersweet experience: they represent an important albeit heartbreaking time in American labor history, and while there is a pyrrhic victory in the resolution, there’s that glimmer of hope that change happens when people strongly self-advocate and refuse to back down when challenged.

Radium Girls (script by D.W. Gregory, adapted from Kate Moore’s 2017 book The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women) is onstage at the Kenan Center’s Taylor Theater to May 17 only. The Lake Plains Players do a very fine job presenting this very powerful work.

The real Radium Girls were proud to support the war effort beginning in 1917 by hand-painting watch faces and other small devices at the U.S. Radium plant in Orange, NJ. The money was good, their skills were honed by precise and fast-paced work, and their work had purpose and value. But radium – celebrated at the time as a cure for cancer, a energy-boosting beverage, and the thing that made paint glow in the dark – was actually poisoning them. This is their story, their fight for social justice, and their contributions to safer workplaces.

Gregory’s play tells their stories in scenes presented as vignettes in two acts. Director William Briggs kept the flow tight and succinct which was exactly right for this large cast on a small stage. The Taylor’s rustic brick wall didn’t need dressing: Sarah Costello kept the projection simple on the backdrop which allowed the actors to carry full power of their messages. While most of the ensemble played multiple roles (and did them very well, with many quick costume changes and while changing out set pieces) Sophie May as Radium Girl Grace Fryer and Geoff Koplas as US Radium’s President Arthur Roeder were tightly focused key individuals. Koplas plays Roeder as the sharp businessman who believed in his company and still had a conscious, even against his partners and colleagues urgings. May’s portrayal as Grace was determined and honest, with strength and sweetness: there’s an extraordinary scene in act two when these two individuals hold each other’s gaze…not speaking to each other but speaking volumes in this intense moment. Bravo to each actor for this powerful moment.

Each actor had their moments, too, where their focus held a key part of this real-life story: Gabrielle Montgomery was both Mrs Diane Roeder with some tender moments with her spouse, and more out-spoken scenes as Marie Curie. Alex Jedediah Lloyd was – among other parts – a lovesick cowboy and a snake oil salesman and brought a needed smile and humanity to these roles. The other Radium Girls – Madison Pratt and Sarah Elizabeth Hill – captured those rich co-worker moments when work was secondary to the bond of their friendship. Jon May (Sophie’s real life dad) was impressive with an inspired Austrian accent as Dr. Sabin Von Sochocky, inventor of this magic paint and later as the conniving lawyer Edward Malarkey.

Radium Girls is heavy fare for sure (Grace’s dream scene in act 2 is particularly moving) and this cast and crew handled every nuance very well. Find tickets here and other show details here. It’s a two hour-show with a brief intermission, to Sunday, May 17 only. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that when the house is dark, the marks on the stage floor – of course – glowed in the dark.