Radium Girls

by D.W. Gregory

In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, Madame Curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage- until the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. Inspired by a true story, Radium Girls traces 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. As the case goes on, however, Grace finds herself battling not only with the U.S. Radium Corporation, but also with her own family and friends, who fear that her campaign for justice will backfire.

(Not to be confused with the one-act version of this story by the same title.)

Genres: Plays, Historical Fiction, Drama, Theatre, Fiction, School, Historical

111 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2003

About the author

D.W. Gregory is a playwright and educator residing in Washington D.C.. Her work examines and critiques American culture with a political lens and comedic twist, and has won and been nominated for numerous awards. As a teaching artist and artist in residence, she’s had the wonderful opportunity of writing for youth theatre. She is also a member of the Dramatists’ Guild, an affiliated writer with The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, and an affiliated artist with NNPN.

Reviews

[river grayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

cant wait for this show. it’s so good

[Lynnae Andersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this script for the CTI director applications for 2024-2025.
This is the straight play, not the musical by the same name.

This play is moving in many ways.
The Story, like many historical plays, is constructed as a frame-tale of sorts. While the story doesn't start and end at the same moment, the bulk of the play is a flashback for the primary characters, Grace and Mr. Roeder. Characters and conflict are presented well, with an appropriate, engaging build throughout. The setting itself-the fight for justice for the radium girls-is moving in itself. Unlike other historical plays, there is little humor to break the emotion, but the pacing between the girls and their advocates, the families, and the businessmen keeps the story moving.

The Set is minimalist, similar to Our Town. There are no (or few) walls and large set pieces should be rolled in and out to suggest the variety of locations: the radium plant, offices, medical rooms, houses, and the city streets.

[Kenzie Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first heard of this play last year, and after getting assigned the topic of the Radium Girls for a chemistry project, I thought I'd check this out so I would be less likely to procrastinate.
Goodness gracious, this was amazing! It was incredibly sad but so interesting that I couldn't put it down! And, after doing some research for my previously mentioned project, I discovered that each of the girls talked about here were some of the actual Radium Girls. The main character, Grace Fryer, for example, was one of the five girls who worked together to sue US Radium. Overall, this was amazing and enthralling, I definitely recommend this! However, I will warn of some pretty graphic descriptions of the effects radium had on the girls' bodies.

[bella issa · Rating 4 out of 5]

this entire play could just be called “a web of lies”. anyways pray for me.

[maddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

would love to see this on stage and how the glowing is done

[Mike Reiff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rigorous piece of dramatic historical narrative, a corporate criminal conspiracy on the stage, and strong structure to the narrative. The dialogue and some of the overall language makes some of the characters feel a bit antiquated and distant, odd given the intensity of the situation.

[Aaron Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is fine. I like its Brechtian elements, but the focus of it seems off slightly – it's about the entire problem of radium, the company producing the watches, the science behind it, etc., rather than a focus on the young women themselves, whose lives were so deeply affected by the lack of care their employer showed them and the real betrayal they suffered at their hands once everyone knew they were sick.

For my money, this really would have worked better as a play about workers, their rights, and interwar industry in general. But Gregory's play doesn't pack that kind of a punch. Instead it sort of fizzles out and declares that the "science changes" and what we think is safe now we might find out later causes permanent, horrific damage. Someone even says a line like this to this play's audience in the 2000s while smoking a cigarette in the 1940s. This seems like rather a cop-out to me, especially when faced with the real and unabashed villainy of these businessmen.

[Rayna (Poindextrix) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows the lives of the "Radium Girls" -- young women working as dial painters with radioactive paint in unsafe conditions -- as they fight to tell their story.
The play is a quick read. The story is haunting and the characters are dynamic. I highly recommend it.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this was another text I had to read for a class this summer, ever since reading Kate Moore's The Radium Girls, I have been extremely into this topic. It really is such a travesty that basically all that we know today about radium’s effect on the human body is because of what the women chronicled in this play went through, and yet not very many Americans know about them at all. We owe these young women so much!

Anyway, even though I already knew the story, reading this play brings back my disbelief and outrage as if I had just learned about this for the first time. By the end of Act 1, Scene I, I was already getting angry when Arthur Roeder says to Grace, “Just keep this in mind: If you do right by us, we’ll do right by you." Not only does this turn out to be yet another broken corporate promise, but it is also a blatant lie. Unbeknownst to the women, they were working with the extremely dangerous compound of radium, and this play shows how these women were kept in the dark about the harmful effects of radium. While people in the U.S. Radium Corporation knew about these effects since research was published in 1906, they did not enact any measures to protect the women who ended up in the closest proximity to it and continued selling their radium products to the public. Instead, the women were told that radium was “healthy” because it can shrink cancerous tumors and that it was good for the war effort: “The dials you paint save lives, girls. Our boys in the field depend on them." The women were even actively taught to bring their brushes to a “point” by wetting them in their mouths to make the tips finer. While protective lead screens were installed for the boys in the labs making the paint, the girls were encouraged to basically ingest bits of radium day after day! And while the corporation was getting away with it and the profits kept rolling in, they did nothing to stop it.

The turning point was when the girls started getting sick. In particular, my heart goes out to Amelia Maggia and her family who was told she died from “anemia and complications from syphilis” when in fact it was from radium poisoning all along. This defamation of her character in the interest of corporate greed was bad enough, but I think what frustrates me the most about this story is that the company continually tried to avoid the consequences of their actions by trying to bribe doctors, buy the girls’ silence, and postpone the court cases so that the issue would die out with the women. Time and time again, the company chose their concern for profits and corporate standing than the welfare of all the girls they took advantage of during their employment. Thank goodness there were some advocates (represented in this play by Miss Wiley) and some lawyers (Mr. Berry) who were willing to take on the girls’ cases without charge unless they were successful. Their campaign to make the courts and America see what had happened to these women made all the difference, even if it took years of effort.

Speaking of the author, I also loved the fact that she told this story in play format. While I have not seen it performed, I can only imagine the impact this story would have on audiences when the can SEE it unfolding in front of them. Grace, Irene, and Kathryn wonderfully represent the young working girls in the plant as they go from healthy, happy, and full of hope to confused, increasingly ill, and eventually to the grave. Making this into a drama adds even more power to the tale because it can literally bring the story to life.

I’d love to teach this one myself to my high school students! I really think they'd enjoy it!

[Feisty Harriet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick read about a heartbreaking story of young women who were employed in factories with high levels of radium in the workplace. The women were slowly (or quickly) poisoned by the chemical and this story is their fight for compensation. "Poisoned" can mean a lot of things, they didn't get a tummy ache, their jaws and face disintegrated to the point that a surgeon "removed" one of the women's lower jaw bone simply by lifting it out of her skull. After their deaths their skeletons were so radioactive they were glowing in the dark. These women were DESTROYED by radium, and their employers knew the risks and possible side effects, yet did nothing at the time and claimed ignorance--or worse, that the women were just suffering from syphilis--when one after another women were dying. This play is as much about the plight of the women as it is about workers compensation and safety regulations and expectations for employers. Excellent read.

[Lauren Merrifield · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoy this play, and I think it has a really important story, I also think the writing style was a little confusing. There was just so much happening. I do understand that it is supposed to be watched as a production and not read as a script, and that would probably make everything less confusing for me. But as I was reading it, I found it very difficult to keep track of all the characters in my head. There were so many. There were also so many different storylines and settings and it was very difficult to visualize this in my head. I know if I were to watch this as a play, it would be much less confusing. I do enjoy the story and I think it would be a really cool production to see.

[Grover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on the heartbreaking true story of Grace Fryer, a radium dial painter who sued U.S. Radium over conditions caused by her working with "safe" radium paint, spurring some of the first safety regulations in the workplace. Grace's courage, tenacity, and sheer force of will are recounted in this episodic, Epic Theatre style work. Wonderfully written and historically accurate. A bit of trivia: Grace's grave is still radioactive.

[Sadie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I go to a performing arts school and the drama/theater majors (me) are doing this play. Every rehearsal teaches me something new about the text and its truth, within the lies of the play.
It’s a quick read and a hauntingly striking play based on the real story of the Radium Girls. The show is purposefully constructed of pain, warmth, heartbreak, humor, humanization, and death in order to drive in the severity of the appalling, tragic story that gives it its name.

[Ash · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took me a month to read this because it is the most boring play ever. Which is disappointing, because I know I've found nonfiction on the subject incredibly interesting. There are too many characters, none of which we get the time to learn enough about to know or like them, even though the way you're supposed to be feeling is clearly laid out for you. Really not worth reading a play - check out some nonfiction instead.

[Ashton E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the content and sought after justice that Grace carries throughout the play. I think some of the ensemble characters don’t really add much, but I thought it was interesting to see the different motivations even though some were difficult to empathize with. Really great play - Grace is a great and strong character.

[Sandy Burke]

Well done play that illuminates the terrible working conditions that workers were submitted to, unknowingly putting their lives in jeopardy. I found this book because a similar incident happened close to my hometown involving Westclox. There is another play called "These Shining Lives" which I will hopefully be reading soon that is specifically about the Illinois cases of radium poisoning.

[Edie Walls · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this after reading These Shining Lives, which was a mistake - These Shining Lives is the vastly superior play about this topic. I found this fairly basic. I wish it was more about the girls.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as I was going through options for our next production, and it immediately made an impact. I have since reread it several times in preparation for having students perform it this fall! It is a great show that will definitely stretch our teen actors while feeling like a good storytelling opportunity.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in preparation for an audition for a production of the play. It is a very moving play, and I shed a couple of tears throughout the reading. This is pretty heavy, but it has plenty of great characters and history and is definitely a challenge for the actors performing multiple roles. I found it to be an excellent and quick read.

[Bri Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how historically accurate it was. However, because it is a play done in two acts, it was a bit rushed. I felt like there were missing scenes/important issues that still needed to be addressed.

[Michaela Edson · Rating 4 out of 5]

really well written play, the pacing felt a bit frantic at first, but I think it ended up lending itself really well to the play. Very genuine moments of emotion, that nearly brought tears to my eyes in a few parts!

[Meaghan Delaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I missed out seeing this play at Festival this year, but getting to read it is the next best thing! Super cool interesting story about employees rights, brand transparency, and humanitarian action in a changing market

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Read for my stage management class.

[Shelly Carman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snappy interactions between characters. Funny and sad.

[Gypsysoul_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great staging of the story. My only criticism is the "dream sequence". I hate those in general, otherwise, great way to tell the story.

[McKenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an amazing play
I'm so glad that my school put this on, filling this tragic story with amazing memories from my time as part of the makeup crew

[Jaclyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the concept of this play. I get why people do it. However, my God was I bored the whole time

[Timothy Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful piece of literature with a slow start.

[MH · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history play about some horrific events, and the legal/corporate cover-up that followed. Some elements might work better on the stage than on the page - the Brechtian media figures, the character of the company head who goes along with their immoral policies, a few lines or scenes that aren't exactly subtle - but it's a solid play about an unbelievably awful situation that has plenty of resonance today.