These Shining Lives
Colgan High School
Photo credits: @colgantheatre on Instagram
Tick. Tick. Tick.
As each hour passes, radium seeps through Catherine Donohue’s aching bones.
Pearl Payne’s jaw.
Charlotte Purcell’s left arm.
Frances O’Connell’s skin.
And yet, not one company doctor batted an eye.
Colgan High School’s production of “These Shining Lives” was incredibly well-directed, raw, and impactful. It was clear that every student took deliberate care to bring this piece of American history to life; they paid tribute with resolve that shined just as bright as radium.
These Shining Lives
Welcome back to AP US History: abridged. Although, considering I’ve never actually taken the class, please take the following with a grain of salt.
Early 20th-century America undeniably suffered from a lack of labor protections for its workers. It was an era of rapid industrialization and technological advancement, which meant overcrowded factories, unrealistic working hours, and disproportionately low wages.
Now, let’s zoom in on the era’s “Radium Girls.” On top of already working in these terrible conditions, they were ingesting toxic radium on the daily. When it came to painting watch dials, they were instructed to “lip-point” their brushes to a fine tip; while no one initially knew radium was toxic, many companies decided to remain silent about these findings to keep their workforce. Thus, we have the tragic fates of the women in “These Shining Lives,” and their fight for justice against these greedy U.S. corporations.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably already heard of D.W. Gregory’s “Radium Girls.” How do these two productions chronicle the same story differently?
Enter: the recollection of my foggy memory, a fun series of wikipedia research, and the synthesis of some Educational Theatre Association open forums.
D.W. Gregory’s “Radium Girls”
Premiered in 2000
Two act play (approximate 2 hour runtime)
Ensemble show with a larger cast
Straight-forward dialogue and narration
Set in New Jersey
Centers around the US Radium Corporation
Grace Fryer is the protagonist
Grace’s fiancé’s name is Tom
Melanie Marnich’s “These Shining Lives”
Premiered in 2008
One act play (approximate 90 minute runtime)
Intimate, six or eight-person cast
More poetic in language and dialogue
Set in Chicago, Illinois
Centers around the company Radium Dial
Catherine Donohue is the protagonist
Catherine’s husband’s name is Tom
I guess Tom was the jackpot name for a working guy in the 1920s.
I admittedly preferred the length, pacing, and content of “These Shining Lives” to “Radium Girls,” which I’d seen about a year prior. Granted, my memory is still foggy, but this isn’t necessarily a reflection on the individual productions I’d seen: it’s more of a preference when it comes to script and runtime. Both were powerful stories and productions.
So, let’s dive into exactly what made the audience of Colgan’s production of “These Shining Lives” so teary-eyed!
This Production
Firstly, I have to give a round of applause to first-time student director Emily Schmitt. Bringing this story to life is no easy task in and of itself, but Schmitt approached the one-act with an incredible sense of pacing, and brilliantly utilized the space of Colgan’s blackbox theater. I’m always fascinated by the creative ways a smaller space can be used, and this production was no exception; settings transformed seamlessly thanks to distinct lighting shifts and well-timed transitions.
For moments at the beach, the girls spread a towel just beyond the lip of the stage and relaxed to the distant sound of ocean waves; in a scene of shocking discovery, meanwhile, each girl faced a different section of the three-sided audience, bathed in pools of toxic green light. This contrast between tense and carefree moments was certainly well-done, and made for a morbidly jarring shift when the girls’ bones started to ache.
The bright green clock suspended above the stage kept ticking all the while.
Hadley Young became Catherine Donohue: the face of the case against Radium Dial. At first determined and hardworking, Young displayed an impressive range when the work turned sour. Each one of her micro-expressions was carefully crafted, and her scoffs at Oliver Klinke’s Mr. Reed were laced with palpable frustration.
Similarly, Harry Dunick delivered a dynamic performance in the role of Tom.
Yes, the Tom from “These Shining Lives.” Whether he might be living a double life in New Jersey is unclear.
Dunick began the show as a charming, doting husband; his interactions with Young were playful, and rooted in a genuine love for one another. By the time his wife sued Radium Dial, Dunick played through an impressive series of conflicting emotions; embarrassment, frustration, and deep-rooted fear for his wife. Yet, his most impressive moment arrived during the show’s final scene, as he stormed into Mr. Reed’s office, utterly enraged. He held Klinke up by his collar and spat into his face, cursing the company’s name and poor policy. We also got to see Klinke cower for the first time, in an otherwise unapologetic performance as the two-faced CEO.
Naomi Wilcox and Sadie Lamb not only skillfully guided the audience through the narrative parts of the story, but balanced multiple characters each: reporters, Catherine’s children, an announcer, and a judge, to name a few. No matter the persona, Wilcox and Lamb brought the audience into the folds of the story with grace.
No, not Grace Fryer of “Radium Girls.” This is the one with Catherine, remember?
Something I love about “These Shining Lives” in particular is its intimate cast, and how each character had the breadth to develop a unique personality throughout the course of the show. In Colgan’s production, this was especially exemplified when it came to the radium girls themselves.
Jolie Hinkle enraptured the audience as sharp-tongued Charlotte. Her authoritative presence was simply commanding, and every perfectly-timed quip was paired with a cunning smile. When Charlotte’s rock-hard resolve crumpled during the latter half of the show, sniffles sounded through the audience as Hinkle sobbed into Young’s arms.
Lynden Banks’s Frances and Arya Galitz’s Pearl were just as delightfully distinct. Banks adopted a motherly, stoic demeanor, yet couldn’t help but break into a gossip session or two; Galitz cracked a number of painfully-nonsensical jokes, and cheerfully sang to herself as the girls frolicked to the beach. I really enjoyed seeing the relationship between the girls develop during the first half of the show, and basking in their childlike innocence while it still remained. Of course, it made their shattered souls that much more heartbreaking to witness.
Who is it for?
After seeing “These Shining Lives,” I don’t think I’ll ever look at a watch quite the same way again. Or the periodic table, for that matter. Really, anything that has to do with this heartbreaking event of American history--which is something I can absolutely applaud Colgan’s production for.
While audiences 10 and up would have no problem attending, I think viewers 12 and up would glean the most from the production. It probably goes without saying that the story involves disease and mentions of death, but it’s not all too grotesque in those depictions.
More than anything, it’s a historical narrative that explores themes all too timely today.
Congratulations to Emily Schmitt on a fantastic directorial debut, and to the cast and crew for putting on such a powerful production!
Though “These Shining Lives” has since closed, Colgan’s upcoming productions of “Underdog: The Other Other Brontë” (February 5-7) and “Phantom of the Opera” (April 9-11) are not to be missed!
Follow Colgan High School’s theatre department at @colgantheatre on Instagram for tickets, show information, and other updates.