17 Sep – 9 Oct 2027
By Melanie Marnich
Directed by Lyn Jones
By Permission of ORiGiN™ Theatrical on Behalf of Dramatists Play Service, Inc – a Concord Theatricals Company
Ottawa, Illinois, 1922 and the job prospects for women are few and far between. Enter the good folk at the Radium Dial Company who employ only women – and for a good wage as well!
For Catherine and her friends Charlotte, Francis and Pearl, it seems an easy job painting the markings on watch faces with an almost magical compound that glows in the dark. Their friendship grows as they race to complete the most dials, carefully using their lips to form the perfectly sharp brush point required.
The competition was joyful; the radium paint they used was not. Of course, the company knew, the scientists knew, but the workforce was plentiful and the profits were good. So when a woman could no longer make her quota due to sickness, she was fired.
Catherine, now suffering herself, bravely takes the company to court, battling countless appeals with the support of her friends, even as they too fall victim to the shining radium.
Heartbreaking but joyous, inspirational, and moving, These Shining Lives is based on the true story of Catherine Donohue and her fight for justice which changed forever, the way companies could treat their employees.