'These Shining Lives' explores real-life situations, deadly consequences

ELIZABETHTOWN, PA (02/05/2014)(readMedia)-- In the 1920s, about 70 women who would come to be known as "radium girls" contracted radiation poisoning from the glow-in-the-dark paint they used to color watch dials at their place of employment. The women and girls were told the paint was harmless, but each day they ingested deadly amounts by licking their paintbrushes to create a point fine enough to paint designs and numbers. Some even painted their fingernails and teeth for fun.

Elizabethtown College's Tempest Theatre is the setting for "These Shining Lives," the true story of four of these women who were empowered by entering the workforce at the Radium Dial Co, in Ottawa, Ill., but found that their new independence came at a cost when they find they've been in contact with dangerous materials. Shows are at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, through Saturday, Feb. 15, and Thursday and Friday, Feb. 20 and 21. The final show is at 2 p.m. Sunday Feb. 23. Cost is $6 with tickets available by calling 717-361-1170 or emailing boxoffice@etown.edu.

"These Shining Lives," written by Melanie Marnich, is a story of survival in its most transcendent sense, as the women refuse to allow the company that stole their health to also kill their spirits. The show weaves actual events with colorful characters and explores how the human race sometimes defines itself by our occupations.

At the parent company, the chemists who created and distributed the paint used various levels of precautions to keep themselves from being poisoned but never warned the workers of the hazards. Women, who became ill from the paint, began a legal case that established the right of individual workers to sue their employers if they contract occupational diseases.

The play's narrator describes the story as "not a fairy tale, though it starts like one ... not a tragedy, though it ends like one."

The play is directed by Michael Swanson, director of Theatre and Dance and associate professor of Theatre; Richard Wolf-Spencer, assistant professor of theatre, is scenic and lighting designer; and Teresa Wolf-Spencer, guest artist, is costume designer.

Contact: Michael Swanson at swansonm@etown.edu or 717-361-1160

Read about additional events at Elizabethtown College.

Elizabethtown College, located in historic Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a private coed institution offering more than four dozen liberal arts, fine and performing arts, science and engineering, business, communications and education degrees. Learn more: http://www.etown.edu/about/

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