Radium Girls is a story of resilience. It is a story that asks us to question social contracts between employee and employer and to consider at what point money becomes more important than people. It allows us to enter into the mind of someone who wants to be successful. To obtain the much coveted, "American Dream”. That idea that through hard work, anyone can become wealthy. We get to watch the internal struggle and the rationalization it takes to accept that your success may come at the expense of human life. Most important of all, it brings forth the power of advertising and just how much power lies in the court of public opinion and consumerism.
Our version of this story is told in pockets of time that come together like cog wheels in a clock. What may seem like one story told through two distinct viewpoints is in fact the story of the community the surrounds them. Every cog in that wheel plays a part, and only together in unison do they move forward. Grace Fryer and Arthur Roeder did not exist in a vacuum. For better or for worse, their story impacted those around them and those for years to come. In fact, the Radium Girls' bones still glow to this day in Orange, New Jersey, where they were buried.
So why Radium Girls as the show to relaunch The Pascack Hills Players? Simple: Historically speaking, young people are the most effective at creating change. So let’s tell them the story of US Radium... big Tabacco, and the OxyContin crisis (that unfolded right around when this play was written.) In many ways, it’s the same story with a different backdrop and wearing a different costume.
Walking into a new school with almost no prior knowledge of the student body, I’ll admit, is a tall order and a big risk. However, I have often found that if you challenge people with compassion, empathy, and passion for a project, they WILL meet you and raise themselves to the occasion. The risk may have been big, but the outcome is equally big and impressive.
These students not only met my expectations, but they well exceeded them! A lot of what you will see or have seen and the choices these students made were achieved through table work and character analysis. We went "all in" together and created some really thought provoking, smart, and even funny moments of theatre. We on the adult production team could not be more proud and more impressed with the achievements of these students, and it is our hope that this is only the beginning for the great things that are to come for the Pascack Hills Players.
Armanda Cerqueira
Director
Bea, this one’s for you. <3
