05/17/2024
Radium Girls - Showtimers Community Theatre
May 9, 2024
Showtimers has done it again! Director Jamie Stewart is known in the area for coaxing personal experiences out of ensemble pieces, and "Radium Girls" by D.W. Gregory - the powerful true story of Grace Fryer's fight for justice against her employer - shines through her creative vision.
Amanda Johnson, Victoria Ferris, and Kelly Mangum open the show as bright young dial painters at the US Radium Corporation. These three actors bring a sense of innocence and youth to the show, and Johnson in particular shows us Grace Fryer's loss of that same innocence as she becomes ill and her friends die from the effects of the "miracle radium" they use daily.
Kelly Anglim stands out as the formidable yet gentle Katherine Wiley who, paired with Barry Bedwell as compassionate and caring lawyer Raymond Berry, brings a sense of humanity to the fight against "big radium." They are contrasted by Corey Stewart's very convincing portrayal of the slimeball Edward Markley. Caught in the mix is Jim Mone's Arthur Roeder - a man who wants to do right by others AND his company. This inner turmoil is a timeless story, but feels so fresh and delicate in Mone's hands.
Through the use of double casting, Stewart features actor Elliot Raff as both the sweet, loving Tommy Krieder and the self-preserving, company man Charlie Lee. Raff's ability to take the audience from a place of empathy with Tommy to incredulity and frustration with Charlie is phenomenal. The rest of the ensemble also play more than one character, some with great accents and physical changes.
The simple set design, minimal props and costumes, and careful use of lighting and sound center the story - all of the designers should be commended for their homogenous approach to what could be chaos in less capable hands. But the most amazing technical choice is that see everything. From the gracefully choreographed stage crew to the awkward, icky glow of white clothing under blacklight, J. Stewart chose to keep the show transparent. Too bad the same can't be said for the US Radium Corp.
Get your tickets ASAP! www.showtimers.org
Photos courtesy of Showtimers; photographer is Sarah Anglim.
