History comes to life with humor and heartbreak as the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Department of Theatre and Dance stages “Radium Girls.” Three more shows are available tonight, Friday and Saturday.

 

Set in the 1920s, “Radium Girls” is about a real-life scandal that shocked America, said theater professor Steve Smith, the show’s director. Grace Fryer (played by Tatyana Nahirniak of Cottage Grove) and some of her co-workers become ill with radiation poisoning. She had direct contact with radium-based paint at her job, where she paints luminescent dials for watches. Her fight for worker’s compensation made big changes in workplace safety and child labor laws.

 

“ ‘Radium Girls’ touches on many areas, including feminist theory, social class, corporate ethics, history, culture studies and workplace safety,” Smith said. “It’s compelling because of its historic context. It also has great roles for women.”

 

Playwright D.W. Gregory combines historical fiction with courtroom drama and humor to tell a story most of us don’t know, Smith said.

 

The show is not suitable for young children.

 

The Jenkins Theatre set has been simply staged on an epic scale to represent the households, factory, town squares, boardrooms and courtroom where the action takes place. A large clock on the set represents the watch dials from the factory as well as how time is running out for the women who work there.