The Washington High School Drama Department will take to the stage tomorrow for the first of three shows this weekend. The upcoming show is titled Radium Girls and follows Grace Fryer’s journey over several years as she seeks justice for the radiation poisoning she received while painting luminous watch dials using radium-based paint for the US Radium corporation. The play will also focus on Arthur Roeder, the President of the US Radium Corporation, as he tries to come to grips with the unintended consequences his company allowed to unfold.

Brett Pierson, the Director of the Washington High School Drama Department, talked with KCII about if there was any hesitation from the cast when presented with such a serious play. “There’s always a little bit of hesitation when it comes to plays like these because they want to do comedies or something a bit lighter. However, once we had a read-through, I think that they all realized what this story was about. It’s interesting because while I’ve acted with adults, I’ve never directed with them before, so I know that High School kids can be really good at this because they are so in touch with their emotions which makes it easier for them to emote. It can also be really hard for some kids because it can be viewed as uncool to have genuine emotions, and this play has some genuinely heartfelt moments that can be hard to watch. My cast, though, has done a great job of buying in.”

All shows will be at the Washington Performing Arts and Event Center at Washington High School, with the Friday and Saturday shows beginning at 7:30 pm and the Sunday show starting at 2:30 pm. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. For more information about Radium Girls, listen to today’s Washington Page.