By Roshwitha Buduri, Staff Writer
With startling green lights and a clock ticking down, the Radium Girls cast and crew hosted four shows this November, illuminating the historical story of workers’ rights and the lack of safety in the 1920s.
Radium Girls, a play written by D.W. Gregory, showcases the tragic history of radium use in watch factories and their horrid health effects on the factory employees, most of whom were women. It follows the young women’s struggle fighting for their case to be heard by society. At River Hill High School, the cast and crew believe that this story is designated to be told to the masses. Because the play is historically-based, each role had heavy meaning that revealed a perspective of this multi-faceted story.
“Roeder is a very serious, coldhearted man who doesn’t believe that he is in the wrong.” Dylan Buscher, the actor playing Arthur Roeder says. Roeder wasn’t a bad man, but a man tasked with making decisions beneficial towards the company he was in charge of. When Roeder wasn’t with his company, he was a family man, in charge of easing the concerns of his wife and his daughter. During those scenes, Buscher recalls wanting to portray those differences correctly. In order to play Roeder successfully, Buscher analyzed Roeder’s character through the script. “It was interesting…seeing him realize over time that the decisions he’s made have harmed people, and, as a result, seeing him start to regret his actions.”
Buscher notes his own setbacks in preparing for the role. “I had quite a few difficulties with confidence. I am a very shy person, and while I love stepping out of my comfort zone and performing, it often takes a while for me to reacquaint myself with it when I haven’t done it in a while.” In order to combat this, he began making focused efforts in rehearsals, pushing himself out of his comfort zone while acting as Roeder.
It is also through those scenes and their changes that the tech and sound team work their magic. Senior Lila Ahr talks about her experience being a Sound Engineer for the play. “I had to get the music, the soundtrack for the whole show, as well as any sound effects. It was mostly music that I did.” She says that she felt very stable in her ability to switch and adjust the volume of the music between scenes and musical effects from the actor’s actions during each scene of the show.
This was the first time Ahr had to compile music for a show. She hopes her role as a Sound Engineer was done well. She also knows the importance of her role at the booth behind the audience. “The music entirely changes the feeling of the scene,” she notes.
There were setbacks while controlling the music. “I was supposed to have a second device to play so I could have sound effects and music separately,” she says. She explained that this absence did not affect her technical abilities significantly, as the show did not have many sound effects. However, it made some scene changes difficult, but Ahr was able to adapt. “I had three days—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday—in order to get all the volumes right. It was just enough.”
There were delays in having rehearsals be at their fullest potential. Ms. Meyer says, “The set was amazing and looked awesome, but we weren’t able to rehearse with it until the week of our show because it took a while to get it loaded in.” The set needed to be properly installed so that the actors could walk on it without any issues.
Buscher acknowledges some setbacks in the acting space ranging from forgetting lines, to rushing to find replacements. That too, was resolved fairly quickly. “We were able to work together to overcome these issues, though, and all four shows went relatively smoothly,” he says.
The Radium Girl’s show also had a larger meaning to it. The show’s goal was to highlight the young women’s struggles being laborers, fighting to be seen. Ms. Meyer says much more about the world around Radium Girls. “Many of the issues it explores are still relevant today—corporate greed, workers’ rights, and women’s rights.”
Ms. Meyer also speaks about the personal meaning to the cast and crew. “The play reinforced the importance of speaking up, standing up for justice, and recognizing the humanity in every individual, regardless of their age, gender, or position.” Radium Girls allowed the cast and crew to think deeply about current day society compared to how it was decades ago.
Buscher concludes the meaning in his own perspective, “It teaches us to never stop advocating for yourself.”