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  • Ariel Hoernke

"Radium Girls" hits EGHS stage

Updated: Nov 16, 2021

Ariel Hoernke

Nov. 15, 2021


Photo by Duncan Gonzalez - The cast of "Radium Girls" receives applause from those in attendance Nov. 5 at EGHS. The play was the first performed at Eastern since pre-COVID.


Eastern Guilford High School hosted its first play since pre-COVID as “Radium Girls” hit the stage Nov. 4-5. The Theatre Arts Program also welcomed back Mr. Goodson.


Radium Girls is a historical play about how high levels of radium were found in a paint making factory. This play follows a girl named “Grace” and her friends as they try to seek justice for the people that died in the factory.


Eastern Guildford's Theater Teacher Mr. Goodson, who returned to EGHS in August, didn't actually know that he wanted to be a theater teacher until he became friends with his school chorus teacher. The chorus teacher told him that he should do a musical and he agreed. The musical was “Little Shop Of Horrors.” During the casting of the musical he had this very popular student that was in sports and he told him he should audition and he agreed. This student and the play went so well from then on he knew he wanted to be a theater arts teacher.


“Because in the moment a student who has never seen any material or been involved with a production was able to look at it and go from page to stage and it completely changed my life and in the moment I knew I was supposed to change theater,” said Goodson.


This play is actually based on real life events. In the 1920s the Radium girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with luminescent paint. The women would put the paint brushes to the lips to get a fine point that is how they would get sick. Many women working in these factories due to health care not being as developed as it is now would die.


“I love history and I think that this play is very relevant,” added Goodson. “I think it's very important for students to learn how to use their voice in a positive manner to make change and these girls in this story did that.”


The main character of this play, Grace Fryer is a fierce woman who fights for the lives lost due to the radium poison.she was the only one that survived the poisoning her two friends unfortunately passed away and throughout the play she is trying to get justice for them.


“Grace being the one that got the justice that the girls need to have was really cool,” said Duer L Ksor-Kpa, who played the role of Fryer.


In this play there are people who really helped grace along the way for he to get her justice but there were also people who didn't help very much was Dr. Frederick Flin he told grace that the reason why she was so sick was because of a lack of nutrients and she just needed to eat better.

Duer L Ksor-Kpa


“I like my role because I get to show the audience a different viewpoint on the look on radium because instead of how most people are like, hey! Radium is bad for you. I'm saying hey! You

have a vitamin deficiency,” said actor Jakob Vermillion. “I’m telling part of the story when it comes to the radium girls that not everyone was on there side and supporting them”

Goodson said that the theatre arts program plans to perform a production in the spring. Information on that production will be released later.





Jakob Vermillion

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