Stage Coach Players performances of ‘Radium Girls’ begin May 8 in DeKalb

DeKALB – The Stage Coach Players will open its next production, the drama play “Radium Girls,” May 8.

The play is scheduled to run for two weeks.

“Radium Girls” tells the story of Grace Fryer, a U.S. Radium Corporation dial painter. Fryer is one of many female dial painters who become deathly ill with cancer and anemia. Her former employer, Arthur Roeder, doesn’t believe the element shrinking tumors is the cause of the women’s illnesses. Fryer risks everything for her day in court.

The cast includes Sydney Webster as Grace Fryer and Galen Malick as Arthur Roeder. The rest of the cast features Jan Booth, Steve Challgren, Nina Fontana, Barbara Cowan Kolb, Deanna Lamesch, Chris Porterfield, Bernie Schuneman, Josh Smith and Wendy Tritt.

“I remember hearing stories as a kid about factories where workers got sick from radioactive paint,” Malick said in a news release. “It wasn’t until I started working on this production of Radium Girls that I learned the details of this huge case in New York that got national attention.”

“Radium Girls” is based on the 2000 play of the same name written by D.W. Gregory. The Stage Coach production will be directed by David W. Booth, who previously directed the Stage Coach production of “Dracula” in 2019.

Webster said that she read a book about the tragic history several years ago.

“I was moved by the courage and tragedy of the dial painters who were around the same age as I am,” Webster said. “I want people to stand up for what they believe in, even if they end up standing alone.”

Performances of “Radium Girls” start at 7:30 p.m. May 8 through May 10 and May 16 through May 17 at the Stage Coach Theatre, 126 S. Fifth St., DeKalb. There also are matinee performances at 2 p.m. May 11 and 18.

Tickets cost $15 for seniors and children ages 13 and younger and $17 for everyone else. The tickets are available online at stagecoachplayers.com or through the box office at 815-758-1940.