Radium Girls is  the Wheat Ridge High School  fall play that will be opening Friday, Oct. 22, at 7:00 p.m. The play is directed by English and drama teacher Autumn Ehrhardt and was written by D.W. Gregory. 

Radium Girls is based on three different watch factory  female employees in 1917 affected by the radioactive, glow-in-the-dark paint they were using to paint the watch dials

The whole production  is stacked full of talent. I managed to pull interviews with some actors and the stage manager. Speaking of the stage manager Sierra Crook is a freshman, taking on such a vital role for a first time high school play. 

Putting on a play can be a stressful but fun time for the cast and crew.

“There’s definitely been some tension in the past, but we all talk through that tension. We’re past that now we are just focused on the play. Ms. Ehrhardt usually tells us that we shouldn’t think of each other as family because feelings get hurt easier. So we should see us as teammates,” said Crook.

But being the lead in the play is just as stressful. Sophomore Hannah Korosec, however, is comfortable in her part as lead character Grace. 

“I’m really into theater. Like musical theater, it’s a real good opportunity to have fun,” said Korosec.

Braeden Schilling  seems to love his role in the play. 

“I really enjoy the costumes and fellow actors, also I really like being on stage,” said Schilling who will be playing Tom/Reporter/and the venecine salesman. 

Schilling talked about how fun and challenging his roles  were.  “I like them, but they’re really difficult, like Tom has a certain tone, his voice is difficult, he also has a certain way of sitting than I do. It was very difficult to master, but I think I got it down,” he said. 

In addition to all of the on-stage effort, a lot of work goes on backstage too.

Schilling said that backstage includes “A lot of random conversations about tons of different things. We’ve also been working together, we’ve been discussing on how he should walk, how funny his lines are.”

Seeing the set design and costumes I could tell so much time and focus went into the play/ production. 

Things will be a little different in regards to COVID restrictions. 

“We are doing this with masks. It’s clear masks so you’ll be able to see the work of our amazing make up artists Percy. We will be doing safety precautions for Covid, we sanitizing all our materials, were wiping down everything after we done using it. Don’t worry it’s CDC guidelines so we are being safe,” said freshman Jaeda Mowery, who has three roles in the play.

Be sure to come see “Radium Girls” this weekend at 7:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights.