’s Lois Jenson. These groundbreaking women and their inspiring David v. Goliath battles with The Man over worker’s rights, segregation, and sexual harassment didn’t become common knowledge until their stories were turned into books, then major motion pictures.
The same is true for the Radium Girls, a corps of female factory workers in the 1920s who were poisoned from painting watch dials with a newly invented radium-based luminescent paint. Corporate executives looked at the illness as collateral damage and conspiratorial company doctors diagnosed it as syphilis or diphtheria. The workers’ attempts to receive compensation for medical expenses from U.S. Radium were futile and met with blatant acts of intimidation.
Sound designer K. Eliot Haynes supplements the puppetry with a flowing soundtrack and supplies a voice-over narrative that was inspired by Grace Fryer’s court testimony. The disembodied voice of a victim dramatically heightens the words and emphasizes their significance. And the period-appropriate ads promoting the health benefits of radium, which are part of Chris Owen’s projections, adds a bit of irony to the evening.
According to artistic director and puppet master Hopkins, during the opening night after-show discussion, the act of puppetry itself is an operational metaphor for the manipulation of one being by another. This adds weight to every one of his productions, which tend to address social and economic injustice. With this play’s exploration of a faceless corporation’s shocking criminal negligence and the misogynistic system that protected it, the medium is very much the message.
In addition to workshop grants, the Jim Henson Foundation offers funding for full productions of new works.will most certainly be a viable and worthy candidate when it gets more fully fleshed out. Those attending this workshop staging will be offered 2-for-1 tickets for the full production.