Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Updates from Upperclassmen by Luke Wangsness

Two weeks ago, the Albert Lea One-Act Play cast began their competition season. A one-act play is a very fast-paced play, usually with a limited cast, revolving around a singular event or theme. This year they are performing “These Shining Lives.” The focus is on four real life workers of the Radium Dial Company: Catherine Donohue (Joey Maiden), Francis O’connell (Ava Cunningham), Charlotte Purcell (Kylie Lee) and Pearl Payne (Bailey Abrego). These four women were among many who suffered the ill effects of radium poisoning from their work painting clock faces with radium powder.

The play follows Catherine starting on her first day at her new job at the Radium Dial Company. When she arrives at the factory she meets Francis, Charlotte and Pearl. While they butt heads at the beginning, they become fast friends. After some time, Catherine starts to notice her ankles and jaw are hurting strangely, like the bone is breaking apart. Francis confesses that her teeth have been hurting similarly, and Charlotte has felt the same feeling in her arms. The girls finally find an honest doctor, who diagnoses them all with terminal radium poisoning. They decide to take action against their former employer and begin a series of lawsuits against the company, as they were informed that radium was harmless.

The play is emotionally heavy, and the constant back and forth between narration and performance aids in making this tragic tale a tearjerker. With wonderful performances from the entire cast, they hoped to place first or second and advance to the next round at their first competition at Lakeville South.

Luke Wangsness is a senior at Albert Lea High School.