CONWAY — It’s not often that a true story comes to life on the stage of The Lantern Theatre.
But such will be the case when the Conway Community Arts Association presents These Shining Lives, by Melanie Marnich. The drama is based on true facts involving women who painted the dials of watches with radium-based paint during the 1920s and ’30s.
“When we ask patrons what they want to see, they often say they would like to see us do a drama,” said Liz Parker, who directs the show. “When I ran across this play and read it, I thought it was a really good story. It’s a true story, a really neat story. So I proposed it to the selection committee.
“It’s about four women who work for the Radium Dial Co. in Ottawa, Illinois. They paint watch faces with radium-based paint. More than 1,000 women worked there beginning in 1922, continuing for the next 11 years. If they stayed there long, they got sick, and most of them died.
“It became a case dealing with company responsibility. In the play, four women sue the company; one woman at a time went to court. The actual case went all the way to the Supreme Court. They were awarded $7,000, which was just a pittance. They all died in the end.”
Parker said the play, in its exploration of profits over people, has been compared to the films Silkwood, Norma Rae and The China Syndrome.
These Shining Faces will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27 and 28 and March 5, 6 and 7, and at 2:30 p.m. March 1 and 8 at The Lantern Theatre, 1021 Van Ronkle St. in Conway. Christine Davis, who is director of parent engagement at Hendrix College, is the stage manager.
Tickets are $15. Reservations may be made by emailing ConwayLanternTheatre@gmail.com. More information is available at www.conwayarts.org.
Parker, who is the treasurer of the Conway Community Arts Association, said the cast includes several veteran actors and “three new faces.”
Members of the cast include the following:
• Ashley Carnahan of Conway appears as Catherine Donohue, a young wife and mother of two who works at the factory and leads a lawsuit again the Radium Dial Co. Catherine narrates the play.
“Catherine begins as this vivacious young woman with children and an incredible husband,” said Carnahan, who is a veteran actor with the Conway Community Arts Association. “She gets the opportunity of a lifetime to work at Radium Dial.
“It was unheard of for women to work full time, let alone make the kind of money that compared to men,” Carnahan said. “She loves the work and forms such a strong bond with her three friends. They are so swept up in the changing times and the ability to provide a better life for themselves, they don’t even realize that the very thing they love is what will slowly kill them.
“Once Catherine is fired for being sick, she struggles with whether or not to sue. She knows it will take its toll on her physically, socially and emotionally, but she also knows the company was aware it was poisoning its workers, and it should be held responsible.”
Carnahan said her role is “challenging” in many ways.
“It is hard for a modern woman to understand how unusual it was for women to go to work full time,” she said. “It is just a choice now that seems so basic we just take it for granted. Also, to know that a company would knowingly destroy its workers is unimaginable. This was such a groundbreaking case for its time.”
Carnahan said that although These Shining Lives “is a drama, the play does have some wonderful, even humorous, moments.”
“The spirit these women have is amazing, even at their end,” she said.
Carnahan said she is “very excited to be working with Liz and the cast.”
“We all really seemed to hit it off and jell as a group quickly. That’s always a great sign for a show, and it is nice to have a few new faces joining us, too.
Carnahan works in the accounting department at Landers McLarty Honda in Little Rock. She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 2001 with a degree in theater.
• Wendy Shirar of Conway plays Charlotte, one of the factory workers.
Also a veteran actor with the community theater group, Shirar describes her character as “a mouthy, controlling, fast woman.”
Shirar said it’s a challenge to do a drama.
“It’s different,” she said. “I like it. I like my character. This is a good story.”
Shirar works in the human resources department at Acxiom Corp. She has appeared in numerous productions by the Conway Community Arts Association and is a member-at-large of its board of directors.
• Elizabeth Williams of Conway portrays Frances, another factory worker.
“My character is described as the ‘moral backbone’ of the group,” Williams said, “but she’s more flexible than she seems. She’s a sweetheart.”
Williams works at the Faulkner County Library. She is also the assistant theater director at the Episcopal Collegiate School in Little Rock and teaches a theater class at the Sonshine Academy in Conway. She graduated from Hendrix College in Conway in 2013 with a degree in theater.
Williams is secretary for the CCAA Board of Directors and has been in several local productions.
• Hali Free of Searcy plays Pearl, the fourth factory worker.
“My character is the jokester of the group,” said Free, who is making her second appearance with Conway Community Arts. “She tries to be the comedic relief, but she fails utterly. She tells horrible jokes.”
Free said she actually prefers dramatic plays to comedies.
She is a substitute teacher in the Cabot School District. She graduated from the UCA in 2012 with a degree in theater and English.
• Chris Harris of Conway appears as Tom Donohue, who is the supportive husband of Catherine.
“My character is there to help his wife as she continues to go to work while she is sick. He sees the toll her sickness takes on the family,” Harris said.
“This is really the first time I’ve been in a drama,” he said, noting that he was in Pvt. Wars, but that play also had some comedy in it.
“I love this play,” he said. “I’m a big history buff. I knew about radium dials but not this story.”
Harris is self-employed. He is a member-at-large of the CCAA Board of Directors.
• Tom McLeod of Conway plays Rufus Reed, the factory boss.
“I know my character appears to be the mean guy in the play, but I think people might be able to relate to him as a person who is just doing his job,” McLeod said. “His focus is on the factory. The country is almost in the Depression, and everybody is worried about their jobs.
“I like my character. I get behind him, … that in the human struggle, he is just doing his job. I’ll leave it to the audience to decide.”
McLeod has appeared in several CCAA productions, most notably the one-man show Vincent and Tuesdays With Morrie. McLeod teaches math at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton.
• Jake Rivers of Conway portrays Dr. Rowntree, the company doctor, and the lawyer, Leonard Grossman, who agrees to take the women’s case.
“This is my first time in the theater,” Rivers said. “I tried out for a part at the recommendation of a friend.
“I like the part of the lawyer the best. He was the only lawyer who would accept the case. He’s standing up for justice.”
Rivers is a 2005 graduate of Conway High School. He works at RockTenn in Conway.
• Tanner Smith of Conway plays Dr. Dalitsch, the honest doctor who gives the young women their gruesome diagnoses.
This is the first time Smith has appeared in a CCAA production and the first time he has been in a play since high school.
“I like the play,” Smith said. “My character is an honest doctor who tells the truth. He is the only one who honestly lets the women know what is really happening.”
Smith is a graduate of Manila High School in Mississippi County. He is a senior at UCA, where he is majoring in film.
• Miguel Castillo of Conway appears as two reporters who speak outside the courtroom during Catherine’s lawsuit.
“My characters are there to put the story in perspective, to let the people know what’s going on,” he said.
This is Castillo’s first appearance in a theatrical production.
“The closest thing I’ve come to theater is posting a video on YouTube,” he said with a smile.
Castillo is a 2006 graduate of Conway High School. He attends UACCM, where he is taking general-education courses.
As an aside to the play, the local singing quartet Vintage will be heard during the play.
“During one of the scenes, the radio announcer does an ad for Radium Dial watches,” Parker said. She and Sherry Norrell, Kathy Perry, Donna Hutchinson and Angela Greenland are members of a women’s ensemble that performed
locally and beyond for a number of years.
“The ad includes a little jingle sung by women,” Parker said. “My dad, John Cooper, who plays keyboard at Faby’s restaurant on Front Street, is a former band director. He agreed to write the music for these lyrics in four-part harmony.
“Vintage is going to record it, and it will be played during that scene. It will be about a 15-to-20-second spot.”