"These Shining Lives" Theatrical Production

These Shining Lives is not a depiction of women as victims. It’s a story of four women fighting to right their victimization reflects Pat Anderson-Flowers, former interim vice president for advancement at Birmingham-Southern College who is guest-directing the play. Dr. Alan Litsey, BSC professor of theatre, is serving as the show’s producer.

“The play highlights ordinary women in the 1920s and 30s who took on the extraordinary, groundbreaking task of holding corporate America accountable for the injurious treatment of its employees,” said Anderson-Flowers. “Our production will tell their story in a way that celebrates their lives, their relationships, and their fortitude. It is beautiful and poetic; real and yet dreamlike. Time and space are fluid.”

Playwright Melanie Marnich’s drama will open at BSC for the first time on May 2 in the College Theatre/The Underground, a small creative space that creates a more intimate relationship between the performers and the audience. The production has a company of 28 students — 7 cast members who will play multiple roles and 21 crew members.

In the play, Catherine discovers that she and her friends are dying of radium poisoning with the full knowledge of their company managers. Based on a true story, These Shining Lives illuminates the strength and courage of the largely forgotten “Radium Girls”—factory workers painting watch dials who were thought to be expendable and unable to fight back.

The tragic event holds an important place in history for shaping U.S. labor and health laws. The case was settled in the fall of 1928, and the settlement for each of the women was $10,000 (equivalent to $143,000 today).