Arts & Entertainment

Get Ready for 'Radium Girls'

Auditions for Chatham High School's fall drama were held last week, and rehearsals

Auditions for Chatham High School's fall drama, "Radium Girls," were held Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 10 and 11.

Lynn Polan, Chatham High's theater director, has been looking forward to directing "Radium Girls" since summer 2010. She discussed it in an interview with Chatham Patch in March 2011.

"There was a factory in New Jersey where they had girls painting glow-in-the-dark watches and clocks with radium-laced paint, and they all got sick and died from radiation poisoning," Polan said.

Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The play by D.W. Gregory tells the story of five factory workers from Orange who sued their employer in a landmark court case which established the right of individual workers who contract occupational diseases to sue their employers.

The women were told the paint was harmless and ingested eadly amounts of radium by licking their paintbrushes to sharpen them. Some also painted their fingernails and teeth with the paint.

Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The first fall play parent meeting will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The dates of the show are Nov. 15, 16, and 17. The Chatham Music and Theater Boosters will again sponsor the senior citizen dinner following the show.

Fundraising for Music and Theater

The Chatham Music and Theater Boosters have been fundraising at the Chatham Farmers Market and at Chatham High's Back to School Night.

The Boosters will also be at Back to School Nights and Chatham, route: {:controller=>"listings", :action=>"show", :id=>"chatham-middle-school"} --> and


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