Nov. 5, 2025
By Farah Afifi
Editor
The curtain will soon rise on LHS’ production of D.W. Gregory’s “Radium Girls,” a play that addresses courage, corruption and the fight for justice. The play will hit the stage on Nov. 13-14 at 6:30 p.m. at Lyndhurst Middle School.
Set in Orange, New Jersey in the 1920s, “Radium Girls” is based on the true story of a group of young women who are afflicted by radium necrosis as a result of their job painting watch and clock dials for the U.S. Radium Corporation. This disease brings severe, irreversible bone damage from prolonged exposure to radium.
Senior Lucas Guerrero, who has performed in every LHS play since his freshman year, is playing the role of Edward Markley, the corporation’s conniving defense lawyer.
“It shows that big corporations and companies will just try to [sweep] anything under the rug and [pretend] like that didn’t happen.”
Guerrero said, to prepare for opening night, he is working on improving his body language, emotion and line delivery.
“I’ve really been trying to get better at my acting, and I think that this [role] is helping a lot, but there’s definitely a lot more I need to get better at,” Guerrero said.
He said he hopes the audience feels anxious anticipation while watching the play.
“When you’re watching a movie and you know something the people in the movie don’t know, … you feel on edge and [think], ‘This shouldn’t be happening or be like this,’” Guerrero said.
He said this play differs from previous LHS productions because it is about actual events. Except for the two news reporters who narrate the play, all of the characters depict real people. “Radium Girls” is also more serious and addresses darker themes than the other plays he has acted in.
“We usually do plays like ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and ‘A Christmas Carol,’ which are more magical,” Guerrero said. “‘Radium Girls’ is a lot more plot-driven.”
Junior Isabella Fata, who has also been in LHS’ plays since her freshman year, is taking on the lead role of Grace Fryer, a dial painter at the radium factory. At the beginning of the play, she is a rule follower, but as she and her friends develop radium poisoning, she begins standing up for the cause.
“The most challenging part [of portraying Grace] is that it’s a very sad role,” Fata said. “Grace had to watch her friends pass away.”
Fata said her favorite aspect of the rehearsals has been blocking, which means planning the movement and positioning of the actors on stage.
“I love blocking because I get to see where the set is going to be, and it brings the play together,” Fata said.
She said she has also enjoyed becoming friends with her castmates.
“Some of the [actors] in the play are close friends, so the [other] cast members became close too,” Fata said.
She said the play’s challenging nature has fostered the cast’s camaraderie.
“The play is set in the ‘20s, so there are confusing lines,” Fata said. “We ask questions to each other, and the lines end up becoming inside jokes between the cast.”
Junior William DeGroat is playing the lead male role of Grace’s boyfriend, Tom Kreider, who struggles to understand the fight for justice she wages against her employer.
DeGroat said he appreciates the conflict his character faces.
“He’s very outgoing, and he’s trying to marry this girl who’s dying,” DeGroat said.
DeGroat said that a century later, the story of the Radium Girls is still relevant.
“It shows that big corporations and companies will just try to [sweep] anything under the rug and [pretend] like that didn’t happen,” DeGroat said. “It’s all about money, and they don’t care about the workers.”
He said he encourages students and families to watch the show.
Tickets can be purchased for $10 at the door on show nights or at the high school’s student entrance before school, during lunch and after school the week of the play.
“It’s a great production. We’re putting a lot of work into it, and it’s a true story that happened around here, so it also helps you learn [about] the history of New Jersey,” said DeGroat.
