Radium Girls

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Chase Coston, Union Pines HS, Carthage, N.C.

Focus on the acting. The set can be very minimal. Make sure your costumes, lighting and sound/music are strong.

Bevan Brunelle, Holyoke High School, Holyoke, Mass.

My theatre design class - working remotely - designed the background projection images for each scene. They were very helpful in communicating the audience the shifts in time and location. This was a wonderful ensemble show; due to COVID restrictions, we chose to keep the ensemble visible through the entire show. Actors wore black masks; those who were diseased due to radium poisoning added a bright green masks over their black mask during the scenes in which the audience learned of their infection.

JoBeth Gonzalez, Bowling Green High School, Bowling Green, Ohio

This worked very well over Zoom. Casting is important, though, as having one actor play two parts in quick succession is less effective when there are fewer ways to show a change in character. Think about casting more actors, or looking at how an actor's portfolio of characters can be more evenly spread throughout the play.

Matt Bentley, Sedos, South Croydon, Surrey, United Kingdom

To prepare for the production and for the students to connect more with the characters and story, we watched a short documentary on the radium girls. This helped immensely as the kids were able to play these characters more truthfully.

Anthony Schik, Beveridge Magnet School, Omaha, Neb.