BWW Reviews: THESE SHINING LIVES Lacks Wattage

These Shining Lives

Written by Melanie Marnich, Directed by Caitlin Lowans, Scenic Design by Cristina Todesco, Costume Design by Elisabetta Polito, Sound Design & Engineering by David Remedios, Lighting Design by Deb Sullivan, Projection Design by Saulius Slezas; Props Master, Joshua Kigner; Production Stage Manager, Margaret Kayes

CAST (in alphabetical order): Melis Aker, McCaela Donovan, Allan Mayo, Kathryn Myles, Dakota Shepard, Joe Short

Performances through June 22 at Stoneham Theatre, 395 Main Street, Stoneham, MA; Box Office 781-279-2200 or www.stonehamtheatre.org

These Shining Lives tells the important story of a 1928 groundbreaking case which established legal precedents for labor safety standards still in effect decades later. Five factory workers, dubbed the "Radium Girls," sued their employer after contracting life-threatening radium poisoning while painting watch dials with the glow-in-the-dark substance. Playwright Melanie Marnich focuses on four of the thousands of women who entered the work force for the first time in the 1920s, rejoicing in the opportunity to make money before finding their lives forever changed by unanticipated camaraderie and unforeseen deleterious effects.

The Stoneham Theatre production, directed by Caitlin Lowans, features four talented actresses as the ill-fated quartet, and two actors to portray the men who played key roles in their lives. McCaela Donovan, a presence on many Boston stages, makes her Stoneham debut as Catherine, the by-default standard bearer for the litigation. Kathryn Myles is the hard-boiled Charlotte who needs to be won over by the new girl. Melis Aker plays Pearl, the sweet jokester of the office, and Dakota Shepard plays Frances, everyone's moral compass. Joe Short makes a solid impression as Catherine's blue collar husband Tom, and shifts gears nicely to be the bearer of bad news as a Chicago doctor who tells the women the truth about their illnesses. Allan Mayo transforms from the jovial boss Mr. Reed, to the dissembling company doctor, to the outraged lawyer, without a stumble.

The play begins with the music and the joie de vivre of the Roaring 20s and the promise of women's independence just two years after passage of the 19th Amendment giving them the right to vote. Underlying these themes is the threat of disruption on the home front, shown in heartfelt conversations between Catherine and Tom in which he tells her, ominously, that working has consequences. However, despite her nervousness, she wants to know what it feels like to be the person putting in an eight-hour day. With cheerleader-like encouragement from Mr. Reed, Catherine takes her place at her work table with the other three women and quickly excels at the job. Although she looks skeptical when instructed to lick the tip of the paintbrush to give it a fine point, she eventually follows suit because the more dials painted per day, the higher the pay. They break the tedium of the job with gossip, jokes, and wisecracks, and bond over shared banana splits and occasional days at the beach.

Toward the end of the first act, Catherine begins to feel ill effects, but Tom isn't sympathetic and the company doctor downplays her symptoms, offering only aspirin as treatment. When she tries to assert herself, Reed's veiled remarks make it clear that the company doesn't want anyone to rock the boat. In act two, all of the women are worried about their aches and pains, but are in denial that there could be anything seriously wrong. For its part, the company issues a statement assuring them that they use only pure radium and have high regard for the safety of their employees, offering no indication of the inherent danger. Thus, it is all the more shocking when they get their diagnoses from the Chicago physician and realize that the company knew what was happening to them while taking no responsibility.

At this point, the story takes a soap opera-ish turn with lots of hand wringing, but Marnich snaps the women with a virtual wet towel to set the trial phase of the play in motion. Once they decide to sue and engage an attorney, the pace and the interest level pick up. Although the women remain fairly chipper and healthy (with the exception of Catherine, who seems to be the sickest), the lawyer makes impassioned remarks, the doctor's testimony is damning, and Tom confronts Reed with harsh accusations about his role in the company's cover-up. The brief portion of the play that features the trial and the ensuing media coverage is the most dramatic and compelling, causing one to wonder why the playwright did not devote more attention to the six trials and appeals that went as far as the Supreme Court of the United States.

These Shining Lives is a memory play with Catherine serving as narrator of her story. She recounts what took place and then there is a scene to show us, but we already know what is going to happen. The exposition in act one is repetitive and Marnich doesn't develop the co-workers' stories other than to let us know that Charlotte takes care of her mother. At least Myles has a couple of encounters with Donovan, and Aker offers a little comic relief, but Shepard is under-utilized while making the best of a bland role. Whatever cohesion exists among the foursome is by the strength of their talents, not because the script credibly makes them gel. Donovan and Short have natural chemistry, picking up where they left off as a married couple in Bridge Rep's The Lover, but the play is not the story of a marriage.

Cristina Todesco's scenic design works well to give a dream-like feel to the space, with furniture and artifacts suspended overhead, but the director's choice to trifurcate the stage into Reed's office, the factory area, and Catherine's home leads to an absence of fluidity. When the women are seated at their work stations, it would be more realistic, as well as easier to see them all, if they were in a row, like an assembly line. Positioned as they are with two in front and two behind, they look like they're in a classroom. Deb Sullivan's lighting design is an asset to separating each scene and the spotlights flanking the stage cast a warm, nostalgic glow. Elisabetta Polito's period costumes include mid-calf length dresses and t-strap shoes. In addition to the aforementioned music, Sound Designer David Remedios inserts heartbeats at some intense moments. Limited projections announcing time and place or showing newspaper headlines on an overhead screen are designed by Saulius Slezas.

These Shining Lives scratches the surface of an important piece of history, but feels like a missed opportunity. If the playwright had more fully developed the characters, it would make their stories and the losses they suffered more compelling, and she gives only short shrift to the most dramatic aspect of what she has written. As a result, the action feels like slogging through molasses until she finds her footing with a solid ending that pays tribute to some of the real-life "radium girls."

Photo credit: Carla Donaghey (McCaela Donovan, Allan Mayo, Kathryn Myles, Melis Aker, Dakota Shepard)

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