THOUSAND OAKS — The California Lutheran Theatre and Dance Department is presenting its production of Radium Girls, a play by D.W. Gregory based on a book of the same name by Kate Moore. Performances will be in the Preus-Brandt Forum on the Cal Lutheran campus in Thousand Oaks and will be directed by drama professor Kenneth Gardner.
Radium Girls is set in Orange, New Jersey, during the 1920’s when the radioactive element radium was common in the products of daily life. The main character is Grace, a 14-year-old girl who gets a job at a watch factory that uses radium-based paint to make its products glow in the dark. Grace falls ill with radium poisoning; she and other workers who get sick sue their employer, raising awareness of their plight as they fight for justice.