These Shining Lives

By Melanie Marnich

Directed by RJ Wall

April 11-19, 2025

These Shining Lives is based on the true story of four women who worked for the Radium Dial Company - a watch factory based in Ottawa, Illinois. The play showcases the danger women faced in this workplace and highlights the wider lack of concern companies had for protecting the health of their employees. Catherine and her friends are dying, it’s true; but theirs is a story of survival in its most transcendent sense, as they refuse to allow the company that stole their health to kill their spirits—or endanger the lives of those who come after them.

Audition Information

Director: Raylene J. Wall (RJ) – RJ has over 50 years’ experience in theatre as an actor, director, author, and designer.

Audition Dates:

  • 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday, January 26: Monologue readings using the character sides provided (see below). Auditions on this first night will be done as quickly as possible and on a first-come basis.

  • 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, January 27: Dialog Readings with other actors are part of callbacks, and you will be using selected sides provided by the director.

Location: Aiken Community Theatre (exact location in theatre TBD)

Proposed Rehearsal Schedule: Will be provided at auditions for your review.

Performance Dates 2025:

  • April 11 (7:30pm)\

  • April 12 (7:30pm)

  • April 13 (2:00pm)

  • April 18 (7:30pm)

  • April 19 (7:30pm)

Audition Requirements

You will be required to fill out an audition form during the first night of auditions, and, if you have them, please bring your acting resume and headshot. Be sure to list ALL known conflicts on the form as well.

IMPORTANT: Though there are two nights of auditions, this will be a two-day process in which we see and evaluate the potential candidates for the various roles. The first night will be monologue readings (the audition) and the second night will be dialog readings with other actors (callback).   

Monologues: Regardless of the role you’re interested in, Jan. 26 auditions will consist of reading prepared monologues (i.e., sides) from the play or a selected, short monologue of YOUR choice. The sides from the play are provided below. There is no need to memorize the desired monologue. You may print out whichever monologue you choose to use and refer to it during the audition as needed. BUT you must have read it, be familiar with it, and be prepared to perform it for the production team during the audition. The director may provide feedback and guidance to you during your audition, so be open to requests that may be different from how you prepared.

Dialog Readings: The second night is callbacks, in which the director will provide scene/dialog sides for candidates to read with other actors. You will be assigned a character and a side and will be allowed to practice with other actors before performing it for the production team. You may be asked to read multiple times for multiple roles, so these auditions will most likely take the full 3 hours.

Synopsis
These Shining Lives chronicles the strength and determination of four women considered expendable in their day. The women in this piece are delighted to find high-paying work in the early part of the century. They earn 8 cents for each watch face they paint. If they are fast enough and neat enough, they can earn over $8 a day. That kind of money could change the entire circumstances of a woman and her family in the 1920s.

Catherine, also called Katie, is leaving home for her first day of work. She has twins and a loving and supportive husband. They are barely making ends meet and she sees the opportunity to work and bring home money as a huge boon for her family.

At the factory, she meets her tablemates, Frances, Charlotte, and Pearl, and learns how to paint the watches: Take the brush and twirl it between your lips to make a sharp point, dip it in the paint, and paint the numbers. “It’s a lip, dip, and paint routine,” Frances instructs her. When Catherine comments on how the paint glows and tastes, she is told that radium is medicinal and cures all kinds of maladies.

She quickly becomes adept at the work and loves her new identity as a working woman. Six years later, however, she and every girl working on the watches have health problems. She and all others have toxic levels of radium poisoning and their condition is fatal. Instead of fading into the background, Catherine and her friends decide to risk their names, images, and reputations and take the watch company to court.

Roles Available:

Depending upon interest and turnout, the casting of smaller roles may be doubled.

Main Characters:

CATHERINE DONOHUE (F) 20s-30s – A young wife and mother of two. She works at the Radium Dial Company. While she is quiet, sensitive and reflective at times, she is by no means weak. She is full of life and passion for her work, her friends, and her husband.

  • CHARLOTTE (F) 20-30s – A worker at the factory. She is outspoken and hard-boiled. She is competitive and has a biting sense of humor. Underneath this front, however, she is just as kindhearted as her friends.

  • FRANCES (F) 30s – 50s – A worker at the factory. She is the ‘moral backbone’ of the group but is more flexible than she lets on. She acts as a mediator during the beginning of the show between Charlotte and Catherine.

  • PEARL (F) 20s-30s – A worker alongside Catherine at the factory. Sweet and supportive she is the “joker of the group.” But Pearl has a hard time coming to terms with her developing illness.

  • TOM DONOHUE (M) 30s-40s – The husband of Catherine Donohue, a riveter on the skyscrapers of Chicago. He loves Catherine and is extremely devoted to her but is somewhat unsettled when his wife starts making more money than he does.

  • MR. REED (M) 40s-50s – The overseer of the factory. His heart is usually with the girls, but when put under pressure he is a pawn of the Radium Dial Company and must follow orders.

  • Smaller Roles: These roles are just as important to the play but will require less memorization. As needed, some of these roles will be handled with double casting.

  • DR. ROWNTREE (M) 30-40 – He extols the benefits of radium to cure common illnesses. Will be combined with another role.

  • LEONARD GROSSMAN (M) 30-40 – A brash lawyer who has enough courage to take the girls’ case. He is disturbed by the company’s treatment of Catherine and her friends.

  • COMPANY DOCTOR (M) 30-50 – Much like Mr. Reed, the Company doctor is a pawn of the Radium Dial Company. He denies that the girl’s illnesses are related to their working conditions and the radium they are exposed to.  

  • RADIO ANNOUNCER (M) – Much like Dr. Rowntree, the radio announcer makes a performance out of selling radium to the public. Boasting of its benefits and popularity, he sells the product along with a trio of radio station singers.  

  • DAUGHTER (F) – Catherine’s young daughter. She is not childish, only innocent. She establishes the disconnect that has developed in Catherine’s life.  

  • SON (M) – Catherine’s son. He is not childish, only innocent. Only appearing once with his sister, he establishes the disconnect that has developed in Catherine’s life.  

  • DR. DALITSCH (M/F) 30-50 – An incredibly honest doctor. The girls go to him/her and receive their separate, gruesome diagnoses. He/she reappears in the trial scene to confirm their conditions before the jury.  

  • JUDGE (M/F) 40-60 – Appears in the courtroom scene of Catherine’s trial versus the Radium Dial Company.   

  • REPORTERS 1 & 2 (M/F) – Speaks outside of the courthouse during Catherine’s lawsuit. They provide the opinion of the public.  

Monologues/Sides for First Night of Auditions

Please prepare only ONE monologue to use during your audition on JAN 26. Also, if you choose something from the play, it does NOT lock you into consideration for only that role. You will be asked to read other parts on the second night of auditions.

NOTE: You may print out the monologue you are going to use and refer to it during your audition if necessary.

CATHERINE

This isn’t a fairytale, though it starts like one. This isn’t a tragedy, though it ends like one. It’s something else. We’re something else. We’re the wonder. The heroes. The cure. The failures. We are progress in history. We are the news. But we are just girls who wanted to work. Ordinary girls. I live in Ottawa, Illinois in a brick house on a quiet street. I grow tomatoes and peas and pansies. I have a husband whom I love. I have two children who I love. When my husband touches me, I know I can fly. They say you see your life flash before your eyes. That you see a light and you move toward it. But you don’t. You tell your story, beginning and middle as it was written and the end as it comes. Once you’ve told it, then you can rest. Then your real work is done.

 

CHARLOTTE:

...And I told him, “I absolutely intend to strike this match. And I can smoke if I want to. All the girls are doing it. You live in a cave? Haven't you picked up a magazine?” And I threw my Collier's at him, pointed to the picture of the girl in the Chesterfields ad and said, “There. Isn't she sharp?” Besides, if men can do it, so can we, right? I can smoke all night and all day if I want to except that I have to work and that's using my hands, which wouldn't leave them free to smoke, but if I could, I would. I'd smoke and drink gin and shimmy and he said, “Charlotte, you'd look like a harlot,” and he didn't even think that was funny. That fella's so tight, if you put a piece of coal up his -- Oh hello, Mr. Reed.

 

FRANCES:

There is a God. And he is made of time. There is a devil, and he’s made of time. There are angels, miracles, and sins, and they’re all made of hours. On the shore of the lake with my friends that last time. I watched the kids play and thought of my boy and girl. I watched the husbands and wives and thought of the man I loved. I walked to the water. I walked in. I stood there. Small waves and grace all around. Faith at the edge of the world. And I think, lucky me, that I still believe in it all. After all of this. And then a gift. A million clocks stopped in the city. Watches closed their eyes. Their hands folded. Their faces slept. The earth stopped turning. And time stood still for just a minute, just for us. The moon came out. The stars came out. Time was kind, after all. And I knew I was blessed to have held so much of it in my hands. In the quiet, in the water, I could see my face. Next to mine, the faces of everyone I love. The faces of my friends. And so many more. All looking back at me. For that moment, while time turned its face, we were all there. And we were shining.

 

PEARL:

Stop it Katie! Just shut up! You can’t make it better, okay?! So stop trying with your silly optimism. It’s ridiculous. Grow up. They did this to us! They did this and they knew it! They threw us away for a few watches! That’s what we’re worth! That’s what you’re worth! So spare me the “maybe this” and “maybe that,” okay?! It does me no good. I’m— I’m so sorry. I just don’t— I don’t have anyone else to— Who’s gonna take care of my mom, Katie? Who’s gonna take care of her? Okay. That’s that, then. I better get home. Big day today, huh? I’ll see you later.

 

TOM:

In the war, I…I saw things that no human being should ever have to see. A guy comes back from something like that, and he can’t believe in God. It’s impossible. That’s what anyone’ll tell you. I was raised to believe in God and the saints and in miracles. But then there was this war and after it, I couldn’t believe in anything good. But when I first saw Katie, the first thing, the only thing I thought when I saw her face was that there had to be a God, because he made her. That was the only explanation. And I was a praying man again. Talk about a miracle. Do you know that they pulled bones out of her body while she was still alive. Lifted them right out. I was going to grow old with that woman. I was going to die with her. Maybe I have. Could you tell me how to live my life now? Could you tell me what I’m going to do with all this time? I have to go. I have to go see my kids. I have to get home before they go to bed. I sing to them. They sing to me. A lullaby. Even though we’re all too old for it. It’s our little routine. It makes us feel better. It’s just something we do. Sir? Just so you know… Every morning, I wake up and wonder if today’s the day I’m going to kill Rufus Reed.

 

MR. GROSSMAN:

This is disgusting. An absolute crying shame. Yes, I’ll take your case. No, I won’t make any money. You might not make any money either. But that’s not the point, is it? We can't go to court with all of you all at the same time. We want impact. Clarity. Focus. And, quite frankly, we need the most egregious and flagrant example of the miscarriage of employer responsibility among you. Bluntly put, who’s the biggest mess? I’m going to need specifics. We’ll build our case on specifics. Specifics win a case. We can get those guys - I know we can. But they’ll put you through the wringer Mrs. Donohue. Are you up to it? It’s gonna get dirty. It’s gonna get mean. It’s gonna hit the papers and God knows what they do to a story, good, bad, and otherwise. You’ll be the example of everything that’s wrong with big business. You’ll be the casualty of commerce. You’ll be called a victim. You’ll be called an opportunist. You’ll be called a saint. You’ll be called a liar. Your dirty laundry will be aired in public for the world to see. And you’ll be standing there naked before the judge, jury, and a public hungry for blood and guts. That’s how it works. You up for it? Or do you want to think about it? Take all the time you need.