KMS “Radium Girls” Cast Races to Bring Powerful Story to Life
On the KMS stage this month, history, heartbreak and hope are all sharing the spotlight. The Fighting Saints drama team is taking on “Radium Girls” by D.W. Gregory as this year’s one-act play, and they’re working on an incredibly tight timeline to bring a complex, true-story-inspired drama to life. With just 21 days to audition, block, build, memorize and polish, the cast and crew are pouring everything they have into telling this powerful story well.
Auditions wrapped up just before Winter Break, and rehearsal started right away on Sunday. Fifteen students make up the acting ensemble, supported by a dedicated five-member stage crew. Together, these 20 students aren’t just learning lines and moving scenery—they’re stepping into the shoes of real people whose lives were changed forever by a new “miracle” of science in the 1920s. That’s the heart of the director’s vision: honoring those voices while creating a show that grips the audience from the first moment to the last.
Set in 1926, “Radium Girls” follows Grace Fryer, a young dial painter who works with luminous radium paint at the U.S. Radium Corporation. At first, radium is hailed as a cure-all and a scientific wonder. Madame Curie is a global icon, and glowing watch dials are the height of modern innovation. But as the girls in the factory begin to fall ill with a mysterious disease, the bright glow of radium gives way to a much darker truth. Onstage at KMS, that shift—from excitement and trust to doubt and courage—is what the director is asking students to lean into and explore.
Grace’s journey to seek justice becomes the emotional spine of the production. Her fight for a day in court pits her not only against the company but also, painfully, against people she loves. Friends and family worry that speaking out will cost her everything. Opposite Grace stands Arthur Roeder, her former employer—an idealistic man who desperately believes radium can’t be causing harm. In rehearsal, the director is guiding students to avoid simple “heroes and villains” and instead find the humanity on all sides: the fear, denial, hope and guilt that make the story feel real rather than distant history.
Because the script is written as a fast-moving, highly theatrical ensemble piece, the cast has to be nimble. Ten actors play more than 30 roles—friends, coworkers, lovers, scientists, attorneys, consumer advocates and curious onlookers—often changing characters in a matter of seconds. That means quick costume shifts, precise physical choices and clear vocal differences. The director’s vision here is all about flow: scenes transitioning like snapshots in a newsreel, the stage constantly alive with motion but never confusing. It’s a challenge, especially with limited rehearsal days, but it’s also what makes the show exciting to watch.
Behind the scenes, the stage crew is turning a bare platform into a world that slips between factory floors, courtrooms and living rooms. With only 21 days to build and refine, they’re focusing on smart, flexible set pieces that can transform quickly. Simple props—a glowing watch dial, a lab bottle, a newspaper headline—carry huge symbolic weight. Every choice, from lighting that suggests the eerie glow of radium to costumes that anchor the audience in the 1920s, supports the director’s larger goal: to remind viewers that this isn’t just a history lesson. It’s a story about whose voices get heard, and at what cost.
The KMS community will get its first full look at that vision during the home performance on Thursday, January 22, at 4 p.m. Then, just two days later, the Fighting Saints will take “Radium Girls” on the road to compete in Morris, Minnesota, on Saturday, January 24. The hope is that the show doesn’t just score well with judges, but also lingers with audiences—sparking conversations about justice, corporate responsibility and how far people will go to protect their health and their loved ones. For this cast and crew, that’s the real victory: using theatre to bring a powerful story to life and carrying its message far beyond the final curtain.
