SRHS Falcon Playhouse presents ‘Radium Girls’ in June
By Kaila Mellos
The Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) Falcon Playhouse is opening the Black Box once again to produce a production of “Radium Girls” in June as the last show of the season.
Patrick Garcia, the technical theatre director for the Falcon Playhouse, expressed the excitement surrounding this play since it is in the playhouse’s Black Box. It will be the first show of the season to happen within this performance space.
“What’s really fun about this piece – and also presents its own challenges – is that we’re doing it in the Black Box, so it’s a much smaller space, much more confined,” Garcia said. “Our Black Box set sits about 75 seats, so the audience is up close and personal with the whole scene.”
Garcia also described the actors’ excitement about the production.
“That presents an interesting challenge that I think the student actors are excited about because I told them you can’t fake anything here,” he said. “You gotta really know what you’re doing and commit to your choices as an actor.”
“Radium Girls” is a play based in the 1920s surrounding women who worked for a company that used paint that had radium in it. The women were slowly poisoned by the paint over time, mostly because they used their mouths to get the straightest point on the paintbrushes they used to paint.
The play follows a group of women fighting for change against the company to save lives and bring justice.
“Radium Girls” was a student pick by the theatre student board. According to Garcia, the Falcon Playhouse is run like an actual professional theatre company.
The student board is comprised of people from the playhouse who make decisions for everyone, including possible picks for which plays will be performed throughout the semester.
“I have students who are board members … they create committees, and there’s a play reading committee,” Garcia said. “Students read the play and look at it and pitch it. From what they pitch to me, the director, I then make my final choices.”
“Radium Girls” was an exciting choice that Garcia had heard many good things about from colleagues at other schools because there are many ways it can be directed. He thought it would be a good choice as the last play to show all the actor’s growth since the beginning of the year.
Actors will be playing singular roles instead of having multiple roles.
“It has the opportunity for a lot of ensembles, so I had two options. I could cast a small group who played multiple roles, which would be a great acting experience. But I chose to go the route to include more actors,” Garcia said. “We have a cast of 35, and some of them play multiple roles, but we are making it look balanced and not overly crowded.”
Some of the featured actors include Natalia Darwish, Ariela Schneiderman, Nathaniel Feria and Garrett Henry. The play will be assisted by the Falcon Playhouse’s stage manager Chris Klacka and assistant stage manager Abby Leader.
“Radium Girls” will be performed in the Black Box from June 8 through 10 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets will be for sale at the door beforehand and at the finance office for students of SRHS.
For more information, visit falconplayhouse.com.