DIRECTOR'S NOTE
What is a human life worth?
Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars? Something that is better than nothing? Would you sell your life away for a year's wages?
Grace Fryer and Kathryn Schaub had to navigate these questions as they battled the U.S. Radium Corporation for compensation and an admission of wrongdoing. Could you put a price tag on your own life? When you know the company's practices and materials caused you constant pain and eventually death.
This being a story about real people, I wanted to remind the audience of the humanity side. None of us are inherently evil but our actions have consequences. If we want to be the change we want to see in this world then we need to be faced with our truths and be able to admit when we’ve done something wrong. Everyone in this story made choices out of self preservation, but what does that really mean?
Reading this play through modern eyes, it hurts to see how relevant this story is today. 100 years later and were still grappling with the same issues as we were back then. Labor and women’s rights, corporate greed, commercialization of science and more. As we go through the years, our knowledge grows but do we ever really learn from our mistakes?
We often find ourselves in situations where we feel we are too far to quit. Too far to admit we’ve made a mistake. To the point where we value money over a life, business over empathy and power over the truth. I can only hope when we do find ourselves in these situations that we remember Grace, Kathryn, Irene and all the other women. The women who reminded us to stand up and do better, to be better. My hope is that you leave the show being the Grace and the Kathryn that ourworld needs us to be.
Thank you to my friends and family for your continuous support. To my dad, thank you for always pushing me to do what I love, you would be so proud. To my dedicated and wonderful cast and crew, thank you. You continue to impress me everyday, the show would not be what it is without everyone of you. Thank you to Dan and Cue Zero for letting me tell this story and join them for their 4th season!
-Allyson Kinch
