These Shining Lives

by Melanie Marnich

THESE SHINING LIVES chronicles the strength and determination of women considered expendable in their day, exploring their true story and its continued resonance. 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.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Drama, School

69 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2010

Reviews

[emelie!! · Rating 5 out of 5]

The worst part is that it's based on real events, real girls, and the horror they experienced due to radium posioning.

This play will be my directing debut next year, and I'm so excited to put it on.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the play that inspired the non-fiction book The Radium Girls by Kate Moore, and had I read/seen this play before I read the book, I probably would have enjoyed it more. However, as I read the novel first, and therefore know the women's stories, the play doesn't do the women justice. It fails to convey their trauma from the poisoning, and the extent to which they had to fight for justice. Instead it feels like it's trying to make a horrible situation palatable for even a younger audience. It was missing the weight and grit that I was expecting.

[Megan Huggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished in a day, because oh my goodness it is a good play. Beautifully written, and heartbreaking. Devastating and powerful. I'm excited for this play at school next year.

[Michael Church · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m lucky enough to be performing as Tom Donohue in an upcoming production (and just realized that I can track scripts on Goodreads!).

I think this is a great script, and the story is so powerful. Add that it’s based on a true story, and it’s truly special.

My one issue with it is I don’t enjoy some of the times that it gets overly poetic, because that has a tough time fitting into the rest of the play at times.

Overall, though, an amazing story that has been a joy to rehearse that I can’t wait to fully perform.

[Kairan · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's The Radium Girls but good!
going into this and knowing exactly what happened historically, i wasn't expecting much in the way of catharsis. but between the crushing parallels of modern issues (such as deadly abuse of factory workers & women going unheard and untrusted by their own doctors) and the gorgeously dynamic relationships, Marnich's is without a doubt a play everyone should read, as well as being the only play to read about the radium girls.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great quick read if you like plays and don't have the time for Kate Moore's THE RADIUM GIRLS (but definitely read Moore if you can).

when women gossip: "We're sharing vital information about our surroundings. It's crucial to our survival."

[Gypsysoul_ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this and the script 'Radium Girls' back to back, and although the opening monologue for this was chilling, that's where any semblance of story telling ended. The remaining script seems thrown together, and focusing on an idealized romance, than the struggle of the women. It only dedicates less than three-four pages regarding their court case?! I was really disappointed, and wish I could combine the monologue from this and the script from the other to create a fully moving play.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this but I couldn't love it. I agree with a lot of reviews here that say if they hadn't read the nonfiction book by Kate Moore, inspired by this play, I would have loved it. However, everything was far too simplified to truly understand the horrors these women went through. You get a little bit of it, the weight loss, the doctor's scene where he tells the girls exactly what's happening, but there was so much more to this story than what was in the play. I liked it, I would love to be in it, Catherine's monologues are gorgeous and I'd love to perform them but something truly horrific was missing. The bits that made me groan and rear back from the book weren't here. And that was a disappointment.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read The Radium Girls by Kate Moore first, which may have been why I didn't enjoy this play as much as I thought I would. Moore was inspired to write the 2017 book after directing this play.

While I like the poetic rhythm of the play and how moving it is, it seems to barely graze the surface of what the woman fought for with their lives. However, the play has strong, female roles for actresses and still brings to light their important actions.

That being said, I think this play could be done in a smaller theater with a minimal set and still be impactful. Most of the roles are meant to be doubled up, there are minimal props and projections are suggested.

[Marni · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't read it, I saw it. The pace is slo-o-ow. When you find yourself hoping the protagonist will get sick so that things will get moving, that ain't good!

The audience does not get a sense of the passage of time. When a character says, "We've been working together 6 years," I thought, "Seemed like a month!" I wish the play would have created some excitement by showing how the money they earned improved their circumstances. A move to a bigger house? Or some discussion of so-and-so who can't find a job?

How about a dentist chair, and the dentist pulls out a piece of jawbone?

[Nicole Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading The Radium Girls by Kate Moore and seeing the Radium Girls play by D.W. Gregory, I was excited to read These Shining Lives by Melanie Marnich. In the Radium Girls book, Moore gives a comprehensive account on the factories in New Jersey and Illinois, the women who worked there, their illnesses, and their legal battles. Gregory's play focuses on the women in the New Jersey factory and their fight to get their legal compensation. Marnich's play is about a group of women who worked in the Radium Dial factory in Ottawa, Illinois. These Shining Lives is about four real women: Catherine Donohue, Charlotte Purcell, Frances O'Connell and Pearl Payne. Together, they navigate being working women, their mysterious illnesses, and the decision to take Radium Dial to court. It is a bittersweet story about the way strong friendships can be a great light that shines through the dark times.

[Keara Noelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried through the entire ending of the show, and was filled with warmth and love for all of the main characters. These women are so important to carry with us as we teach the next generation the history of our country.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play is beautiful. I think that the characters are all very surface level, but the ending just made me weep, I couldn't give it just 3 stars. Maybe I'll be casted in this next semester, but if not I can't wait to see it.

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic show, it was an honor to work on it.

Read for the 2023 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge, Prompt: A book with just text on the cover
Read for the 2023 Around the Year in 52 Books Challenge, Prompt #17: Three books, each of which is set in a different century: Book 3

[Maddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow I can’t wait for this to produced at my college this fall

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, so good. I'd love to see it performed.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad, moving, and, unfortunately, a true story.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tragic amazing true story play. I hope to direct it one day.

[Kylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

[Shanna Klutts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this play! I cannot wait to read Radium Girls later this year. Beautiful, sad, touching, and makes you value the time we have here on earth. Extraordinary women.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad and well written, effective in evoking the emotion of the reader.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could make a good m/f DDA

[Maxie Froelicher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm doing the sound design for my local theater's production of this. It's beautiful.

[Madeleine Rose Healey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Playing Pearl in this in March!

[Edie Walls · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this because my theater is going to put it on in the spring, and I just adored it. I'm so excited to see it live.

[Amaya Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The feminist plot is one that I love and I hope to be Catherine in my school's production of this :)

[Joan Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful.

[Abby Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this was made today, my Google history would read “radium companies biting the curb”

[Quinn Holtzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this play omg

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

boss makes a dollar i make a dime that’s why i’m destroying company *time*