News Article
Casting: These Shining Lives
07 Apr 25
LilyAnn Green introduces her cast for this poignant and powerful drama, based on the true story of women a century ago who, unaware of the deadly nature of the glowing radium paint they worked with, were poisoned by it. Their subsequence fight for justice led to seismic change in American labour laws.
"I am thrilled to announce my cast for These Shining Lives by Melanie Marnich. We had over 100 women and 30 men respond to the audition notice. In over 30 years of directing, I've never had such a response and sincerely want to thank the more than 70 people we saw over 3 sessions, the 20 who sent self-tapes and especially those who came out again for call-backs.
We had to make some extremely difficult decisions, but we are now looking forward to getting to work on this lovely and moving play with this group of talented people.
We are also hoping to have, after one of the performances, a Q & A with Kate Moore, writer of the non-fiction NY Times Best Seller, The Radium Girls*, to shed even more light on the true story behind the play. Watch this space!"
*The Radium Girls by Kate Moore, published by Simon & Schuster UK
LilyAnn Green
Director
Cast:
Catherine Donohue – Ellena Jones (new to SLT)
Charlotte – Synne Marie Tansem (new to SLT)
Frances – Zahra Jennings-Grant
Pearl – Julia Blyth
Tom Donohue – Alex Davies (new to SLT)
Mr Reed/Leonard Grossman – Randy Brown
Company Doctor/Dr Rowntree/Announcer/Dr Dalitch/Judge –
Gavin Donnellan (new to SLT)