WOODBURY — This December, the Nonnewaug Drama Club will tell the two-act story of the Radium Girls, a play that takes place in Waterbury, making it a local story the drama students are excited to tell.

“It’s really cool, learning the history and incorporating it into [the theater department],” says senior Rubie Lombardi, the lead actress for Radium Girls. “I think it gives us a great opportunity to learn the history of [Connecticut].”

“I’m proud that we picked this show. I knew before we even read the script that this affected Connecticut,” says senior performer Campbell Bologna. “Not everyone in the cast knew this happened just 24 minutes from here.”

During the First World War, there was a demand for watches painted with radium-lined paint. The paint would make the numbers glow in the dark for army soldiers. The Waterbury Watch Company hired women because of their nimble fingers. 

In order to save time, the women would lick the brushes to make bristles a fine point and be able to paint small numbers. 

Not only were the workers ingesting the paint, the toxins from this process got onto their skin, under their nails, and dripped onto their clothes.

Acute radiation syndrome, or ARS, includes symptoms such as loss of appetite, fatigue, fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and possibly seizures, according to the CDC. Because the women were ingesting so much, they also experienced softened teeth, deteriorating jawbones, and spontaneous bone fractures.

The first of more than 30 women to die in the Waterbury factory was Frances Splettstocher, who died at 20 in 1925. The deaths kept coming, with the Waterbury Watch Company doing little to stop them. Only in 1941 did the company address people’s concerns by raising the women’s wages.

The oldest Radium Girl, Mae Keane, was able to live to 107 despite being subjected to the radiation. She was spared from ingesting large amounts of radium paint due to being fired when she was 18. But the job still left her without her teeth by age 30. 

She died March 1, 2014.

The student actresses and actors feel pride being able to tell the story of the Waterbury Radium Girls. Meeting Tuesdays and Thursdays for the months leading up to the play, which is set for Dec. 7-8, the dedicated cast runs lines over and over.

“The only emotion I’ve been feeling about this show is pure excitement,” says Kiya Flynn, the sophomore stage manager. “For me, the history coming with this show is a huge plus. It’s not only educational, but a fun way to learn.”

Tickets to the Dec. 7 and Dec. 8 performances are available.