Well the Missus and I trundled over to Charlestown yesterday to catch D.W. Gregory’s Radium Girls and, say, it was . . . a really sad story.

And a really fine production by Flat Earth Theatre.

From their website:

Corporate greed turns devastating in Radium Girls, inspired by the true story of the factory workers of the U.S. Radium Corporation. Once considered a miracle cure and scientific marvel, by the 1920s the radium used in painting luminous watch dials has triggered potentially fatal health problems for Grace Fryer and other dial painters. As their health deteriorates, the laborers demand compensation from the company insistent on sweeping their ordeal under the rug, and Grace must battle the ruthless corporation even while radiation poisoning destroys her body and life.

The all-female cast was terrific, especially Erin Eva Butcher as Grace Fryer, Bridgette Hayes as Arthur Roeder (president of the US Radium Corporation), Kathleen C. Lewis as multiple characters, and Katharine Daly as ditto.

Toss in deft staging and a heart-rending conclusion, and you have a production well worth seeing (through September 19).

P.S. The Missus and I also caught Flat Earth Theatre’s recent production of The Farnsworth Invention, which was equally well done.

Coincidentally, Flat Earth is now conducting a Founding Donors Campaign in the wake of of its designation as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

You could do a lot worse with 25 of those dollars sitting in your pocket (or, more likely, e-wallet).

Cheers.