The Clocks of Radium Girls

The next production to be performed in BDACT’s Encore Hall will be Radium Girls, which tells the story of the women who painted clock dials for U.S. Radium Corp. in the first half of the 20th century. BDACT Production Coordinator David Alan Smith talked to Radium Girls director Rhiannyn McCauley about some of her stage design choices for the show.

A big part of the decor for Radium Girls is clocks. You’ve spent a lot of time on this aspect of the show. What was the reasoning behind the clock image?

A: I really love a motif when it comes to design. The clock image was born out of the fact the real-life “Radium Girls” were painting clock dials. Also, I love exploring the idea of time. To me, each of the clocks we painted represents one of the radium dial painters. Each clock represents how little time they had, but also how timeless their story is.

When you say you “painted clocks,” you’re not saying you used a blank piece of wood that you painted to look like a clock. You’re talking about actual functional clocks. 

A: We have over 80 clocks, which we picked up at thrift stores and through donations of clocks from the community. First, we took them apart. So, if they had a glass covering, we needed to remove that.  

When you say you “painted” them, what did you actually paint on them? 

A: We used white paint to go over all the numbers. Once that was dry, we went over them again, painting a layer of glow paint. We also put a black border around some of the numbers and we painted the hands as well. 

This sounds time consuming.

A: I’ve been consistently painting for about six weeks as of today. I would say each clock probably took anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on their size and design. 

What happens to the clock after the run of the show?

A: After the show is done, we’d like to auction them off, and donate the money to a cancer research foundation in honor of the Radium Girls.

Radium Girls will run Nov. 7-16. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit the show page.
Clock auction details will be announced soon—watch BDACT social media for details.