PHS advanced acting performed “These Shining Lives” on March 11 at 7:30 p.m. There will be another performance on March 13, starting at the same time.

The play, rated PG for some adult situations, documents the true story of Catherine Donahue, who worked in the Radium Dial watch factory in Ottawa, Illinois from 1922 to 1931. As a result of the radium exposure and ingestion she experienced on the job, Donahue is diagnosed with radium poisoning and sues the company.

They play focuses on women working during a period where it wasn’t common for them to do so, documenting their struggle to stand up to people who discriminate against them, junior Bryn Lawson said.

“It’s a really interesting perspective that I don’t think you see,” she said.

Donahue, played by senior Grace Sanford, initially enjoys the job and the extra money it brings her family. She befriends three other girls who work in the factory, played by junior Leah Kochendoerfer and seniors Maura Phillips and Laurel Rosenbaum.

Lawson said her favorite character is Charlotte, who is played by Kochendoerfer.

“She’s one of the strongest characters in the play and I really like her for that,” she said. “She has opinions and stands up for them.”

The play also featured juniors Grady Wetherbee and Danny DeBare and senior Sarah Stuetz.

“What struck me was how topical [the play] was,” economics teacher Gabrielle Kashani said. “As I walked out, I was thinking about the water crisis in Flint and how people can still get sick from doing things they need to do to survive.”

Sophomore Ella Nielson said that the relationship between the girls who worked in the factory seemed very natural, and she felt the actors were actually all close friends.

“My favorite thing about it was the relationship between the characters,” sophomore Abigail Willson said.

Willson’s initial reaction to the play was one of fatigue, for she felt that the actors passed the character’s battles and exhaustion onto the audience.

“Most of your life, you’re using 90 percent of your brain, and maybe the other 10 percent is doing something else,” Sanford said. “With this, you’re using one hundred percent or your brain. It’s exhausting.”

Sanford said that it feels good to be telling this story, and her overall hope is to do some justice to the story of these incredibly brave women.

“I am excited to give it another go on Sunday,” she said.