Kuhoo Verma, Nina White and Mamie Parris are among eleven performers cast in two industry presentations of Perpetual Sunshine & the Ghost Girls, a new musical about the radium girls, at Open Jar Studios on November 12 and 13.
Out of the Box Theatrics is developing the piece through its “Building the Box” program. The two presentations take place in a rehearsal studio at Open Jar Studios, 1601 Broadway, 11th floor: Thursday, November 12 at 3 p.m. and Friday, November 13 at 11 a.m. They are for invited industry guests. These are not public performances, and no tickets are on sale.
Lynne Shankel wrote the book and music, and the lyrics with Sara Cooper. The two conceived the show together and won the 2022 Richard Rodgers Award for it. Ann Yee directs. Casting is by Rachel Hoffman of The Telsey Office.
The story starts in a U.S. Radium factory during World War I. Grace Fryer takes a prized job painting watch faces. Then the women around her start falling ill. Grace goes after the cause, and the company fights to bury it. The score mixes the sound of the 1920s with the 2020s. The show draws on the real women who were knowingly poisoned by the United States Radium Corporation and whose fight changed American labor law.
Kuhoo Verma plays Grace. Aquila Sol is Katherine, Alyssa Sunew is Edna, Lucy Godinez is Albina, Nina White is Mollie and Gwynne Wood is Quinta. The Ghost Girls are Anna Bakun, Marilyn Caserta, Marissa Hecker, Mamie Parris and Stephanie Reuning-Scherer.
The music team is led by Mary-Mitchell Campbell as music supervisor, with Elizabeth Doren as music director and Caleb Hoyer as music associate. August Eriksmoen and Lynne Shankel did the orchestrations, and Eriksmoen also handles music production. Kai Harada designs the sound. Laura Brandel is associate director, Lisa Ann Chernoff is production stage manager, Julia Bates is assistant stage manager and Shelby Alexander is script coordinator.
The company’s season also includes Soon by Nick Blaemire, now extended through November 22 at The Loft at 308 West 46th Street. Next April brings the American premiere of Laura Waldren’s Some Demon at the same address.
For more information, visit the Out of the Box Theatrics website.
