Heartwood Theater and Lincoln Academy will present “These Shining Lives” Thursday, Nov. 3 through Sunday, Nov. 6. This is the second of two fall Heartwood/LA youth collaborations.

This beautifully tragic drama by Melanie Marnich has a cast and crew of 20 high school students. It provides young actors weighty work, as they delve into the challenges of portraying real, historical personalities from another time – in a story whose resonance rings ever so loudly, today.

“These Shining Lives” is based on the true story of four women who go to work in a watch factory in Illinois in the 1920's, painting watch dials with a glow in the dark compound of radium. As time marches on, not only do the watch dials glow, but so do the hands of the women, who dabbed the tiny paint brushes between their lips to keep a good point.

At its heart, this play gives a truthful, insightful look at bonds and relationships made, and broken, by difficult times. Young women stare hard into the face of their mortality, yet hold fast to the moments of life and bravely choose the route of morality. Theirs is a story of survival in its most transcendent sense, as they refuse to allow the company that stole their health to steal their spirits—or endanger the lives of working women to follow.

All performances are at the Poe Theater at Lincoln Academy, 81 Academy Hill Road in Newcaslte. Evening shows are at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3, 4 and 5, with a single 3 p.m. matinee on Nov. 6. Student tickets are $5 and adults are $15. Seating is unreserved, unless specifically requested in advance.

Reservations suggested by contacting Heartwood at: info@heartwoodtheater.org and 207-563-1373 - please do not contact Lincoln Academy for tickets.

For more details visit www.heartwoodtheater.org.