Home on the Radioactive Range: Drilling Company's Atomic Farmgirl

I attend many small theatrical productions and am always willing to take the risk in the hopes of seeing a few good seconds of acting, hearing a couple of great lines or experiencing an odd moment that leads to something transcendent. Getting trapped in a three-hour production about a family wracked by death due to the country’s negligent manufacture and disposal or plutonium is not really my idea of a good time. Throw in a ululating Native American spirit with a chip on her shoulder, and things get even more difficult to handle.

Despite the many awkward, sentimental and uncomfortably long moments in [Atomic Farmgirl,] I left the play feeling pleasantly satisfied. Director Brook Brod manages to contain a sprawling 800-acre farm, centuries of history and the personal tragedies of an American family all within the tiny 78th Street Theatre Lab playing space. Adapted by C. Denby Swanson from Teri Hein’s memoir, Atomic Farmgirl is an ambitious undertaking for the Drilling Company, one that manages to capture a profound sense of cultural grief that may never be properly healed. The plot revolves around the contamination of southeast Washington State due to the Hanford Engineer Works, where plutonium was produced for the country’s nuclear arsenal and irradiated countless farm families.

The standout of the cast is Kathleen O’Grady who plays Dolores Hein, the matriarch-turned-activist of a farm family, who has seen all of her friends die, her daughters suffer thyroid problems and the slow, sad emasculation of her husband. O’Grady captures the tough, yet elegant personality of the character without resorting to Erin Brockovich fireworks. The most confusing moments revolve around daughter Teri Hein (Melissa Condren), who is struggling with her misgivings about her radioactive home and is now giving tough-love instruction to cancer victims. With a little pruning—excising some of the subplots (no matter how poignant they seem)—and refocusing the play on Dolores’ mission to find some justice for her family and neighbors, the play would be a heart-breaking evocation of American idealism torn to bits.

Remaining shows Nov. 27-30 at 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 1 at 3 p.m. at 78th Street Theatre Lab, 236 W. 78th St. (near Broadway), 212-414-771.