After 1915
More than a million X-rays were taken in France during the Great War (WWI) due
to Madame Curie’s efforts to establish and train personnel for 20 mobile X-ray
units and 200 stationary sites. Poland regained independence at the end of the
Great War in 1918. Marie Curie died in July 4, 1934 of leukemia (aplastic anaemia),
brought on as a result of exposure to radioactive materials. In 1935, Marie’s
daughter Irène Curie and son-in-law Frédéric Joliot-Curie were awarded the Nobel
Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of artificial radioactivity.
Playwright/Actress: Susan Marie Frontczak of Storysmith®
For over two decades Storysmith® Susan Marie Frontczak has brought history
and literature to life, created stories from thin air, and honed personal
experience into tales worth telling again and again. She plays in theaters,
corporations, universities, libraries, and festivals internationally.
Other original narrative scripts and stories include Vanishing Voices, a
collaboration with Planina Eastern European Choir; Mary Shelley
Speaks, whichaccompanied the nationally traveling exhibit “Frankenstein:
Penetrating the Secrets of Nature”; and Eleanor Roosevelt: This
is My Story.
In dramatizing the life of Manya Sklodowska, Susan Marie pays homage to their
shared Polish heritage. She, too, enjoyed school, and promotes awareness
that sound academics can be a path to outstanding achievement. As a child,
Susan read of Marie Curie’s perseverance in discovering and purifying the
element radium. This, in part, inspired Susan to major in engineering. With
this program Susan pays tribute to the world of science, where she worked
for 14 years as an engineer and manager before pursuing full-time storytelling.
It is her aim to reveal the human behind the scientist while placing Marie
Curie’s life and accomplishments in a memorable
historical context.
Susan Marie Frontczak welcomes feedback
and suggested venues for this performance.
manya@storysmith.org
303-442-4052
http://www.storysmith.org/manya
