Atomic Farmgirl

Atomic Farmgirl is an epic and idiosyncratic story about gender, history, the mythology of the American West, and the legacy of the nuclear industry in this country. Adapted from a memoir by Teri Hein, the play is also an intimate and unexpectedly bouyant story about one farm and the people connected to it.

Before the Heins settled on their farm in eastern Washington state, it was Cayuse and Yakama territory. In 1858 a Cayuse chief was invited to a peace treaty signing by the U.S. Cavalry and summarily executed upon arrival. In 1951, Teri’s father was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, the beginning of the tidal wave of bad news to hit their farming community. Most of that bad news was connected to releases of radiation from the Hanford nuclear power plant, about 100 miles away, where the plutonium had been processed for the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Atomic Farmgirl is presented as part of the Impact Festival.