What drives a seemingly harmless stenographer to commit murder? Based loosely on real-world events, Machinal by Sophie Treadwell seeks to answer this question. The Moriane Valley Theater will be presenting Machinal in the Spring semester. In honor of this event, we wanted to post some resources to help students who are interested in conducting their own research:
- “The Machinal Machine”
- “Machinal, the Snyder-Gray Trial and Russia”
- 80 Years Ago in News History: Sex! Crime! Sensationalism!
- Treadwell, Sophie, 1885-1970 (MVCC ID required from off campus)
- Plays by American women, 1900-1930 PS628.W6 P53 1985
- Twenty-five best plays of the modern American theatre. PS634 .G32
- Drama for Students, volume 22 p231-59 REF PN6112 .D7
Here is the blurb from the Moraine Valley Theater page:
- Machinal By Sophie Treadwell April 29-May 1Sunday, May 2John and Angeline Oremus TheaterDirected by Dr. Craig RosenA 1928 Broadway hit, Machinal is a modern age tragedy of isolation turned to murder. The play, Sophie Treadwell said, is about “a young woman, ready, eager for life, for love…but deadened, squeezed, crushed by the machine-like quality of the life surrounding.” Loosely based on the sensational 1927 murder trial of Ruth Snyder, Treadwell uses this scenario as a springboard for her own speculations about what circumstances might drive a seemingly harmless stenographer to commit murder.