Machinal - Sophie Treadwell

PROGRAM NOTE

Dear Virtual Audiences,

In 2021 as we come close to a year of experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, isolation is a feeling that no one is a stranger to. Being alone in our houses, unable to see and hug our friends and families, and the lack of normalcy of day to day activities has impacted nearly everyone and left us all wondering, when will we be free?

In 1927, a woman named Ruth Snyder took her freedom into her own hands. Ruth Snyder experienced an isolation different to that of the COVID-19 pandemic, but one that left her feeling even lonelier. She met and fell in love with a man named Albert Snyder who spent their marriage pining for his fiancee that had died years earlier, and Ruth felt trapped in her marriage. She then met Henry Judd Gray, a man she truly loved, and after seven attempts, the two of them murdered Albert Snyder in their home on March 20, 1927. This became known as the “Crime of the Century” and the trial received a great deal of attention, with over a thousand people packing the courtroom and thousands more outside. The lovers turned against each other and were ultimately found guilty and put to death by the electric chair in January of 1928. The twist, however? A reporter snuck a camera into the room and snapped a picture of Ruth Snyder the instant she died that was put on the front page of the newspaper which sold out in less than five minutes. Sophie Treadwell, who had a love for theatre and journalism, turned this story into Machinal that opened on Broadway in September of 1928, just 9 months after Ruth’s death.

A play that focuses so heavily on themes of dehumanization, the mechanical world and isolation is highly prevalent in 2021, as technology is ruling and making us feel more detached and alone than ever. Treadwell’s adaptation of this story draws audiences in and puts them in the shoes of the Young Woman, asking audiences, “what would you do to be free?” In 2021, the answer is anything.

Hannah Bradley ‘22

Assistant Director

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