Anderson Theatre presents " Machinal"May 10, 2013 at 8–10 p.m.

Amy Seham directs Sophie Treadwell's Machinal, a rare and stunning example of American Expressionist theatre hailed by critics as a masterpiece of 20th century drama.

As a playwright and intrepid reporter, Treadwell covered the sensational 1927 murder trial of Ruth Snyder, an ordinary woman who was convicted of killing her husband and later sentenced to become the first woman executed in the new electric chair. The trial inspired Treadwell to write this story of an Everywoman as she struggles to find her own voice within the mechanized pressures and entrenched power of society. When Treadwell's play opened on Broadway in 1928, the New York Times called it, "a triumph of individual distinction, gleaming with intangible beauty. e/p>