Thank you for choosing live, high school theatre tonight! This evening represents thousands of hours of hard work from students who elected to spend their time working to share their talents with the community. I’m grateful you chose them. They are worth it!
This is the story of a woman, written by a woman, and retold by a woman. In a society where patriarchy is still ingrained in the fundamental structure of daily life, a statement such as this is infrequently dictated. It brings me great pride to reveal to you that this exact statement represents the production you are about to witness. I am a female director bringing you the story of a real woman as told by a female playwright.
Based on the real-life trial of Ruth Snyder, our playwright, Sophie Treadwell, created the character “Helen” to retell the story. As a journalist, Treadwell was present in that crowded New York courtroom -- witnessing what newspapers called “the best show in town”. Just over a year later in 1928, Treadwell debuted Machinal to a city still wrapped up in the sensational murder trial. It would have been easy to make a play just as bombastic as the actual trial. Instead, she shows us the way modern life can grab hold of a woman’s soul and turn the unthinkable into the inevitable. The play depicts for the audience a sharp contrast between powerful machinery and fragile humanity. As our lives become ever more mechanized and standardized, the story grows in relevance as our main character, Helen -- like Treadwell herself, seeks to make her voice heard.
This play, reflecting as it does on modern society, broke away from the traditional emphasis on realistic design. Expressionist theatre uses non-realistic elements to convey a character’s deepest thoughts and feelings. You will find that the atmosphere is often dreamlike or nightmarish, the set avoids the details of naturalistic drama, and the dialogue is broken staccato phrases or long lyrical monologues. These artistic elements are used to enhance the meaning of the story and should not cloud your understanding of the content.
To me, this play is impactful without being too in-your-face about its motifs, messages, or themes. When I saw this play earlier this year, I left the theatre and immediately began planning this production. I had read Machinal in college and understood why it was important, but it wasn’t until I witnessed it first-hand, felt my stomach turn and skin crawl, that I truly felt its impact; a much different experience than merely reading it. This gave me a deeper connection to the play and influenced my decision to put it on the Eaglecrest stage. I have seen many of my students grow as performers, learners, citizens, and friends because of this brilliant piece of work; this process has been very educational for both myself and my students.
Though Treadwell was writing in the context of a very specific time, Machinal transcends its own era. Today, we find ourselves facing a world where the rapid acceleration of technology has very real impacts on our humanity. These oppressive forces still loom over us.
~Lindsey Pesek, Director
