'Machinal' takes 1920s to the present
Elaine Spencer, The State Journal-Register
When she chose the 1920s drama \
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State Journal-Register
UIS Theatre Department launches degree program with a play that resonates

When she chose the 1920s drama "Machinal" as the University of Illinois Springfield's fall theater production, director Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson felt a certain sense of deja vu.

The play, opening Friday for six performances at the UIS Studio Theatre, depicts a young woman "struggling to find her place in what (the playwright) perceived as an overly mechanized, automated, unfeeling society and culture," said Thibodeaux-Thompson, associate professor of theater at UIS.

Its main character also experiences sexual discrimination and harassment, pressure to conform to society's expectations of women, and a growing sense of alienation, with tragic results.

"It can be difficult to distinguish whether Treadwell was writing about the 1920s or the 2010s," Thibodeaux-Thompson said, especially since adverse treatment of women in entertainment, politics and other fields continues to make news on a daily basis. "Certainly times have changed, but how much, and how far?"

"Machinal," written by Sophie Treadwell, depicts a young stenographer who marries her boss but finds him repulsive and controlling. Desperate to escape her loveless marriage, she has an affair with a younger man, kills her husband and is tried for his murder.

"She is a victim of her time," said Sherri Mitchell, a newly enrolled theater major who plays the young woman's mother. Mitchell said her own character "represents the ugly side of what it meant to be a woman" with no financial security apart from a breadwinning man. "She represents the life most women had been living then," focused only on the drudgery of daily survival, she said.

Based on a true story, "Machinal" premiered on Broadway in September 1928, with a cast that included future movie star Clark Gable. It remains Treadwell's best known work and is regarded as an example of the 1920s expressionist movement in theater and film.

Expressionists focused on the ideas of "dehumanization, distortion of reality, and suffering" caused by the rise of industrialism and the increasing regimentation of daily life, Thibodeaux-Thompson said.

The play is divided into nine episodes rather than into conventional acts and scenes. Its characters are referred to by generic titles such as Young Woman, Mother, Man and Boy, rather than by name, to show how society was stripping people of their identities. It also relies upon the sounds of drills, ringing phones, clacking typewriters and other devices to create a harsh, machine-like atmosphere.

UIS student Diamond Dixon plays Telephone Girl, a co-worker of the Young Woman. According to Dixon, the Telephone Girl "represents a woman of the 1920s trying to break away from the norm" of what was expected of women at the time. Like Young Woman, Telephone Girl is single and has affairs with married men, but is not as liberated as she thinks, since she still orders her life around the needs and desires of men. "She's still bending her back to the patriarchal society," Dixon said.

A sensational Long Island murder case that Treadwell covered as a journalist inspired her to write "Machinal." In 1927 Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray were convicted of conspiring to kill Snyder's husband and claim his life insurance benefits. Their trial, the details of Snyder's affair with Gray, and their executions in the electric chair made national headlines.

The case inspired other famous novels and films such as "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice." But Treadwell, a women's rights advocate, saw Snyder's story as a reflection of a rigid, mechanical society that provided women few outlets for their aspirations.

While technology and the career and family options available to women have changed since then, Thibodeaux-Thompson says, there are some things that have not changed, including the persistence of sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace. "Women in particular and people of color are still subjugated, still living under the patriarchy," she said. "The playwright wanted to show that this is not acceptable."

The show also marks another milestone for the UIS Theatre Department: the official launch of its bachelor's degree program in theater, approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education last year. Several members of the cast and crew are among eight students currently enrolled as theater majors, including David Hecht of Springfield, who will be the program's first graduate.

"I've been doing theater since middle school and have done almost everything that goes on backstage except costuming," Hecht said. Originally an English major, Hecht worked on two shows in his first year at UIS and "decided that theater was for me" at that point. He will put his soon-to-be-earned degree to use as a technician at Sangamon Auditorium.

"Having a BA in theatre is a great asset for the campus and makes it a robust liberal arts university," added Thibodeaux-Thompson, whose husband Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, associate professor and director of theater, and assistant professor Dathan Powell round out the theater department faculty.

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Machinal

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Nov. 2-4, 2 p.m. Sunday; A preview performance will also be staged 7:30 p.m. tonight, with admission on a pay-what-you-can, cash-only basis.

Where: UIS Studio Theatre, Public Affairs Center, University of Illinois Springfield

Tickets: $6-14 based on age and student status, plus a service fee