Staged Reading: Machinal
by Sophie Treadwell
Directed by Hilary Buffum
One night only, Monday, January 27th, 2020, 8 p.m. LaVal's Subterrean Theatre
Do to demand reserve your seat ahead of time. Tickets - Pay-What-You-Will
The play was inspired by the murder trial of Ruth Snyder, also the basis of the play Double Indemnity, but Sophie Treadwell turned it into an expressionist drama of incredible power, with many great roles and a dramatic style all her own. The original Broadway production featured Zita Johann as A Young Woman and Clark Gable in the role of the Lover. The eminent theatre critic Perriton Maxwell said "it has a quality one finds it difficult to define, a beauty that cannot be conveyed in words, an aliveness and reality tinctured with poetic pathos which lift it to the realm of great art, greatly conceived and greatly presented.
With:
Amanda (May) Ramos
Jeff Trescott
Miyoko Sakatani
Illan Halpern
Evan Winet
Jen Halsing
Susannah Wood
Debby Segal
Mark Velednitsky
Matthew Weinberg
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Hilary Buffum is a Bay Area actor and director and an alum of the San Francisco State Theatre department. She has directed short new works including most recently Enough by Haunah King. She also co-produced two Shakespeare plays with HearthFire theatre company in 2015 and 2016. She is excited to be directing this staged reading of Machinal.
See also the recent Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/jun/07/sophie-treadwell-machinal-ruth-snyder-almeida-london
