On May 9-11 in Anderson Theater, the Gustavus Theater and Dance Department will close out the 2012-2013 theater season with a performance of Machinal, a play written by playwright Sophie Treadwell, a pioneering feminist from the 1920s, and directed by Professor in Theater and Dance Amy Seham .
The play is the story of Ruth Snyder, the first woman executed in the electric chair for the murder of her husband. The part will be played by Sophomore Kaitlin Juni.
The play’s perspective is through the eyes of Snyder as she struggles to find herself within the machinized pressures of society.
“Machinal is an expressionist play, meaning that audience members are shown a world strictly through the eyes of one character. As opposed to realism which strives to demonstrate action as if the performance were real life,” Juni said.
Seham utilizes innovative designs with the use of nine large set pieces on wheels and large
Article source: http://weekly.blog.gustavus.edu/2013/05/03/machinal-through-the-eyes-on-the-stage/