Machinal - 4.5 out of 5 stars Red Phoenix Theatre Inc. TICKETS:  https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1419884 Machinal is based on the story of Ruth Snyder who, with her lover, murdered her husband in 1927 and found herself in the electric chair in 1928. Leading playwright and journalist Sophie Treadwell attended the Snyder–Gray trial, but instead of writing standard newspaper copy on it, she transformed the case into the expressionist drama Machinal. Within her play, the Young Woman is not a literal portrait of Snyder, but an “everywoman” shaped by economic pressure, marital coercion, and gendered expectations, reframing the sensationalized image the tabloids constructed. The Office. At Home. The Honeymoon. Being Maternal. Prohibition. Intimate. Domestic. The Law. A Machine. These nine episodes roughly trace a young woman’s life cycle as defined by early 20th‑century norms. Across the nine sections, Treadwell uses fragmentation, repetition, and non‑naturalistic staging to c...