Sophie Treadwell

Sophie Anita Treadwell (October 3, 1885 – February 20, 1970) was an American playwright and journalist of the first half of the 20th century. She is best known for her play Machinal which is often included in drama anthologies as an example of an expressionist or modernist play. Treadwell wrote dozens of plays, several novels, as well as serial stories and countless articles that appeared in newspapers. In addition to writing plays for the theatre, Treadwell also produced, directed and acted in some of her productions. The styles and subjects of Treadwell's writings are vast, but many present women's issues of her time, subjects of current media coverage, or aspects of Treadwell's Mexican heritage.

Treadwell received her Bachelor of Letters in French from the University of California at Berkeley, where she studied from 1902 to 1906. Gringo was Treadwell's first play to be produced on Broadway.

2-character one-act premiered on Broadway September 1928-November 1928 and was revived on Broadway January 2014-March 2014. Zoe Akins Djuna Barnes Rachel Crothers Zona Gale Alice Gerstenberg Susan Glaspell Georgia Douglas Johnson Edna St. Vincent Millay Gertrude Stein

Through the use of various 'isms' these playwrights explored new and alternative ways of presenting women's lives in their plays.

Treadwell remained widely unknown and un-talked about in the world of theatre scholarship until select feminist scholars resuscitated interest in her works following revivals of Machinal in 1990 by the New York Shakespeare Festival and in 1993 by the Royal National Theatre in London.

Resources and further reading The majority of Treadwell's works are stored at the University of Arizona Library Special Collections and the rest at The Billy Rose Theatre Collection at the New York Public Library. The rights to Treadwell's works were passed on in her will to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson: A Corporation Sole. One who wishes to obtain the rights to Treadwell's plays can address an enquiry to: Fiscal and Administrative Services, Diocese of Tucson, PO Box 31, Tucson, AZ 85702. Proceeds earned from the production or printing of Treadwell's works are used to benefit Native American children in Arizona.

Further biographical information and critical analysis about Treadwell may be found in: "Broadway's Bravest Woman: Selected Writings of Sophie Treadwell". Edited and with introductions by Jerry Dickey and Miriam Lopez-Rodiriguez. Southern Illinois University Press, 2006. "Susan Glaspell and Sophie Treadwell". Barbara Ozieblo and Jerry Dickey. Routledge, 2008.

All of Treadwell's plays are published electronically in "North American Women's Drama" through the academic database publisher Alexander Street Press. Access to this resource is available by purchase directly through ASP's website, or through library access at many academic institutions that have purchased a license to the database.

In addition, Machinal is (or was) included in the following anthologies: Twenty-Five Best Plays of the Modern American Theatre by John Glassner- now out of print, originally published in 1949 Plays by American Women: 1900–1930 Judith Barlow's anthology, published in 1981 Norton Anthology of Drama North American women's Drama The Routledge Drama Anthology and Sourcebook Plays and performance texts by women 1880-1930 Manchester University Press