By EMILY PAOLICELLI and AILEEN BURKE
Arts Editor and News Editor
Lines of eager theatre-goers wrapped around the William Randolph Hearst Center for Communications all weekend. The Saint Rose Theatre staged two productions over April 4 through April 7; one more than usual.
The theatre presented four showings of Sophie Treadwell’s “Machinal.” The expressionist play, based on the true crimes and execution of Ruth Snyder, follows Helen Jones, played by sophomore Julia Martin, through a mechanical life of submission and routine. Snyder, who faced her execution at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, NY, was one of the first women in New York state to be sentenced to death in the electric chair.
The expressionist nature of “Machinal” was uncharted territory for many of the cast members. The performance was marked with surrealistic visuals through lights and sound and actors operating on the metaphorical “grid,” representing the societal machine.
Only one showing of “Machinal” sold out, with chairs added to the audience as the show went on. The other three didn’t quite sell out, but came quite close. The house was nearly filled with expanded seating for the staged reading of “12 Angry (Wo)Men.”
The Saint Rose Theatre joined over 60 theatres across the United States and British Columbia in the 12,000 Voices movement. Saint Rose students, faculty, and alumni made up an all-female cast and crew that presented a staged reading of 12 Angry Men, stylized “12 Angry (Wo)Men” by the theatre, on April 7 after the fourth and final production of “Machinal.” After the show, cast members set up with laptops on the stage to help audience members update their voter registration status.
Brendan O’Dwyer, Angeli Lillman, Emily Paolicelli,
Yana Pharoud, and Aileen Burke in “Machinal”
The theatre’s participation in the movement drew attention from not only the College community, but from local press. Camera crews from WTEN filmed a portion of the Friday matinee of “Machinal” to run, and conducted interviews about the movement with director and English professor Angela Ryan-Ledtke and junior political science major Aileen Burke, a frequent student actor with the theatre and coordinator of “12 Angry Wo(Men).”
This production was different than anything the theatre program has done before as some of the Jurors had no acting experience. “12” turned into a multidisciplinary effort, with professors and students alike taking part in the reading. The college theatre has not staged a reading since the Annie Baker Collection Festival, that capped in a performance of her play “Circle Mirror Transformation.”
There is a massive contrast between the two productions in terms of content and style, but both shows appealed to similar audiences due to one significant connecting factor: both shows are centered around the empowerment of women. “Machinal” was written and is set in 1928, while “12 Angry Men” was written and is set in 1954. While both shows are relatively dated, both are still beyond relevant to issues in today’s society, especially within the female experience.
The theatre has not yet announced what their next project will be, but it is sure to make a mark as more people start to pay attention to what is going on inside of the Barn.
