by: Andrew Waner
Friday, Feb. 28 was opening night for the Actors’ Studio Series play, “Machinal” at the Second Stage Theater. The show took the audience on an expressionistic journey through the lives of women over the last nine decades. If you missed out on opening night do not worry, the second showing will be at the Independent Media Center in Urbana on March 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m. and on March 8 at 3:00 pm. Admission is free, and seating will be done as “first come, first serve.”
“Machinal” is an expressionistic allegory about a young woman as she moves through the stages of her adult life. She works in a very busy, mechanized office she feels out of place and perpetually aggravated. Faced with a proposal from her boss, to whom she is not attracted, she must decide between marrying a man she does not love and losing her only source of income. She is also the sole support of her elderly mother who pushes her toward the marriage. After she marries him, she gives birth, suffers untreated post-partum depression and lives a loveless, routine life.
The play was written in 1928 by a woman named Sophie Treadwell, she worked as a journalist on the infamous Ruth Snyder murder case in New York City. Her expressionistic play was partially inspired by those events. “Machinal” aims to show audiences just how little has changed over the last 90 years in our mechanized, capitalistic, and patriarchal society.
The Actors’ Studio Series is in its first year here at Parkland. The Series features 16 talented student actors. Machinal showcases their talents both on and off the stage. The play also features three student designers.
“This whole project is directed at unifying the community and providing a free evening of socially-inclusive theatre for people of all backgrounds and financial statuses. The cast of 16 people is young, diverse, and very talented,” said June Eubanks, the director of the play.
Eubanks is a part-time faculty member in Parkland’s Theatre Department and works full-time in the Psychology Department at UIUC. Eubanks designed and painted the set with the help of the student actors. Excellence Onalundula was the assistant director, Logan Dirr designed the soundscape, and Madison Chaney designed the lighting. Students Erica Martinez and Delaney Wright assisted with costume maintenance. Brian Morgan, Parkland’s Technical Director, and his crew of student-workers built the set, and HeatherAnn Layman worked on marketing and designed the posters and programs. Rachel Storm, of the Urbana Arts Council, also helped with marketing and promotion.
“Theatre is our greatest vehicle for empathy and these lovely ambassadors… are sure to deliver that message in such ways that surpass my wildest dreams”
This play is funded in part by the Urbana Arts Council grant that Eubanks received last year and by an I.D.E.A. grant obtained by the theatre department at Parkland.
Eubanks chose this play for the Actors’ Studio Series and has been thinking about it for over 20 years. It was a project she worked on in graduate school and has looking forward to having it fully realized with the amazing student talent here at Parkland.
“I’d like to add that working with these incredibly talented students has been a joy that I can scarcely put into words. This story is so important to me… and now it is to them, too. The just and equal treatment of women, all women, including and especially women of color, has been a struggle since the beginning of time,” Eubanks said. “With our rights on the line in Washington now, the ERA coming to votes in the house and senate, the daily loss of our reproductive rights and the basic human right to have governance over our own bodies! This message is more important now than ever. Theatre is our greatest vehicle for empathy and these lovely ambassadors I’ve had the honor to work with over the past five weeks are sure to deliver that message in such ways that surpass my wildest dreams. I’m a very grateful woman and director.”
Meet all the lovely actresses who play the young women here:
