Treadwell, Sophie

(1885-1970)

   Born in Stockton, California, the playwright served briefly as secretary to Helena Modjeska, then became a reporter. She traveled to France to cover World War I. In 1921, she achieved a major coup by getting an interview with Pancho Villa in Mexico, and she drew upon that experience for her play Gringo (1922). She ultimately wrote 54 plays, including O, Nightingale (1925), Ladies Leave (1929), Lone Valley (1933), For Saxophone (1934), Plumes in the Dust (1936), and Hope for a Harvest (1941). Her significant success was Machinal (1928), an expressionist drama on the dehumanizing effects of a mechanized society, inspired by the Judd Grey-Ruth Snyder murder trial. In her later years, Treadwell wrote novels.