By Sophie Treadwell Directed by Amanda WhiteleyInspired by the 1927 case of convicted murderer Ruth Snyder, this expressionistic epic follows the heart-palpitating descent of an ordinary woman trapped inside a masculine hellscape. With its crackling dialogue, brutal humor, and unapologetic optimism for the human spirit, Machinal asks, what does it cost a person to survive a system that was never built to sustain them? How, if we are all cogs inside the machine of modernity, can we destroy the machine without destroying the body?