An innovative and groundbreaking collaboration between Associate Professor of Theatre Rachel Walshe and Ballet Rhode Island, Machinal: Dance of Defiance explores the relationship between dramatic arts and ballet through an original adaptation of Sophie Treadwell’s seminal, feminist play, Machinal. Inspired by the execution of Ruth Snyder, the first woman to die by electric chair at Sing Sing prison in 1928, Treadwell’s Machinal is a cornerstone of the American expressionist movement and an early, critical voice in the American feminist movement. Machinal: Dance of Defiance will premiere at URI May 14-17 in the URI Fine Arts Center.