[2][3] Although Treadwell originally excelled at school, after her father left she struggled, which others have attributed to the frequency with which she and her mother relocated.

During these visits, Treadwell was first exposed to theatre; she witnessed famous actresses Helena Modjeska and Sarah Bernhardt in The Merchant of Venice and Phèdre, respectively.

[3] Treadwell's strong female role model was her grandmother Anna Gray Fairchild, a Scottish immigrant, who managed the family's large ranch in Stockton after the death of her husband.

[3] Traces of Treadwell's heritage, both Mexican and European, can be gleaned from her works, as can references to her parents' troubled marriage and her time spent at the ranch in Stockton.

[2][3] At Berkeley, Treadwell became very involved with the school's extracurricular drama and journalism activities, serving as the college's correspondent for The San Francisco Examiner.

[3] During college, Treadwell had her first brushes with mental illness, a variety of nervous conditions that would plague her and lead to several extended hospitalizations throughout her life.

[1] Treadwell underwent media controversy in the mid-20s for a drawn out dispute with the famous John Barrymore; Barrymore attempted to produce a play about Edgar Allan Poe supposedly written by his wife Michael Strange, which borrowed heavily from a manuscript that Treadwell had written and shared with him years prior.

[1] Treadwell lectured and advocated openly for authors rights and was the first American playwright to win royalty payments for a play production from the Soviet Union.

[5] Critics often negatively judged Treadwell's plays as having poorly developed plots, unsympathetic characters, or objectionable themes.

[1] In the 1950s and 1960s, Treadwell turned to writing mostly fiction in the form of short stories and novels, which may be influenced by the lack of success from her Broadway ventures.

[3] Although Treadwell's plays primarily feature lead female characters, the women presented vary greatly in their behavior, beliefs, and social status.

[2] Later, when living in New York, Treadwell covered the murder trials of Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray whose stories influenced subsequent plays.

[1] Treadwell traveled to France to cover the First World War; she was the only female foreign correspondent writing from overseas at that time, accredited by the State Department.

[1][3] Because Treadwell was not permitted access to the front lines, she volunteered as a nurse and focused her writing on the effect the war was having on the women in Europe.

[2] That two-day interview gained Treadwell notoriety in the journalism field as well as provided a basis for Sophie's first Broadway play Gringo and her later novel Lusita.

[2][3] Although Treadwell was writing during the height of the Little Theatre Movement in the United States, her desire to produce her works on Broadway for mainstream audiences set her apart from her contemporaries.