Studio Theatre unveils world premiere of The Kaufman Kabaret

Toronto Life Magazine recently dubbed playwright Hannah Moscovitch “an indie sensation” – not a phrase normally attributed to computer-tied writers.

There’s no doubt the Toronto-based playwright is hot.

She’s either won or been nominated for an arm’s length of awards including the Trillium Book Award, Toronto Critics Award for Best Canadian Play and Dora Mavor Moore for Outstanding New Play.

“Her work is everywhere. She’s come into a prominent position in the last three years,” said Kathleen Weiss, a University of Alberta Studio Theatre director.

She is directing the world premiere of Moscovitch’s new play, The Kaufman Kabaret running at the Timms Centre for the Arts from March 24 to April 2.

The Kaufman Kabaret is a commission that came about largely due to the generosity of American entrepreneur Bill Campbell. He spoke at the university several years ago and offered to sponsor a Canadian play.

“I received a generous commission and I was in a position of going after any playwright in Canada. I chose Hannah Moscovitch and just after that her career took off like a rocket,” Weiss said.

Moscovitch tends to work history into her plays, but with feminist overtones. The Kaufman Kabaret’s plot is based on the way birth control was introduced and legalized in Canada.

Back in the 1930s, largely due to religious opposition, it was a criminal offence to distribute birth control devices and information.

Alvin Kaufman, the factory owner of the Kaufman Rubber Company (now Sorel boots), realized the source of many of his workers’ misery was their large families.

With his physician brother, he visited Margaret Sanger, a pioneer who introduced birth control in the United States. Upon their return, the duo brought back a pessary, the equivalent of today’s diaphragm that fit into “the female sanctuary.”

“He opened clinics, hired nurses and had a huge campaign. He was told to stay out of Quebec. But one nurse distributed material in Eastview, Quebec. She was arrested and put on trial. Instead of paying a fine, he chose to take it to trial and it became a big public event bringing birth control to the forefront,” Weiss explained.

St. Albert actor Kristen Padayas nabbed the role of Kaufman’s wife, an adorable, kittenish and very sexy woman whose story arc leads to an intimate emancipation.

“She’s a free spirit. Once she starts to use birth control, she finds she has an insatiable appetite to have sex. She finds a personal power – whether to have sex and when,” Padayas noted.

To frame the social-political-sexual issues and instigate thought, Moscovitch used two distinct tropes in the dialogue, Weiss said.

“Throughout the narrative, there is the 1930s correct way characters talked and interacted. But there is also this whole cabaret with contemporary references. It’s sassy, smart and irreverent.”

And there’s a surprise ending that stands The Kaufman Kabaret on its head.