Hypothetical Baby is a one-woman show written and performed by Rachel Cairns, centered on her own abortion experience. The play combines elements of documentary and narrative theatre. It is directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster and staged in collaboration with Nightwood Theatre and the Howland Company.
Drawing from her personal experience, Cairns creates a space for discussion about the structural mechanisms behind the decision to have children or not. She invites the audience to recognize the economic, social, and cultural context underlying what often appears to be an individual choice. Through her experience, she opens a conversation about the idea of a fair and equitable world where everyone’s basic needs are met, and she seeks to highlight the collective responsibility required to achieve such a reality.
Rachel lives in Canada—one of the most livable countries in the world, known for its high level of economic and cultural development, where all forms of love are accepted and abortion is recognized as a legal right. As a young white Canadian woman working as an actor in Toronto, Rachel struggles to earn a sustainable income from her profession and, therefore, takes on a side job as a shoe shiner. She plans to visit her mother in Vancouver for the Christmas holidays. However, a day before her flight, she discovers that she is pregnant by her on-again, off-again boyfriend, despite using an IUD (intrauterine device). The play begins with her attempt to terminate this unwanted and unexpected pregnancy and evolves into an exploration of abortion from multiple perspectives, opening up a discussion on how ‘independent’ the decision not to have children truly is.
At the center of the stage is an elevated platform with a rug and a chair placed on it and a projection screen behind the platform. A blanket and a cell phone are used as props. The young woman, Rachel, enters the stage wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, her hair tied back in a ponytail and begins telling her story. Rather than following a chronological order, she often starts with “this story actually began…,” and takes the audience back in time. This narrative choice supports the writer’s belief that everything and everyone is somehow interconnected.
Hypothetical Baby, written and performed by Rachel Cairns, directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster and staged in collaboration with Nightwood Theatre and the Howland Company. Photo credit: Dahlia Katz.
Temporal shifts, reenactments, voice-overs, minimal lighting effects, and the actor’s movement on or beside the platform create dynamic staging throughout the performance. The play is divided into five parts, with each section title projected onto the screen on stage. Additionally, during scenes where Rachel uses her phone or conducts online research, screen images are projected as well, allowing the audience to follow along.
Every play, meeting, or gathering in Canada usually begins with a Land Acknowledgment. This statement recognizes the Indigenous peoples as the original stewards of the land and the first storytellers. Each community adapts the statement to reflect its local context. Typically, someone from the team—such as the director or the theatre manager—delivers this acknowledgment while greeting the audience before the performance.
In this play, Rachel opens by remembering Indigenous women who, not so long ago in Canadian history, were systematically sterilized, forced into abortions, had their children taken away, incarcerated, and killed. She refers to “The Dish with One Spoon,” a concept developed by the Indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes region. It teaches the importance of caring for the land and its resources so everyone has what they need and can live sustainably. She adds:
“…because this is also a story about the complexities of cocreating life with other people, and the need for a fairer, more equitable society. A society that considers caring for our communities as a collective responsibility. A society where everyone’s basic needs are met.”
Next, we witness Rachel’s experience at a doctor’s office. The doctor asks judgmental and intrusive questions like: “Why do you want an abortion? Don’t you have a partner? Don’t you make enough money? How much do you earn? There are people raising children with less—why wouldn’t you be able to?” Rachel realizes that not only her doctor but even a stranger whose shoes she was polishing feels entitled to comment on her decision to have an abortion.
Hypothetical Baby, written and performed by Rachel Cairns, directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster and staged in collaboration with Nightwood Theatre and the Howland Company. Photo credit: Dahlia Katz.
Meanwhile, her mother seems more concerned about the possibility that Rachel might be unable to visit her during the holidays. She starts researching clinics in Vancouver. Her boyfriend, unsure of what to say or do, timidly asks, “Would you like me to come with you to Vancouver?” Rachel declines, saying last-minute flight tickets would be too expensive.
Here, there is no overt pressure, humiliation, or violence from her mother, father, or partner regarding her pregnancy or decision to have an abortion. This is not just any abortion story. This is the abortion story of a white Canadian woman. A woman who, free from external coercion, makes her own decision. And yet, we see that she still has to justify her not being ready for motherhood to complete strangers—people who know nothing about her.
This part of the play invites the audience to question the mindset that assumes the right to comment on a woman’s body. When and under what conditions does a woman truly have the right to make decisions about her own body? Why—and how—do others feel entitled to interfere in this deeply personal process? Why is society’s understanding of the boundaries of individual privacy so blurred?
As Rachel searches for the answer to the question, “How do I get an abortion?”, she faces not only personal challenges but also structural and bureaucratic obstacles. She encounters the complexity of the healthcare system, differences between provinces, and issues with insurance coverage. She learns new terms and finds herself getting lost in internet searches.
Hypothetical Baby, written and performed by Rachel Cairns, directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster and staged in collaboration with Nightwood Theatre and the Howland Company. Photo credit: Dahlia Katz.
We are drawn into a research process that begins with Rachel’s consecutive Google searches. Starting with questions about abortion methods, she moves on to inquiries like, “maternity leave in Canada?”, then to rent prices, interprovincial living conditions, and eventually to a YouTube video of a Canadian-born actress giving an anti-abortion speech in the U.S. Through this video and the ensuing dialogue, Rachel also examines the mindset behind the anti-abortion stance. It is significant that the woman featured in the video, who holds an anti-abortion view, is also a white Canadian actress like Rachel, as this choice prevents the stereotyping of the opposing side.
The next section of the play explores Rachel’s abortion process through her doctor’s appointment, the medical abortion procedure, and a counselling session, both the legal and emotional aspects of the experience are conveyed to the audience. The counsellor’s emphasis on the fact that not every pregnancy is consensual and their assessment of the possibility of abuse reveals that the process is not only medical but also deeply social.
After returning to Toronto, Rachel has a conversation with a Pakistani woman at a party, allowing her to confront different cultural realities. The woman’s remark—“You have no idea how lucky you are to have been born with a Canadian passport as a white woman,”—leads Rachel to compare her experience with the broader, more universal condition of womanhood. This section also includes stories from feminist figures such as Sylvia Plath, Betty Friedan, and Johnnie Tillmon, highlighting how the system fails to protect the mental health, financial security, and right to life of women—especially mothers. However, these moments occasionally cause the narrative focus to become scattered.
In the final section, the play questions whether there is ever a “right” time to decide whether or not to have children. While the play begins with the topic of abortion, it gradually shifts toward a broader inquiry that goes beyond individual choices and into economic and political contexts. This expanded perspective adds depth to the play but, at times, creates ambiguity about what the core issue truly is. Long sentences and dense references can feel overwhelming for the audience, leading to information overload. Certain parts seem disconnected from the overall narrative. Medical details and occasional explanations that resemble a “feminism lecture” risk making the script unnecessarily long and complex.
Overall, Hypothetical Baby is a highly valuable work in that it brings a globally taboo subject like abortion to the stage, creates space for discussion, and allows a woman to narrate her own experience in her own voice.
Hypothetical Baby, written and performed by Rachel Cairns, directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster and staged in collaboration with Nightwood Theatre and the Howland Company. Photo credit: Dahlia Katz.
April 2025
Toronto, Canada
Written by Rachel Cairns
Directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster
ASL Performer & Consultant: Sage Lovell
Stage Manager: Meghan Speakman
Apprentice Stage Manager: Taylor Zalik-Young Production,
Lighting & Projection Design: Julia Howman
Sound Design & Composition: Cosette “Ettie” Pin
Associate Sound Designer: Steph Raposo
Co-Production Managers: Pip Bradford & Taylor Zalik-Young Shadow
Production Manager: Alyssa Ruddock Publicist: Victoria Laberge ASL-English Hearing
Interpreters: Savannah Tomev & Nico Abad
This post was written by the author in their personal capacity.The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of The Theatre Times, their staff or collaborators.
This post was written by Berna Ataoğlu.
The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.
