HYPOTHETICAL BABY to Head to Stratford's Here For Now This Fall
Rachel Cairns's solo play arrives at the Stratford venue with direction by Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster.
Hypothetical Baby, written and performed by Rachel Cairns and directed by Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster (Stratford Festival, The Howland Company), will head to Stratford, Ontario this September as a Limited Engagement with Here For Now Theatre. This is the show's first run outside of Toronto following critically-acclaimed runs with Nightwood and The Howland Company. It's on stage at Here From Now (24 St. Andrew Street) from September 2 to 13, and tickets are on sale now. Performances will run September 2 to 13, 2026.
In Hypothetical Baby, Rachel Cairns mixes data and drama to present an autobiographical work that dares to publicly talk about abortion the way we do privately - with neurotic vulnerability, unflinching honesty, and frank irreverence. This touching and hilarious one-person show grapples with the personal and societal factors that shape our reproductive lives and the intricate relationship between choice, change, and loss. Cairns, named 'one of the country's most original actors' by The Globe and Mail, offers up a searingly honest, laugh-out-loud, and breathtakingly nuanced performance on the timely topic of the right to abortion.
Passionate reproductive rights advocate Cairns is also the creator and host of the Planned Parenthood Toronto Choice Award-winning podcast ABORSH. She is currently adapting Hypothetical Baby into a feature film, supported by Telefilm Canada's Talent to Watch Program, with production slated for early next year.
Says Cairns: 'Hypothetical Baby has always been a play about living inside uncertainty rather than arriving at easy answers, and that hasn't changed. What has changed is that, since the last production, I've gone from having a hypothetical baby to a very real one, and I've updated the ending to reflect how becoming a parent has reshaped my relationship to the story. I'm especially excited to bring the show to Here For Now Theatre because it's the play's first travelling production. Although the story is set in Toronto, it speaks to a conversation happening across Canada about what it means to imagine a future-and a family-in a time of growing economic inequality and uncertainty. I'm also grateful to Here For Now for recognizing the importance of work that engages with urgent social questions and centres women's experiences. Their commitment to making space for those voices is one of the reasons this feels like such a meaningful home for the play.'
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