This play goes behind the headlines to examine the life of Bertha Rand, Winnipeg’s notorious Cat Lady, who battled her neighbours and city hall to save her more than fifty cats. Hunter delves into Rand’s tragic life of poverty and deprivation, giving a sensitive portrayal of the circumstances that led Rand to retreat into squalid isolation.

Bertha:

A cat is a miracle, that's what I believe. Lights up the house, like—electricity. First you have nothing but candles, and kerosene lamps, and you stumble around in the dark, banging your toes. Straining your eyes. Then you take a cat in your lap and—snap! Revelation!

Beat.

So. That's it, then, that's settled. A house, and a cat. That's my future right there—sprawled across my knee like a map.

Shift to Queen Street. Autumn, late 1960s. The lights peppering the stage begin to move, sway, swirl.

What's that? What's happening?

Picks up the cat, rises, turns upstage.

And what's this? Another cat? And another, and another and another and—and they all want to be with me! Well. Never thought of this, never thought of being—popular. Oh, just look. Beautiful, did you ever in your life see anything so...hungry, though. Why are they all so hungry? Why, these cats are starving! That's people for you. Oh yes! That's the milk of human kindness. Well, don't you worry, kitty-cats. You've come to the right place now. You've found your way to the arms of the queen of Queen Street!