Playwright Rebecca Petchenik at The Rockwell on Friday, June 24.

By Mina Rose Morales

KAIT, a play produced at The Rockwell, is an example of what the present looks like in the future while exploring trans rights, oppression, power, love, and sexuality themes faced by minority women. The play brilliantly shines a light on the conversations we will still face in the future if society continues to attack trans women and other minority women.

The drama played from June 23 to June 25 at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St. It will run again from July 14 to July 16 from 6:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.

Playwright Rebecca Petchenik crafted a compelling story about an animatronic sex doll that was programmed to love and have intimacy with her owner but kills him because he is abusive. The play takes place in the near future.

Genevieve speaking to Kait for the first time.

“It’s an allegory for trans civil rights, in the immediate, as in what’s happening now in Texas and all that, but it’s also a parable and histography of the civil rights movement, which is why we casted the way we did,” said Petchenik during a private interview after the play.

Kait is a play, “written, directed, and produced by trans women,” according to Ari Sylvin, who plays Judge Kravits for some performances.

Throughout the play, Kait, the sex doll played by Clara Tan, baffles everyone around her. How could a robot doll kill its owner? She was programmed to love her owner. The doll’s original programmer, played by Chinedu Ibiam, and her attorney, played by Imani Powell, attempt to rescue her from everyone who wants to own and study her.

 Kait tries to prove she is a real woman with feelings. When her lawyers help her prove her humanity, she faces the harsh realities that come along with being a minority woman in society.

“I am a real girl,” said Kait towards the end of the play.

Kait speaking with her lawyer, Eleanor, and Genevieve, her programmer, about her case.