‘A Woman’s Place is in the House’

The political views and actions of the first Minnesota women to be elected to the House of Representatives in 1922 were told in a recent Minnesota Fringe play.

“A Woman’s Place is in the House,” written by David Berger, tells the story of Myrtle Cain, Sue Hough, Hannah Kempfer and Mabeth Paige, who all were elected just two years after women received the right to vote.

Berger, a retired Inver Hills Community College sociology professor, has written numerous articles and produced a variety of academic television shows. In 2022 he wrote an item for the Duluth Tribune on these four women, in honor of their 100th anniversary of being elected.

He turned the article into a play for this year’s Fringe Festival, telling as much as he could about each woman, what their political issues were and how they represented their districts.

In the play, a time traveler meets the representatives and takes them on a journey to Minnesota today. They are able to see the issues that current Minnesotans are dealing with, and how much has changed or not changed since their time in office.

Berger also drew in present-day female legislators and activists to participate in the play. “A friend inspired me to do that. We were out at a protest, and he told me it would be great to invite some of those people to the show.

“I said why not invite current representatives? They could meet the characters of these women who preceded them.”

Berger said it took him three months to get them all lined up. “Everyone has such different schedules. They asked what they should say.”

Berger told them they could talk about anything they are passionate about that has anything to do with equal rights, since the 1922 representatives had all supported equal rights.
They also had just a minute to say it in. Rep. Ilhan Omar was one of the legislators who spoke.

DIVING INTO LIVES OF FOUR WOMEN
The Fringe performances are carefully timed and cannot go over their allotted schedule. “I had to cut the play from 100 pages down to 31 pages,” Berger said.

He explained that not only did he find a lot of information on newspapers.com, but he researched the works the pioneer women legislators had done.

“Sue wrote a seven-page poem about being welcomed to the legislature. Mabeth had a book written about her by a friend. These two came from wealth and were highly educated,” Berger said. “Sue practiced real estate and was divorced, not a common thing at that time. She was not re-elected, but ran four more times unsuccessfully. She was a member of the Republican party.”

He found that Mabeth was married to a law professor at the University of Minnesota, and attained a law degree herself, although she never directly used it. “Mabeth started leading women’s groups. The Republican was a strong believer in equal rights,” Berger recalled. She served in the Legislature until 1943.

“Myrtle was working-class Irish and had her nose to the grindstone,” Berger noted. “She was way before her time, and after she was not re-elected she worked for the ERA. She was with the Farmer-Laborer party and a close friend of Alice Paul.” Paul was a pioneering suffragist and feminist who authored the Equal Rights Amendment.

According to Berger, Hannah was the Benjamin Franklin of Otter Tail County. The Independence party representative was a superhero to rural Minnesota. She did not have a wealthy background. She was born on a ship in the North Sea to an unmarried ship stewardess and a sailor. She was placed in an orphanage in Norway and adopted by a couple who moved to the Fergus Falls area.

“She farmed and was a teacher, and she served multiple non-consecutive terms until 1943,” Berger said.

“She drove around with her husband from farm to farm, campaigning in a Model T. Not too different from Paul Wellstone and his green bus.”

STORY ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER
“These characters were human beings with flaws like everyone else,” Berger observed. “They attempted to pass equal rights and did get a bill passed to stop the Ku Klux Klan from wearing masks in public.” Records show they also worked on gun control and child welfare reform.

“Their story is really about working together,” Berger noted. “That is exactly what we are lacking today. We need to remember who we are.”

Berger has a background of working as a political activist. He started young, working with Veterans for Peace. “What a great group. They served their country, yet still believe in peace.”

He was also active in the Nuclear Freeze Movement and in the 90s, Up and Out of Poverty.

Berger said he was inspired by Rhoda Gilman, a Minnesota historian and founder of the Green party. “I learned a lot about Quaker values from her. She is a hero of mine.”

Some added characters to Berger’s play are members of the Frog Brigade, actors dressed in inflatable and colorful green frog costumes. They were founded in Portland, Ore. in 2025 and bring nonviolence and humor to social justice protests.

Berger has dedicated his play to the daughter he and his wife lost last January at the age of 20. “She was really into equal rights for everyone, and doing this play was kind of therapeutic,” he said. “I think she would like it.”

He said he hopes the audience comes away from seeing the play with three messages. “Immigrants are us, and we are immigrants. To attack ourselves is stupid; we need each other.

“We need to pass the ERA. It is 100 years overdue and should be the 28th amendment. It also should be a Minnesota constitutional amendment. I believe a majority of Americans want equal rights for all.

“We have to do this through strength and unity and working together. Those are the messages.”

Berger said that although people are still fighting for some of the same issues that faced the Minnesota legislature in 1922, he is not concerned that some of the same battles are still being fought. “I am so proud of the Women’s March Minnesota and the ACLU and the League of Women Voters fighting back. It would be disappointing if they stopped fighting.”

Berger is hoping “A Woman’s Place is in the House,” which stars Ann Frances Gregg, Rachel Ratkowski, Megan Rowe, Amber Payne, Olivia Dubiel and David Holmes and is directed by Casey Marie Holmes, will continue after Fringe as a longer two-act version.

“We are hoping the History Theatre picks it up, or it could be performed as a musical at Theater Latte Da. The character Mabeth is the only one with descendants alive today, and I would love to have one of them come.”