Portia Kingsbury rules with an iron fist over the women of Easthaven Girls’ High, an Australian school on the eve of the Second World War. A “moral lapse” by a student roils the school and pits its staff in a power struggle.

The stage is set for Morning Sacrifice, presented by the University Players from Feb. 28 to March 8 in the Hatch Studio Theatre. Playwright Dymphna Cusack drew on her own experiences as a teacher, referring to the women in the show as second-class citizens, notes director Sarah Kitz.

“In addition to the traps that these women face, still familiar to so many of us — economic hardship, social respectability politics, gendered double standards — she points at the high cost of in-group fighting rather than solidarity in an oppressed class,” says Kitz. “In our contemporary take on this period drama, we are including a modern perspective which underlines the cost of performing old oppressions as a way of keeping them alive and well.”

Morning Sacrifice opens Friday with an 8 p.m. performance. The Hatch Studio Theatre is located in the Jackman Dramatic Art Centre.

Tickets can be purchased at www.universityplayers.com or by calling the box office at 519-253-3000, ext. 2808.