Photo of Project Producer Bethe Goldie and Project Lead Linda Schofield (Courtesy: Generations Reader's Theatre Grande Prairie)

By Tanner Smith

History & Culture

A local theatre group film project “A Grande Education” releases

Sep 21, 2023 | 3:16 PM

A local theatre group, Generations Reader’s Theatre Grande Prairie, has finally finished its Telus STORYHIVE production.

The project, titled “A Grande Education” was named after Mary Nutting’s archival book, “A Grande Education: One Hundred Schools in the County of Grande Prairie 1910-1960”, which was published in 2010.

Photo Courtesy Generations Reader’s Theatre Grande Prairie

This project first got underway in July of 2022, when the then, Senior’s Reading Theatre group, (now Generation’s Reading Theatre) visited the Wapiti one-room classroom, to film a video for the South Peace Regional Archive.

Project Producer Bethe Goldie said after their visit, the group’s tech volunteer, Mariah Braun, suggested applying for the Telus grant, to continue showcasing one-room classrooms across the Peace.

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“She suggested that we could start this Telus STORYHIVE project and do some more documentary-type filming of the one-room schools in the county of Grand Prairie and in Grand Prairie. Recording some of the valuable history that we might lose in a short amount of time, as some of the people who were at the schools, as students, and teachers will no longer be with us.”

The group was then approved in September of 2022 and began filming.

Photo Courtesy Generations Reader’s Theatre Grande Prairie

Over the course of the year, the theatre group met with multiple people from all over the Peace, hearing stories and learning about their past, with Project Lead, Linda Schofield saying that it was her favorite part of the entire process.

“There was one lady that was actually a centenarian, (a person who is one hundred or more years old) and we got to hear her story, and just all the amazing things she has done in her life. People’s stories to me, was the most important part.”

The theatre group’s project also opened doors in the communities they visited, with Flyingshot Lake hosting a reunion for their one-room classroom after reminiscing with Goldie and Schofield.

“We were so thrilled to see that Flyingshot Lake School had planned and had their reunion, and we’re hoping that many other schools start to have reunions because it’s so much fun and it’s so interesting.”

Schofield added, that seeing people come together over nostalgia and reconnect over old memories is something that is so amazing to see, and she hopes that people who watch the series can share that same feeling.

“I think it’s going to trigger their own memories of their own school days, and I hope they will call up their old school chums and have a good old talk with them.”

The first season of “A Grande Education” can be watched for free on YouTube, or if you have Telus Optik TV, visit Channel 9 and navigate the menu screen until you see a row tilted, “STORYHIVE Voices”.