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Ed Schroeter continues to share his love of history with people of all ages as an award-wining playwright and looks forward to the production of his new work this May.
For the last nine years of his teaching career, Ed Schroeter taught kindergarten at Millbrook South Cavan Public School, retiring from a 30-year career in 2021. He describes his time in Millbrook as his happiest teaching experience. There he found enthusiastic and supportive teaching partners with whom he developed collaborative initiatives for early learning, including staff at the Compass Early Learning staff next door. He is a well-respected educator, known for his research on early years learning, particularly in math skills, and for developing remote learning curriculum that was adopted province-wide in 2020.
As a kindergarten teacher he used his creativity in the classroom to keep an energetic group of four-and-five year olds actively engaged in learning activities. Outside the classroom, he applied his love of teaching in his volunteer efforts, touching almost every local theatre group in the area, including the 4th Line Theatre. One of his prime motivators has been to introduce students to the world of theatre. To that end, he has led more than 50 play-writing workshops for teachers and helped launch Peterborough’s Heritage Pavilion Stage. This organization operated as a school tour company for many years, often performing scripts he wrote. At its peak, the tour reached more than 120 schools from Pickering to Havelock, providing students a glimpse into the world of live theatre in the comfort of their own school auditoriums.
With four national playwright awards to his credit, Ed continues to write and direct live theatre productions in works that focus on local history. His contribution to local culture was recognized in 2020 when he was inducted into the Peterborough Pathway of Fame.
This spring, Trent Valley Archives Theatre will feature a new Schroeter play called “Tide of Hope”. The 70-minute production dramatizes the story of two Irish families struggling with English oppression and the violence of Irish nationalists as they grapple with the difficult decision of whether to emigrate to Upper Canada with Peter Robinson. The play is one of the first events in this year’s planned celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the “Peter Robinson Settlers” to what would become Peterborough County. It is geared to both the general public and students in grades six to twelve, and student groups have begun to sign up for this unique field trip experience.
The organizers are currently recruiting volunteer actors for a total of nine roles for teens and twenty-something characters. There are three performances scheduled to run at Market Hall in May: two matinee performances on Wednesday, May 15th for students and a public performance the evening of Thursday, May 16th. There will also be an evening dress rehearsal/performance for residents at one of the Gardens of Peterborough Retirement Residences in early May. Evening rehearsals will run throughout April and early May. Students who are interested in auditioning are asked to come prepared to read excerpts from the script. Inquiries or audition requests should be directed to the play Director, Gerry McBride at gerrymcb57@gmail.com.
Ed is pleased to have another opportunity to share his love of theatre with students. Many of those involved in the production, including the Director, are former teachers, librarians, professors and arts educators who are all eager to provide a live theatre experience about regional history to local students. They are hoping to nurture the next generation of writers, actors and producers who will assume the mantle of supporting local cultural events and institutions in the future. In this play, a potential bonus would be the opportunity for Ed to reconnect with some of his former Millbrook students should they decide to come out to audition.
For more information, visit Trent Valley Archives on Facebook. KG
