While I consider myself a “Waterlooian,” truth be told, my hometown is a little patch of grass that grows a half hour outside Chatham, ON. This former “boom town” nearly replaced its former descriptor with “ghost” by the early 1900s, and if you ask me, “ghost” seems to fit it rather neatly.
Bothwell is barely a crossroads. It boasts a watering hole, a couple of churches (though I believe one was sold to a private citizen, and its adjoining school to a neighbouring family), grocery store, a defunct diner that glued its wallpaper up with nicotine tar, a post office and general store, a wee town hall with a library in the basement, all kitty corner to the convenience store where I may have scooped up one or four sets of over-priced sunglasses I never wear. The town is also home to a tree farm that served as my family’s homestead during my very early years.
In 2026, Bothwell no longer has a population sign. However, it has a massive car show that attracts thousands of tourists. It can barely keep a restaurant open. But it has a country festival featuring legions of music fans to its farm lands. And it has a school – the one that I attended from kindergarten till Grade 6. The one with the low teacher-student ratio; the one where less than a hundred children attended. The one where school friends were also your parents’ friends’ kids, and your church peers, and your youth group peers, and basically, you lived in an incubated bubble of kids you met, grew up with, learned with and with whom you set on a course for life with.
I fondly recall each of my teachers in this little town. I remember Mrs. Badder, my kindie teacher. My Grade 1 teacher, Mrs. Lewis, also played the piano in our church. My Grade 2 teacher, Mrs. Stevens. In 3rd, I had Mrs. Wilson. For 4th and 5th, Mrs. Polowick. And by Grade 6 – my last year at Zone Public – I had Mrs. Denise.
When I saw Rulers at TK Fringe, it reminded me how special it is to be able to say, “I remember my teachers. I remember sitting in the classroom as a child no taller than a grasshopper. I remember where I sat on the carpet, the smell of September, the flip chart of times tables. I remember my teachers.”
Pub Shed Productions (PS Productions) invites you to remember yours. Playing now during TK Fringe inside the Tett Centre, a one-act play opens the classroom doors and transports you to elementary school. It’s Teacher’s first day. She’s tasked with a rowdy group of third graders. With her hands full, she contemplates whether she’s cut out for the gig at all; the students eagerly attempting to persuade her one way or the other.
Written by Gord Love, “Rulers” became a traveling show for the Limestone Teachers Theatre Company (LTTC). Now entrusted to the capable hands of director (and teacher) Rachael McDonald and her PS crew, the show is a time machine of our days as school children and a nostalgic handshake for the teachers in the audience who liken themselves to our novice newbie at the helm of the story. McDonald revealed to me that Love based the endearing characters on the teachers themselves who performed in the original productions. Their personalities were woven from the stories they recalled of who they were as students. Many of those earliest cast members were on-hand to take in this year’s show earlier in the week.
Neatly packaged in under a 40-minute run-time, the show is accompanied by the wildly talented Michael Capon, whose original score kept the pace upbeat, and the script enchanting. The backdrop is one you’ll be familiar with – the desk with the apple, the chairs, the carpet, the bold and shiny classroom letters. Even a rogue musical instrument sits perched in the background. (From what I could tell from my years as an ’80s third grader, the only thing missing was the smell of peanut butter sandwiches and grape juice boxes. And crayon wax.)
The multigenerational cast of PS Productions were simply delightful in their plight to transform into third grade school children, many of them you would recognize as yourself. (Straight down to the butterfly clips, full jumpers, pigtails and ballcaps.) The outspoken and troublesome Andy. The “always needs to be right, or it must be right, or isn’t it right?” Eddie. Brownnosing Betty with her “8 a.m. to 5 p.m.” dedication to the teacher. Empathetic Donna. Mischievous Charlie. Laidback and nonchalant Grant. Timid and shy Freda, who is learning to come out of her shell. Lilli McDonald as Teacher, holding herself together as much as the class.
With their sharp wit, comedic timing, dance and vocal skills under the direction of McDonald, PS Productions shines as an ensemble in a show meant to teach us, remind us, and humour us with teacher-student dynamics we can all relate to.
Now. Get yourself to TK Fringe.
Class dismissed.
THE TKFRINGE is a FRINGE festival within the Kick&Push Festival.
Theatre Kingston selects its shows by lottery. All performers are welcome to apply, regardless of their professional or amateur status. No restrictions are made as to the nature, style or theme of the performance.
TKFRINGE runs August 6th – 16th.
CARE HUMPHRIES 
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