The View From Here

A documentary play and curated exhibition about the Grandview Training School for Girls. 

This inter-arts project explores a darker side of the history of Waterloo Region, and the unique relationship between the playwright and the building which housed the reformatory school. 

Grandview Training School for Girls was an infamous reformatory (or “training school”) in Cambridge from 1933-1976, run by the province. The surrounding community was aware of the violent abuse going on at the institution intended to reform “incorrigible” girls. Hannah Foulger lived at Grandview as a child while the building was owned by an Christian performing arts school, for which her parents worked. Unbenownst to her at the time, there was an investigation and a series of civil and criminal trials about the abuse that went on at the school.

The play follows her investigation into the school. She eventually interviews a survivor of the school, whose story begins to parallel Hannah’s own, as she realizes her time living in the building was not quite as ideal as she remembers. 

The exhibition, which changes throughout the performance of the play, interrogates how personal narrative affects history and how we might integrate more difficult community history into our own story. 

Key Collaborators:

Hannah Foulger (Writer and Actor)

Sheila McMath (Curator and Artistic Director of Inter Arts Matrix)

Natasha Greenblatt (Director and Dramaturge)

Gary Kirkham (Projection Designer and Actor)

Heather Majaury (Indigenous Consultant)