History on the streets of downtown Charlottetown

All the Island is a stage for Heritage Players The Heritage Players dress in period costume and share a fuller picture of PEI's past.

You never know who you’ll run into on Prince Edward Island, like the Charlottetown Heritage Players, who bring history to life on the streets of downtown Charlottetown.

This living history company has been telling the story of Confederation for over 25 years, formerly under the name Confederation Players, and this season they’re branching out.

“Characters both from lower-class to upper-class, to the groups who were more underrepresented at the time, and people who weren’t at this table as well,” said Cameron MacDonald, heritage co-ordinator with the Confederation Centre of the Arts. “To share an accurate interpretation of the history.”

This new lens of looking at PEI’s Victorian history includes a greater focus on showcasing the stories of women.

“Women’s stories haven’t been recorded like the men’s stories have,” said Kassinda Bulger, a historic interpreter. “They haven’t been told, and those stories are there. We just have to look for them.”

Bulger conducted much of the research to integrate women’s stories and she said it required a creative approach.

“There are really not many women in Prince Edward Island history, around the Victorian-era, where their history was recorded alongside of the men,” said Bulger.

She looked into letters, records, and family trees to make connections to help build understanding of their lives.

What makes this group of interpreters unique is that they’re not confined to a space, like Halifax citadel or any other number of historical sites you might go to. They’re free to roam around downtown Charlottetown. You might see them out on the street, playing croquet, or in the replica of the Confederation Chamber playing a game of chess.

That changes the way this living history feels.

“Encountering people naturally, as it were, when they’re perhaps not expecting to run into it, can need to some fairly wonderful interactions, I think,” said MacDonald.

Still, don't expect these actors to break from character, even though it's a little more challenging given their modern backdrop.

The program is a combination of history and everyday life that’s not easy to find.