Blyth Festival Artistic Director Gil Garratt is pleased to announce the company’s 2026 season, a playbill of five productions that reflect the humour, pressure, resilience, and vibrancy of rural life.

Following a 2025 season marked by record attendance, sold-out shows, and a continued commitment to new Canadian stories, the Festival’s 2026 playbill builds on that momentum with five new works of original Canadian theatre.

These works feature stories set on factory floors and farm fields, in council chambers and on softball diamonds – places where communities wrestle with change, test their values, and often find strength in unexpected ways.

Of note, and at a moment when labour disputes are once again shaping national headlines, the 2026 season also looks back at the roots of those struggles, illuminating overlooked moments in Canadian labour history and the people who stood up—often at great personal cost—for dignity, fairness, and collective power.

Garratt says the season reflects what rural communities do best: meet tough challenges with grit, humour, and collective effort.

“Rural life has always demanded resilience,” says Garratt. “Whether it’s economic pressure, political change, or just the realities of weather and work, people here know how to adapt – and how to laugh while they’re doing it. That spirit runs through every one of these sensational plays.”

The season welcomes two playwrights making their Blyth Festival debuts – Kristen Da Silva and Leeann Minogue – and introduces audiences to rising comedian and storyteller Justin Shaw in his first full-scale Blyth production.

Returning to Blyth are audience favourite Kelly McIntosh, a key artistic voice in the Festival’s recent history, along with creators David Scott and John Powers who will join Garratt on a brand-new musical comedy. Together, these creators bring decades of experience crafting work that blends sharp local insight with national relevance.

McIntosh has appeared on the Blyth stage many times, most recently in 2022’s Cottagers and Indians. She also co-created the 2019 hit In the Wake of Wettlaufer, a searing and widely discussed work that resonated strongly with audiences. Her work is known for its emotional clarity, social insight, and deep connection to community.

Scott’s background brings an unusual level of real-world credibility to his comedy. He served as both the youngest mayor in Canada and the last mayor of Seaforth before municipal amalgamation. These experiences inform The Last Mayor of Rusty River – this season’s sharp, funny look at local democracy and the changing shape of small-town life.

“New work takes time,” says Garratt. “It takes trust, patience, and a community willing to support the process. This season exists because our audiences, donors, sponsors, and the wider Blyth community continue to believe in the value of original Canadian stories.”

Together, these five productions form a season that is fresh, funny, and grounded: a full-on celebration of new work and the rural communities that inspire it.

Blyth Festival, Summer Season 2026

Indoors, on the Margaret Stephens Stage

Sisters of ‘78
By Kristen Da Silva

Drama | World Premiere

June 10 – August 9 | Opens June 12

Inspired by the Fleck Strike in Centralia, Ontario, Sisters of ’78 is a fierce, funny, and deeply moving ensemble drama about women pushed to the brink at a small auto-wiring plant. As unsafe conditions and harassment collide with a company that won’t listen, tensions spill into the wider community in a conflict that changed Canadian labour law forever.

A pivotal and long-overlooked moment in Canadian women’s and labour history, the Fleck Strike reshaped conversations about workplace dignity, solidarity, and collective action—conversations that continue to resonate today.

Dry Streak
By Leeann Minogue

Contemporary Comedy

June 17 – August 16 | Opens June 19

It’s the summer of 1988, and drought is scorching the Richards family’s rural Saskatchewan farm.

And then son John returns home with his punk-rock, vegetarian city girlfriend, Kate. Tensions rise and then explode when Kate makes a reckless weather-related promise that turns private desperation into public spectacle.

Wildly funny and sharply observed, Dry Streak is a comedy about belief, belonging, and small-town pressure.

A fresh re-write of Minogue’s 2006 smash hit from Saskatoon’s Persephone Theatre.

The Last Mayor of Rusty River
By David Scott, John Powers, and Gil Garratt

Musical Comedy | World Premiere

July 29 – September 13 | Opens July 31

In Rusty River, a municipal election goes completely off the rails when two fed-up councillors decide to run a cat – Captain Whiskers – for mayor. What begins as protest spirals into an all-out circus filled with bluegrass-fuelled showdowns and political shenanigans.

Co-created by David Scott, who served as both the youngest mayor in Canada and the last mayor of Seaforth before municipal amalgamation, the musical draws on lived experience inside small-town politics. With toe-tapping new songs by John Powers (A Huron County Christmas Carol), The Last Mayor of Rusty River is a timely, joyous comedy about power, persistence, and local democracy.

Off-Island Odyssey
Written and performed by Justin Shaw

Solo comedy | World Premiere

August 2 – 30 | Opens August 2

From PEI horse ranch to Montreal theatre school, Fort McMurray oil fields, and a dubious Hamilton apartment, Justin Shaw has spent a lifetime leaving … and coming home again.

In this hilarious, warmly observant solo show, he turns his off-Island adventures into stories of ambition, belonging, and carrying home in your heart, wherever you go.

A brand-new work from the sold-out Island comedian and Yuk Yuk’s headliner, based on Shaw’s sold-out run of Have Jokes, Will Travel at the 2025 Charlottetown Festival.

Outdoors, on the Harvest Stage

Curveball: The Fast-Pitch Ladies from the Factory Floor
By Kelly McIntosh, Andy Pogson and Stacy Smith
Original songs by Dayna Manning

Outdoor Musical | World Premiere

July 8 – August 22 | Opens July 10

Set in 1950s Southwestern Ontario, Curveball tells the true story of the women of Stratford’s Kroehler Furniture Factory: ladies who built furniture by day and played championship-level softball by night.

Curveball is adapted from Kroehler Girls! by Blyth favourite, playwright and actor Kelly McIntosh (In the Wake of Wettlaufer), and features original songs by Juno-award nominated singer-songwriter Dayna Manning.

It lands squarely in today’s zeitgeist, arriving just as interest in professional women’s baseball surges. A remarkable 14 of the players recently drafted into the Women’s Professional Baseball League—the first league of its kind in decades – are Canadian.

This big-hearted outdoor musical celebrates teamwork, grit, and the women whose athletic achievements finally move from centre field to centre stage.

—————

Tickets for the 2026 season go on sale to Blyth Festival Members starting January 12, and to the general public in early April.

Flex passes and gift certificates are available for sale right now at https://blythfestival.com/tickets/passes/.