Your Summer Just Got More Canadian (and We're Not Sorry!)

From laugh-out-loud comedies to fierce labour dramas, toe-tapping musicals and a show straight from Prince Edward Island — the Blyth Festival's 2026 season of Original Canadian Theatre is almost here.

Tickets went on sale this morning, so don't delay and reserve your seats before they're gone.

Artistic Director Gil Garratt has assembled a thrilling playbill of five original productions, each one rooted in the humour, resilience, and vibrancy of rural life.

* * *

Sisters of '78

June 10 – August 9

Drama | Historical | World Premiere

By Kristen Da Silva

In 1978, a switch flipped—and an entire community felt the shock.

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

June 17 – August 16

Canadian Classic | Contemporary Comedy

By Leeann Minogue

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 pledge 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.

* * *

Curveball: The Fast-Pitch Ladies from the Factory Floor

July 8 – August 22

Comedy | Musical | World Premiere

By Kelly McIntosh, Andy Pogson and Stacy Smith

Original songs by Dayna Manning

A brand-new musical comedy … about baseball

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.

* * *

The Last Mayor of Rusty River

July 29 – September 13

Contemporary Comedy | Musical | World Premiere

By David Scott and Gil Garratt

Original songs by John Powers

A bluegrass musical comedy about municipal politics

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

August 2 – 30

Solo Comedy | World Premiere

Written and performed by Justin Shaw

Born and raised on a horse ranch on Prince Edward Island, Justin Shaw comes from a long line of people who never left home. He broke that mold. A lot.

From the ranch to Montreal theatre school, Fort McMurray oil fields, and a dubious Hamilton apartment, Justin 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.

* * *

For more than half a century, we’ve championed Original 🍁 Canadian🍁 Theatre🍁

Be part of the legacy and join us again this summer in Blyth.

Reserve your seats at blythfestival.com or call the box office at 1-877-862-5984 (Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm).