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What happens when a play about small-town politics needs something to set the whole thing in motion?

Apparently, you add a cat.

Meet Captain Whiskers, the unlikely mayoral candidate at the centre of The Last Mayor of Rusty River, Blyth's hilarious new Canadian musical about a small-town election that goes spectacularly off the rails.

Playwright David Scott and co-writer/director Gil Garratt join host Joanne Wallace to talk about how the world of Rusty River grew over nearly eight years of development, and how one inspired idea finally gave its colourful cast of characters something to fight for.

Along the way, we'll discover how songwriter John Powers helped turn the show into a bluegrass musical, what happened when an extraordinary company of actors got into the rehearsal hall, and why sometimes laughter is the best way to start a serious conversation.

If you've already seen The Last Mayor of Rusty River, join us behind the scenes and discover how it all came together.

And if you haven't ... well. Don't you want to find out whether Captain Whiskers wins?

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The Blyth Festival Podcast is presented by our Exclusive Communications Partner, Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative (TCC). Thank you!

Credits

Producer/Host: Joanne Wallace
Sound Designer/Engineer: Jim Park

Music: Theme: Gotta Give Me Something, River Run Dry; Mountain Shadows, Wanderer's Trove; So Many Roads, Headlund; all via Epidemic Sound. 

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The opening-night audience for Dry Streak laughed so hard, playwright Leeann Minogue kept leaning over to host Joanne Wallace asking, “What is up with this audience?”

We thought we'd investigate.

Join Joanne, Leeann and director Kate Lynch for a joyful behind-the-scenes conversation about Dry Streak, Blyth’s laugh-out-loud comedy set on a Saskatchewan farm during the devastating drought of the late 1980s.

If that sounds like it shouldn't be funny, you're right. But trust us. It is.

Along the way we’ll explore the real events that inspired the play, how Kate and her cast built one of the funniest families to ever grace the Festival stage, and why audiences from downtown Toronto to rural Ontario keep saying exactly the same thing:

"I'm Kate."

If you've already seen Dry Streak, you'll love this peek behind the curtain.

And if you haven't ... well, what are you waiting for?

Tickets on sale now!

📞 1.877.862.5984
🌐 www.blythfestival.com

Got something to say?

Send me your thoughts any time -- I read everything you write:

📧 [email protected]

The Blyth Festival Podcast is presented by our Exclusive Communications Partner, Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative (TCC). Thank you!

Credits

Producer/Host: Joanne Wallace
Sound Design/Engineering: Jim Park

Music: The Streak (in the style of Ray Stevens), Karaoke Legends, via Stagesound Karaoke; Theme: Gotta Give Me Something, River Run Dry, via Epidemic Sound; Mix It Up, Paul McLinden; Little Stars, D.T. Phillips, Gentleman, Max Brodia; all via Shockwave Sound.

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Roll back the clock to the summer of 1977.

The kitchen is avocado green. Rod Stewart is on the radio. Somewhere somebody is wearing platform shoes and entirely too much Love's Baby Soft.

And a group of young women in Centralia, Ontario are about to make Canadian history.

Playwright Kristen Da Silva joins host Joanne Wallace to talk about Sisters of '78, her powerful new play inspired by what's come to be known as the Fleck strike. This was a five-month labour battle that pitted neighbour against neighbour, drew a shocking police response, and ultimately changed labour law across Canada.

Kristen shares the remarkable history behind the play, the research that brought her face-to-face with women who lived through the strike, and the challenge of turning one of Ontario's most dramatic labour disputes into compelling theatre.

Have a listen --  and fall in love with the women whose story deserves to be remembered.

Tickets on sale now!

📞 1.877.862.5984
🌐 www.blythfestival.com 

Got something to say?
Send me your thoughts any time -- I read everything you write:

📧 [email protected]

The Blyth Festival Podcast is presented by our Exclusive Communications Partner, Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative (TCC). Thank you!

Credits:

Producer/Host: Joanne Wallace
Sound Designer/Engineer: Jim Park

Music:  Theme: Gotta Give Me Something, River Run Dry, via Epidemic Sound; Lofi Podcast, Leberch; Whimsical Acoustic, The Mountain, both via Pixabay; Almost the Same (Instrumental Version), Peter Crosby, via Epidemic Sound.

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Everybody, play ball!

Step into the world of Curveball - a lively new Canadian musical set in 1950s Stratford, where a championship women's ball team and a brand-new Shakespeare festival are about to collide.

Playwright Kelly McIntosh and singer-songwriter Dayna Manning talk about how this show has grown, from its early days as a one-act play to the full-scale musical you'll see on Blyth's Harvest Stage this summer.

It's a story about a scrappy team on the comeback trail, a town in transition, and the young women who helped build something lasting - whether anyone was paying attention or not. You'll learn about the real history behind the show, the collaborative process, and why this moment still feels surprisingly current.

And yes, there's a love story between a ball player and a spear carrier.

Have a listen, and get ready for one of the most joyful, big-hearted shows of the summer.

Apology to all Curveball co-writers

In this recording, we incorrectly identified Kelly McIntosh as the lead writer on this project. In fact, from the beginning, Curveball has been a collaboration between writers Andy Pogson, Stacy Smith and Kelly McIntosh, with additional writing and dramaturgical work provided by Severn Thompson. 

Tickets on sale now!

 📞 1.877.862.5984
 🌐 www.blythfestival.com

Got something to say? Send me your thoughts any time - I read everything you write.

 📧 [email protected]

The Blyth Festival Podcast is presented by our exclusive Communications Partner, Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative (TCC). Thank you!

Credits
 Producer/Host: Joanne Wallace
 Sound Designer/Engineer: Jim Park

Music Credits

Take Me out to the Ballgame, Helen Dell, Dodger Stadium Organist. Take Me Out To The Ball Game (piano), Lorie Line Music. A Dream Lives In Your Heart,  Dayna Manning. 

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Welcome back! Artistic Director Gil Garratt joins us for a full preview of the Blyth Festival’s 2026 season — five shows, four (and a half!) world premieres, and a summer full of stories. 

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Podcast regular (and Blyth Fest Artistic Director) Gil Garratt is here to walk us through all five shows in the 2026 season. And, as always, he’s got stories.

From a powerful true story of young women taking on a factory in Centralia… to a prairie comedy about drought and desperation… to a brand-new musical about baseball and Shakespeare (yes, really)… it’s a season full of heart, humour, and some big, bold ideas.

There’s also a small-town political satire involving a cat running for mayor — and a hilarious, heartfelt solo show about leaving home and figuring out who you are.

In other words: it’s Blyth.

Four (and a half!) world premieres. A whole new group of artists joining the company. And that particular kind of summer magic that seems to happen here every year.

Dive in, have a listen, and start planning your visit. We can’t wait to welcome you back.

Tickets on sale now!
📞 1.877.862.5984
🌐 www.blythfestival.com

Got something to say?
Send me your thoughts any time — I read everything you write:
📧 jwallace@blythfestmailto:[email protected]ival.com

The Blyth Festival Podcast is presented by our Exclusive Communications Partner, Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative (TCC). Thank you!

Credits
Producer/Host: Joanne Wallace
Sound Designer/Engineer: Jim Park

Music:  Gotta Give Me Something, (theme); River Run Dry via Epidemic Sound; Eleanor Plunkett, Emmett Cooke via Shockwave Sound; Ode to the Pozo Pioneers, John Starcluster, via Shockwave Sound.

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A visionary broadcaster. A small-town station with big dreams. A new Canadian play with live music straight from the dawn of Canadian country music.

About This Episode
In this episode, actor and playwright Nathan Howe takes us behind the scenes of his brand-new play, Radio Town: The Doc Cruickshank Story.

The play chronicles the remarkable journey of Doc Cruickshank, the small-town visionary who founded CKNX Radio and Television in Wingham, Ontario and built it into a powerhouse of Canadian broadcasting.

We talk about:

• 📻 The history of CKNX and its role in Canadian broadcasting
  
  
• 🎶 Early Canadian country music and why it still resonates
  
  
• 🌾 How radio built — and connected — rural communities
  
  
• 🖋 The creative process behind writing Radio Town
  
  
• 🎼 The show’s live music, performed by the actors themselves — all skilled musicians playing songs from the era

Why You’ll Love This Episode
If you’re passionate about Canadian theatre, small-town stories, music history, or the roots of Canadian broadcasting, this conversation will transport you back in time and leave you eager to see what’s sure to become a new Canadian classic.

Tickets on sale now! 1.877.862.5984 | www.blythfestival.com 

Got something to say? Send me your thoughts any time. I read everything you write: [email protected] 

The Blyth Festival Podcast is presented by our Exclusive Communications Partner, Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative (TCC). Thank you!

Today’s episode was recorded at  the Wild Goose Studio https://wildgoosestudiocanada.square.site/  in downtown Blyth.

Credits: Producer/Host: Joanne Wallace | Sound Designer/Engineer: Jim Park

Music: Gotta Give Me Something, (theme); River Run Dry via Epidemic Sound; Wabash Cannonball, Al Widmeyer; Down Yonder, The Barn Dance Band, Red Wing/Crooked Stove Pipe, Bill Monkis; all from Saturday Night Barn Dance (Vols 1&2), Barn Dance Historical Society; I’ll Tell You Like It Is, Rikard From; The Waitress, Mac Taboel both via Epidemic Sound.

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Keith Roulston — playwright, journalist, and Blyth Festival co-founder — joins us to talk about his sharp, funny, and quietly moving play Powers and Gloria, now returning to the Blyth stage nearly 20 years after its premiere.

In this intimate conversation, Keith reflects on the inspiration behind the story, the complicated relationships at its heart, and what it means to revisit the play in 2025. He also shares, with striking honesty, how his own health journey — including a stroke four years ago — has deepened his understanding of Edward Powers, a character grappling with the loss of control and purpose.

Whether you’re a longtime Blyth patron or new to the Festival, this episode offers a thoughtful look at rural stories, resilience, and the heart behind Canadian theatre.

Tickets on sale now! 1.877.862.5984 | www.blythfestival.com 

Got something to say? Send me your thoughts any time. I read everything you write: [email protected] 

The Blyth Festival Podcast is presented by our Exclusive Communications Partner, Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative (TCC). Thank you!

Today’s episode was recorded at  the Wild Goose Studio https://wildgoosestudiocanada.square.site/  in downtown Blyth.

Credits: Producer/Host: Joanne Wallace | Sound Designer/Engineer: Jim Park

Music: Easy to Imagine, Gotta Give Me Something, (theme); River Run Dry. All via Epidemic Sound

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Back in 1981, the Blyth Festival premiered an unusual play about a group of immigrant Amish farmers struggling with Canada’s introduction of Conscription in 1917. 

Against all expectations, this play - Quiet in the Land - became a sensation. It played across the country and around the world, and scooped up both Governor General’s and Chalmers Canadian Play Awards.

Written by Blyth Festival founder and renowned playwright Anne Chislett, Quiet has been called “Canada’s Shakespeare.” Its complex web of interwoven stories and themes and its cast of heartwarming (and heartbreaking) characters has endeared it to audiences around the world.

In a rare interview, Anne joins director Severn Thompson in this conversation to discuss Severn’s revival of Quiet in the Land at the Blyth Festival this summer. Don't miss it.

Oh, and we had some technical difficulties during this recording. So Severn's first appearance on mic may have you wondering if she's speaking from an underwater kingdom. Don't panic. We fixed it up after the break. Thanks for your patience.

Tickets on sale now! 1.877.862.5984 | www.blythfestival.com 

Got something to say? Send me your thoughts any time. I read everything you write: j[email protected] 

The Blyth Festival Podcast is presented by our Exclusive Communications Partner, Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative (TCC). Thank you!

Credits: Producer/Host: Joanne Wallace | Sound Designer/Engineer: Jim Park

Music: Peter Crosby: Almost the Same; River Run Dry: Gotta Give Me Something, (theme). All via Epidemic Sound

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You may know bestselling author Emma Donoghue for her 2010 novel Room (later an Oscar-nominated movie), or her most recent book, The Paris Express.

But Emma is also an accomplished playwright. And this summer she has a brand new work premiering right here at the Blyth Festival. 

Join me for a fascinating chat with Emma about this new work: The Wind Coming Over the Sea. The play features Emma’s trademark meticulous historical research and charts the story of real-life Irish-Canadian immigrants Jane and Henry Johnson who fled the 1840s potato famine for a dangerous new life in rural Canada.

In this chat, Emma reveals how and why she chose to write about this particular couple. She explains why she wanted to make the play “sing” as a sort of “jukebox” musical filled with  traditional Irish folk tunes. And she speaks movingly about what it was like to write this sort of story when she herself is an Irish-Canadian immigrant.

You’ll also get the  inside scoop on some exciting staging choices her director, Blyth Artistic Director Gil Garratt, will be using to bring this story to life.

Tickets on sale now! 1.877.862.5984 | www.blythfestival.com 

Got something to say? Send me your thoughts any time. I read everything you write: [email protected] 

The Blyth Festival Podcast is presented by our Exclusive Communications Partner, Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative (TCC). Thank you!

Credits: Producer/Host: Joanne Wallace | Sound Designer/Engineer: Jim Park

Music: Philip Ayers: River Walk and Forever Free;  River Run Dry: Gotta Give Me Something, (theme). All via Epidemic Sound;

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What do you suppose would happen if two Indigenous dudes decided to dig up the bones of Sir John A. Macdonald, and hold them ransom until the Canadian government returned something that had been stolen decades ago?

You'll have to see Drew Hayden Taylor's hilarious road trip/musical/historical comedy Sir John A: Acts of a Gentrified Ojibway Rebellion to find out. But in the meantime, join us for an exclusive chat with Drew - one of Canada's most celebrated and prolific writers.  

You'll hear all about how an Ojibway man came to write a comedy about Canada's first Prime Minister, the importance of humour in Indigenous society, and Drew's thoughts on how opening a window between cultures can help us all better understand each other.

Also, he's funny as heck.

Tickets on sale now! 1.877.862.5984 | www.blythfestival.com 

Got something to say? Send me your thoughts any time. I read everything you write: [email protected] 

The Blyth Festival Podcast is presented by our Exclusive Communications Partner, Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative (TCC). Thank you!

Credits: Producer/Host: Joanne Wallace | Sound Designer/Engineer: Jim Park

Music: Roy Edwin Williams: Appalachian Spirit, River Run Dry: Gotta Give Me Something, Wanderer's Trove: Mountain Shadows, all via Epidemic Sound;