Celebrating 50 years of performing arts, this year the Blyth Festival is hoping to make a splash, with an extremely ambitious lineup of programs.
With five of the six shows gracing it’s indoor and outdoor stages, many of these plays are finding their footing in theatre in Blyth for the first time.
General Manager Rachael King says that this year marks the first since the pandemic that they’ve achieved this level of production.
The season opens today (June 12) with “The Farm Show: Then and Now” – a show which was initially conceived in Huron County in the 1970’s and was performed to sold out shows in a barn before going on to tour the country and eventually played at the Stratford Festival.
Other shows include Saving Graceland, Resort to Murder, Golden Anniversaries, The Trials of Maggie Pollock, and Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz – all of which have ties to local history, from Maggie Pollock’s conviction of witchcraft in Goderich in the 1900’s to the portrait of a Clinton family tied to an Elvis Impersonator in Saving Graceland.
Blyth’s playbill this year as always leans into local history, heritage, arts and culture, not only bringing local stories into the spotlight, but also contextualising them as relevant to all people.
Fifty years of making a go of performing arts is nothing to turn your nose up at, and if you ask King, the secret to success is the support of true believers, who return to see what Blyth has in store year after year.
To celebrate their five decades, they’re working to raise half a million dollars to support the ongoing operations of the theatre – which will be quickly bolstered by the Andrew and Margaret Stephens Family Foundation, who will be matching up to $250,000 in donations.
The campaign is called “500k for Another Fifty Years” and you can donate now at https://blythfestival.com/500k-for-another-50-years/
Written by: B. Shakyaver