Muse meets music in Curveball: The Fast Pitch Ladies from the Factory Floor

The creatives behind the new musical ‘Curveball: The Fast Pitch Ladies from the Factory floor. Pictured are Andy Pogson, Stacy Smith, Kelly McIntosh, Dayna Manning and Severn Thomopson.

The captivating story of the Kroehler Girls softball team of 1953 comes to life in the new original musical Curveball: The Fast Pitch Ladies from the Factory Floor appearing at Blyth Festival Theatre this summer. The play is co-written by Kelly McIntosh, Andy Pogson, Stacy Smith and Severn Thompson with music by Dayna Manning.

Before being developed into a musical, the story was successfully produced with Here For Now Theatre as The Kroehler Girls in 2021 to sold out audiences, then further explored in the Kray-ler Trailers events at the Stratford Perth Museum.

The true story of the women’s softball team that won the Professional Women’s Softball Union Intermediate A and Junior A championships in 1953 has captivated McIntosh since she uncovered a photograph.

“I had an idea of this play from looking at a photograph from the museum of some women with ball gloves, short hair, they just look like something was happening. I was looking for another project because I’d done a play about women who worked in the Stratford CNR shops. We went through this experience of researching and that play and finding the one woman alive who was there who could talk about it, and a few other women who did war work helped us,” said McIntosh.

This was a lesson learned for her, that there is an expiry on oral history, live research with people who were there. Looking at that picture from the 1950s she felt an urgency to learn more about it and in talking with Stacy Smith and Andy Pogson, a close connection was discovered through Pogson’s aunt who played third base on the 1953 championship team. Excited at the prospect of working together again, they began work to develop the highly successful Here For Now production of The Kroehler Girls.

It was there that Dayna Manning first experienced the story and was so inspired that she wrote some music for which the play was her muse.

“I saw that play at that time and what really struck me about it was the local people that came. I was in a group called Trent Severn and (in) my own writing … I was really intrigued by this. When Kelly asked me to come give it a try as a musical, we started writing and we did what we called the Kray-ler Trailers in front of the community last year and received feedback,” said Manning.

Recall that 1953 was also the beginning of the Stratford Festival that used a tent outdoors for performances. The ball diamond where the Kroehler Girls played was directly behind, exuding excitement. There had to have been some conflict there, an idea that Manning loved.

“It’s the story of the 1953 women’s championship ball team that is ongoing as the town experiences this major shift where this tent shows up and gets erected and you could see how this could possibly have affected each other. So, everything is based on history. What do we say? Historically inaccurate and narratively true,” laughed Manning.

“What we’re doing is laying out an invitation of a red carpet for people whose lives are built on manufacturing and sports and going ‘This one is for you. If you’re going to try something, come and try this,’ and that does a couple of things. It tells a community story, which is always great and it lays the path to embrace more people, to get more people to embrace live theatre,” McIntosh said.

The setting will be outdoors on the Blyth Festival Harvest Stage and will give the feel of being at a game. Come dressed in your favourite jersey, wear your favourite ballcap and bring the next generation of theatre lovers to this family friendly musical with fourteen original Dayna Manning songs.

Curveball: The Fast Pitch Ladies from the Factory Floor begins July 8. Opening night is July 10 and runs until Aug. 22. For more information or to buy tickets, visit www.blythfestival.com.