Prepared with Files provided by the Blyth Festival.
They built furniture by day. After work, they took to the softball diamond, honing another craft that saw them rise to the top of the game in southwestern Ontario in 1953, winning both the PWSU Intermediate A and Junior A championships.
Now, that story – about teamwork, ambition and empowerment – is being told in Curveball: The Fast-Pitch Ladies From the Factory Floor, a vibrant new Canadian musical that will premiere at the Blyth Festival from July 8 to August 22, 2026, on the beautiful open-air Harvest Stage.
The inspiration? The women employed by Stratford, Ontario’s Kroehler Furniture Factory who served as pioneers for women’s softball players for generations.
Years later, in 1996, when softball debuted at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Canada was well-represented at the tournament. In 2021 in Tokyo, the Canadian women won bronze, their first medal in the sport at the Olympics. They followed that up with bronze medals at the 2023 Pan Am Games and 2024 Women’s World Cup.
None of that success would be possible without the early pioneers of the game, women who, despite naysayers, played the sport at the grassroots level and put women’s softball on the map – at a time when men’s sports dominated. The Kroehler women were among those pioneers.
One Stratford area native who benefited from the growth of the game is Lori Sippel, who played on that first Canadian Olympic team and was later inducted into Softball Canada’s Hall of Fame.
“To know that the game was played by these women at such a high level, and enjoyed by so many people in Stratford, just really warms my heart,” said Sippel. “I am really glad somebody is telling their story. For them to take the time to reach back and get the story from the beginning, I think that’s really cool.
“I know how much the game has moulded me,” added Sippel, who spent 37 years as a women’s softball coach at the University of Nebraska following her playing career. “They started something in Stratford that a lot of people who came after were able to reap the rewards, even if it was just knowing this is something that young girls could do. And to aspire to maybe be in those cleats and wear that glove someday.”
Curveball is based in part on interviews with players, managers and their families, as well as archival research from the Stratford Perth Museum, where playwright Kelly McIntosh works as managing director.
(Pictured: Kelly McIntosh.)
“It’s such a thrill to see the story of these remarkable women brought to life on stage,” said McIntosh, a co-writer of Curveball, along with Andy Pogson, Stacy Smith, Severn Thompson and Dayna Manning. “The Kroehler girls weren’t just exceptional athletes; they were factory workers, teammates, and community leaders who helped shape women’s sport in southwestern Ontario at a time when opportunities for women in athletics were expanding, but still deeply limited.
(Pictured: Creators and cast of Curveball.)
“Curveball celebrates their grit, humour, talent, and heart, while shining a light on an important and often overlooked chapter of Canadian sports history.”
The production features an original score by Dayna Manning, a JUNO Award–nominated Canadian folk artist whose hometown is Stratford. Over 25 years, Manning has released five solo albums and three with the acclaimed folk trio Trent Severn.
(Pictured: Dayna Manning)
IF YOU GO:
What: The Blyth Festival presents Curveball: The Fast-Pitch Ladies From the Factory Floor,
When: July 8 to August 22, 2026.
Where: Blyth Festival, Harvest Stage.
Tickets: Tickets for the Blyth Festival 2025 season
To learn more about the Blyth Festival, visit Blyth Festival Theatre, the best in Canadian theatre
The Beat Magazine 2025 