BF26: Madison Hayes-Crook is making a star turn at the Blyth Festival

BY SCOTT STEPHENSON

When actor Madison Hayes-Crook arrived at the Blyth Festival, she was stepping into a world that was entirely new to her, but found she immediately felt right at home. “This is my first season,” she told The Citizen. “I’ve never been out here before, but I’ve had many friends who worked for the company and loved it. I’m so eager to be here. My first impression was that it’s very relaxing, and very beautiful.”

 

That impression soon gave way to the excitement required to carry a repertory performer through a long and demanding summer. For the Blyth Festival’s 2026 season, Hayes-Crook will be part of a team of talented actors appearing in both Curveball and Sisters of ’78.

 

It’s a style of theatre-making that she has come to love. “I love doing rep!” she declared. “This is my fourth time doing a rep season - I just think it’s so thrilling! It is also such an intense process, but it really does allow you to immerse yourself in the world that you’re creating.”

 

Her path to Blyth began with the recommendation of a friend who had already experienced the Festival firsthand. “A good friend of mine had worked out here previously and said it was the best summer of his life,” she recalled. “I looked at both creative teams, and both directors, and I really, really wanted to work with them.”

 

She decided to go with the direct route. “I sent a note expressing my interest - and I had an audition! I met Severn Thompson and Mary Francis Moore, and Kristen Da Silva,” she explained. “It was a wonderful audition, and I had a great experience!”
Now in the early stages of rehearsal, Hayes-Crook has settled into a routine built around preparation, discipline and balance. “I usually get up pretty early, and then I’ll do some sort of physical activity, like yoga or go for a run,” she told The Citizen. “Then I’ll do some prep for the rehearsal day, have breakfast, come in, and then we’re in rehearsal from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.”

 

Even after rehearsals finish, the work continues. “Then, I’ll walk back to where I’m staying, do some more research, do prep for the next day and then get a good night’s sleep,” she said.

 

For Hayes-Crook, musical theatre like Curveball occupies a special place within the broader performing arts world. “I think that musical theatre brings a level of elation and joy and community in a way that is different from other art forms,” she mused. “I think there’s nothing more connecting than music, maybe.”

 

Her interest in the real-life effects of the sounds of performance has led her down an unusual academic avenue. “Vocal pedagogy is the study of the vocal instrument and how we teach the vocal instrument,” Hayes-Crook explained for the uninitiated. “I studied vocal pedagogy through the lens of performance anxiety - so how we can teach in a way that helps mitigate anxiety and stress.”

 

The work combines technical training with psychological support. “It’s not only training technique, but also training our mind,” she elucidated. “It’s giving ourselves tools to overcome the stressors that come up when you’re performing - it’s really the integration of psychology with singing.”

 

That awareness of emotional connection and vulnerability shapes how she views live theatre itself. “There’s something really special that happens in theatre when the audience and the cast and the crew and everybody in the building is experiencing something together,” she reflected. “It’ll never happen the exact same way again - there’s sort of a creation of community in that moment. I think that connecting to one another, and connecting to one’s community, is maybe the best part of life.”

 

Fostering that strong sense of belonging is one reason Hayes-Crook feels arts education is so important for young people. “For myself, arts education was really the first place that I ever felt like I fit in,” she explained. “It gives space for creativity and exploration and being unique in a way that a lot of other parts of schooling don’t really investigate. It gives a foundation to so many life skills that you can’t really cultivate in any other way through education. The freedom to be creative, and explore your own creativity, is huge in development.”

 

Now that she’s settling into Blyth’s pastoral setting, Hayes-Crook is ready to really start digging into this season’s productions, and the characters she’ll be embodying. “I think both of these shows are such strong stories of women empowerment and women coming together to create a better world for themselves and for others,” she pointed out.

 

Of course, each production offers its own unique creative challenges to conquer. Luckily, Hayes-Crook is up for the challenge. For Curveball, she’s been learning new skills - both onstage and off. “I’ve been really working on my baseball skills,” she laughed. “I’m also so excited to be on the ground floor of creating a musical. I’ve never done anything like that before. I’ve never played an instrument in a show.”

 

Meanwhile, Sisters of ’78 offers the chance to shine within a powerful female ensemble. “Connecting with an incredible, feisty team of women to tell this story is going to be so fulfilling,” she said.

 

Although baseball was never a major part of her life previously, the production has unexpectedly brought a previously unknown chapter of Hayes-Crook’s personal history to life. “I didn’t have a huge connection to baseball,” she confessed. “But upon getting this gig, my mom pulled out my grandma’s baseball and her glove and her jacket from when she played back in 1959.”

 

That discovery has unexpectedly transformed this project into something more personal. “I feel so connected to my grandmother, whom I never met,” she reflected. “And I’m really excited to explore that further.