BF26: Shelayna Christante joins the third-timers club with the Festival
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
On the occasion of its 2026 season, Shelayna Christante will be joining the venerable ranks of the Blyth Festival’s unofficial three-timers club. This year, the Toronto-based actor will be performing in two thematically-linked shows - Curveball and Sisters of ‘78.
Of course, Christante had learned all about Memorial Hall well before she ever set foot in Huron County. “When I was at George Brown Theatre School, one of the first things we learned about when talking about Canadian theatre history is the Blyth Festival, and how iconic it was,” the young actor recollected. “You learn all about The Farm Show and the origins of that - all the devised work they did, going around to barns… we watched a whole documentary about it, and I remember thinking ‘man, that is so frickin’ cool!’”
It wasn’t long before Christante’s Blyth Festival education shifted from the historical to the practical. “When I was in my third year at George Brown, Severn Thompson directed me in a show… that’s how we made that initial connection,” she explained. “The next year after I graduated, she asked me to audition. I got cast in my first season two years ago, in [Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes].”
As has so often been the case with Toronto-based creatives, Christante experienced a tiny bit of culture shock when she first came to town a few summers ago. “My first impression was ‘oh my gosh - so small!” she exclaimed. “But you immediately grow to love Blyth. People on the street will just say ‘hi!’ and ‘good morning!’ to you. I love it! I immediately started making little spots to go - watching sunsets down at what we now affectionately call Dead End Road, which is actually just Dinsley Street, where it has the dead end sign.”
Both the plays she will be acting in this season are loosely based on true historical events - Sisters of ‘78 is set amidst the 1978 Fleck Manufacturing strike, while Curveball tells the story of Stratford’s very own superstar baseball team - the Kroehler Girls. “I am not a sports person. My baseball background is nothing - nothing at all!” Christante confessed. “A few years ago, my friend’s dad came down to Toronto to visit, and they asked me to come to this baseball game. And I really had zero interest in doing that. I wasn’t having a good day. I begrudgingly went… and then I had the best time ever! The audience was so excited about the Blue Jays - and then they won!”
Without a reservoir of existent personal knowledge about either story, Christante has been using other methods to develop connections to her 2026 Blyth Festival characters. “I like to read through the scripts, and research all the references so that I actually have a picture of the world and know what’s going on,” she told The Citizen, “especially since Curveball is in the 1950s, and Sisters is in the late 1970s. Obviously, I was not around during that time, so there’s a lot I don’t know… I read Curveball for the first time last night, and my character is the pitcher, so she specifically throws balls - upwards of 60 times - in the show! And I have no idea how to do that! I have no form! So I’m going to start doing some research.”
While she may not be very familiar with the time periods, Christante sees a lot of herself in this year’s roles. “My characters this year are a little playful, and a little silly - I feel like I’ve been typecast!” she declared with a laugh. “Honestly, it’s a nice reprieve, because last year, I played some very serious characters - my husband died, my love went to war… to get to be a little bit more of the comedic relief in some moments is awesome - I feel like that’s very much what I’m like in real life, too.”
Beyond the material she’s working with this year, Christante has more than a few reasons to be excited about her return to Blyth. “This is maybe going to be cliché, but this is my third season now, and every year that I’ve come out here, I just feel so lucky to be surrounded by all the people I’m with. I think that Blyth really cares about the vibe that they create,” she announced. “It doesn’t matter how much you have on your resumé, necessarily - they really care about curating an environment that is nurturing and supportive and warm and explorative and creative. You can be vulnerable.”
Christante has also noticed a few other tangible benefits to working in Blyth for the summer Festival season. “We are very lucky to get out early here in Blyth - most theatre companies are Monday to Saturday, so you’re done at 6 p.m. six days a week, and you get one day off. Whereas here, we’re out at 5 p.m. and we get full weekends,” she pointed out. “So you’re not constantly just working - you get a little time to not have your brain be on, which I think is actually really important for the creative process. It gives your brain more space to be imaginative.”
In addition to the multiple on-stage characters Christante will be portraying this year, she’s also decided to cast herself in an off-stage role - as an emotional support actor. “Both of these shows talk about a collective coming together. They’re both about being stronger than the individual. Individually, we’re all powerful in our own ways, but when we come together, we are a much stronger fire. We need each other,” she stated. “This year, I just want to come in and ask - ‘how can I best help other people to shine, and be their best selves? How can I best support everybody else? I’ve been very lucky to have my partner all the seasons that I’ve been here. It is very vulnerable to be packing up your life and moving to a new town for four whole months if you don’t have your partner, or your animals, or all of your friends, or a car,” she pointed out. “It’s a long drive from Toronto, and I just want to be as supportive as I can this season.”
What really keeps Christante coming back is the audience. “The Blyth audiences are amazing!” she declared. “We have people who recognize us every year. We’ll go to Cowbell to sit down for a meal, and people come up to us, and are so warm and kind - they make you feel like a celebrity, even though you’re just here doing your job! I feel so grateful to be back - I truly thank my lucky stars every day that I just get to come back and be in this company of truly remarkable artists and people, and to be in this beautiful community - I truly just feel so grateful.”
While Christante believes there is a place for theatre of all kinds, she’s developed a real taste for the rural theatre vibe over the past three years. “The Blyth audience rocks because these are people who are coming to see themselves reflected in these stories. It’s really important for people who are going to their jobs every day to also see themselves and their stories and their grandparents’ stories reflected on stage in front of them,” Christante told The Citizen. “I say this with love, but I think sometimes in Toronto, there can be these really abstract, weird pieces that, when you leave, you’re kind of like, ‘what the heck was that?’”