Meet Blake McCarty of Blindspot Collective

Today we’d like to introduce you to Blake McCarty.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I founded Blindspot Collective with Catherine Hanna Schrock in 2017. Catherine and I met while in graduate school at New York University. We worked together in New York City and Northern Uganda before we both found ourselves in San Diego.

The synchronicity of our arrival spurred early conversations of what we might be able to accomplish together. Eventually, that lead to the creation of a theatre company devoted to the development of new work that illuminates stories, communities, and individuals in our cultural blindspots — be it refugees, transgender youth, or people with disabilities, all of whom have been featured in past projects.

My background in theatre, film, and education informs all the work that I do — particularly with Blindspot Collective. Since our founding, we’ve produced eight world premieres with more scheduled for 2019. Since moving to California, I’ve been lucky to make my living as a full-time artist. Admittedly, it took time to become familiar with the local arts landscape, but I frequently work with other local theatre companies as a director, designer, and teaching artist.

Most recently, I designed video content for the La Jolla Playhouse production of “Light Years Away,” and am currently in rehearsals with Cygnet for “Angels in America.” I’m thrilled to not only be designing projections for the show but also serving as the Assistant Director.

Has it been a smooth road?
Starting a nonprofit isn’t dissimilar from raising a child. It’s an exciting process that is simultaneously wonderful and terrifying. But even when it’s a bit grueling, it’s always rewarding to watch something grow and connect with other people. We’ve been lucky to have some wonderful partnerships with other companies including The Old Globe and Diversionary Theatre. But as virtually anyone who manages a nonprofit can tell you — raising money and seeking funding is a persistent challenge.

We’re not independently wealthy, and we don’t have any angel donors, so everything we do is truly grassroots and entirely funded by grants, small donors, and ticket sales. It’s a constant hustle to make ends meet, but we have poured our hearts and souls into this company. As a transplant to San Diego, developing a board of directors and gaining visibility in the local community has also been a particular struggle simply because I don’t have a pre-existing network.

On a more personal note, the last three years have been an adjustment because my husband has been stationed abroad. He’s an active-duty service member and his position at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego was the impetus for our move across the country. While he was stationed elsewhere, I’ve definitely given in to my more workaholic tendencies. I’m looking forward to his return so that I can hopefully find a better work-life balance.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Blindspot Collective – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
With Blindspot Collective, we’re doing our best to avoid any redundancy with the missions and work of so many other remarkable theatre companies in town. We’ve gained a reputation for developing new work — especially verbatim theatre and forum theatre.

Verbatim theatre is based entirely on the exact words of real people. Two of our verbatim productions premiered during the San Diego Fringe Festival, both of which I created and directed. “Untold,” about the mental health crisis in America, won the Award for New Work in 2017; “The Magic in this Soul,” an exploration of discrimination and resilience, won the Audience Favorite Award in 2018.

Most recently, we developed “Qulili” based on the experiences of immigrants and refugees in San Diego with support from the Critical Refugee Studies Collective. Just this week, we launched our first production of 2019, a school tour of “Safa’s Story” that will serve students across the county in 36 performances over the next few weeks. ”

Safa’s Story” was created by the co-founder of Blindspot Collective, Catherine Hanna Schrock, and is based on the experiences of a local teenager who’s family immigrated from Zimbabwe. It’s a work of forum theatre, a model originally created by Augusto Boal to allow audiences to explore tangible ways of addressing injustice.

With this project, students have the opportunity to step into the role and change the narrative for a fifth grader who experiences bullying for her race and culture.

What are your plans for the future? What are you looking forward to or planning for – any big changes?
While we’re very proud of the work we’ve done thus, we’re excited about new opportunities on the horizon.

For Blindspot Collective, I’m looking forward to our residency at the San Diego International Airport, where we will be developing original site-specific work. When I lived in New York City, I primarily created immersive and/or site-specific theatre. Play/Date was inspired by the New York dating experiences of myself and fifteen other playwrights — all of whom developed short plays to be performed in a Lower East Side nightclub. Multiples plays unfolded simultaneously, allowing audiences to create their own experience slightly akin to “choose-your-own-adventure” books. The show ran Off-Broadway for six months, and we’re exploring a similar model of development and style of performance for the project at the airport.

I’m also excited about several other projects I have lined up for 2019. It’s been tremendous to work with Sean Murray on Angels in America. This summer I’ll be back at Cygnet to design projections for Rock of Ages, which will be quickly followed by 33 1/3: House of Dreams at San Diego Rep, where I’ll also be designing video and projection elements. However, I’m most excited about an upcoming workshop of Chasing Fear, a musical I wrote with composer Trevor Bachman. New York Theatre Barn produced a concert of music from the show last spring, but New Village Arts will be presenting a staged concert reading of the full script and score on April 28th and May 1 of this year. It will be the first time we’re able to hear all the elements together. Tiffany Tang has assembled an amazing cast, and I simply can’t wait to be in the rehearsal room with them.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and the least?
I fell in love with San Diego when I moved here. After a decade in New York City, I wasn’t sure I would ever live anywhere else, but the quality of life in our city is remarkable.

Professionally, there is a fantastic theatre ecosystem of organizations that are largely collaborative. But I love the ability to drive to the ocean, the desert, and the mountains (sometimes in a single day!). I find San Diegans to be incredibly warm and friendly, and I’ll never tire of the wonderful food available here. I have my favorite taco shop, as every Southern Californian should, but after visiting my husband in Japan, I also love that there’s such a wide range of rather authentic Asian cuisine. I live in Clairemont, and it would take me years to try all the delicious restaurants off Convoy Street.

There’s not much that I strongly dislike about San Diego. If anything, it’s the same complaints I would have about virtually any city: traffic and infrastructure. That said, I find that although San Diego is very diverse, it’s quite stratified along economic, racial, and cultural lines. It makes me miss the subway in New York City, which literally forces millions of wildly different people to co-exist on a daily basis. And as someone who works in schools, there is plenty of room for improvement in the local education system.

Pricing:

• Not really applicable – but ticket prices are typically $20-$25

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.blindspotcollective.org
• Email: blake@blindspotcollective.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blindspotco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blindspotco

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