When Blake Ellis left Fresno in the 2000s, it wasn’t that he wanted to, necessarily.
But he was an actor looking for professional work. Opportunity was scarce.
Unsurprisingly, he ended up in Los Angeles, where he landed some film and TV work (including a role on the Netflix series “Unbelievable”). But he also spent time in theater, in Washington DC (at The Shakespeare Theatre Co.,) and New York (off Broadway) and with companies in Cincinnati, St. Louis, San Jose, Berkeley and even in England (at the Royal Shakespeare Co.).
And then, he came back to Fresno.
“Everything in my life was sort of pulling me back here,” says the Clovis High and Fresno State graduate who co-founded Fresno’s first professional Shakespeare company and is leading it into a second season at Warnors Theatre.
“It was a sort of gravitational pull.”
Ellis wasn’t exactly sure what the move would mean for his career, only that work was sparse in Los Angeles because of COVID. But within months of being back in Fresno, “the doors just started flying open.”
Blake Ellis, artistic director of Chanticleer Shakespeare Co., talks about the upcoming second year of the group during an interview Thursday, March 19, 2026 in downtown Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
The end result was Chanticleer Shakespeare Co., which Ellis started in 2023 with fellow Fresno boomerangs Brandon Weis and Brandi Martin. The idea was to create an infrastructure to support professional level talents; both for locals and for those the company would bring in each season.
Traveling cast members are housed in town during the multi-week production runs.
The company debuted last June with a nine-show run of “Richard III.” It returns for a second season with “The Tempest” running April 24-May 3.
“I always knew there was tremendous potential,” Ellis says.
For one, Fresno was the largest American city without a professional theater company. And it has shown decades-long support for community theater groups like Good Company Players, Children’s Musical Theaterworks and StageWorks Fresno (though that one shuttered in 2019).
And there is an audience for classical theater. Weis, the company’s cofounder, helped start the Woodward Park Shakespeare Festival. That company ran for nearly two decades, drawing crowds for its outdoor performances despite the blazing heat of Fresno summers.
“We hunger for those universal stories,” Ellis says.
Partnerships with cultural arts institutions
So, Fresno was primed for something like this.
“This Valley is becoming a focal point for the state,” Ellis says. At the same time, the city is showing a willingness to support cultural arts with Measure P’s “Expanded Access to Arts and Culture Grants” (current embezzlement issues aside, Ellis says). Chanticleer received $45,000 in startup money through the grants in 2024.
The Warnors Theatre and Fresno Philharmonic also received grants, Ellis says. Both are major cultural arts institutions in the Valley and both have embraced Chanticleer as partners.
The philharmonic earlier this month announced an artistic partnership to present a live score for “The Tempest.” The music, written and arranged by London-based composers Daisy Coole and Tom Nettleship, will be performed by philharmonic members during the play’s run.
The partnership, Music Director Rei Hotoda said in a statement announcing the partnership, represents a shared vision and “sends a powerful signal that Fresno’s arts organizations can do so much more when they work together.”
The same can be said for Warnors Theatre, which last year announced it would be the official home for the company.
It was an early win for Chanticleer, Ellis says.
The proscenium arch is a main feature at Warnors Theatre, where the Chanticleer Shakespeare Company hosts its performances. Photographed Thursday, March 19, 2026 in downtown Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
He remembers the first time he and Weiss toured the facility, entered the auditorium and saw the proscenium arch. They instantly knew this was the home for their company.
“These boards are 100 years old. She’s an old girl, but she’s beautiful,” Ellis says from the stage, where the company hold its auditions specifically so the actors can get a sense of the revenance of the room.
“This building is a gem right here in the Central Valley. That’s a sense of pride I have.”
He continues: Los Angeles also has a Pantages Theatre, but it’s not doing Shakespeare. It’s doing multiple runs of the Harry Potter musical tour. And it’s not working to create any kind of opportunity or be a source of community pride, Ellis says.
“They don’t have this.”
Blake Ellis, artistic director of Chanticleer Shakespeare Co., talks about the upcoming second year of the group during an interview Thursday, March 19, 2026 in downtown Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
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Joshua Tehee covers breaking news for The Fresno Bee, writing on a wide range of topics from police, politics and weather, to arts and entertainment in the Central Valley.