{"id":234562,"date":"2026-03-24T19:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234562\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T19:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:47:10","slug":"fresno-actor-returns-to-start-professional-shakespeare-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234562\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno actor returns to start professional Shakespeare company"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Blake Ellis left Fresno in the 2000s, it wasn\u2019t that he wanted to, necessarily.<\/p>\n

But he was an actor looking for professional work. Opportunity was scarce.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, he ended up in Los Angeles, where he landed some film and TV work<\/a> (including a role on the Netflix series \u201cUnbelievable\u201d). 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.).<\/p>\n

And then, he came back to Fresno.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything in my life was sort of pulling me back here,\u201d says the Clovis High and Fresno State graduate who co-founded Fresno\u2019s first professional Shakespeare company<\/a> and is leading it into a second season at Warnors Theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a sort of gravitational pull.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellis wasn\u2019t 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, \u201cthe doors just started flying open.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Blake 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 <\/p>\n

The end result was Chanticleer Shakespeare Co.<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

Traveling cast members are housed in town during the multi-week production runs.<\/p>\n

The company debuted last June with a nine-show run of \u201cRichard III.\u201d<\/a> It returns for a second season with \u201cThe Tempest\u201d running April 24-May 3.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI always knew there was tremendous potential,\u201d Ellis says.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, Children\u2019s Musical Theaterworks<\/a> and StageWorks Fresno (though that one shuttered in 2019<\/a>).<\/p>\n

And there is an audience for classical theater. Weis, the company\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hunger for those universal stories,\u201d Ellis says.<\/p>\n

Partnerships with cultural arts institutions<\/p>\n

So, Fresno was primed for something like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Valley is becoming a focal point for the state,\u201d Ellis says. At the same time, the city is showing a willingness to support cultural arts with Measure P\u2019s \u201cExpanded Access to Arts and Culture Grants\u201d (current embezzlement issues aside<\/a>, Ellis says). Chanticleer received $45,000 in startup money through the grants in 2024.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The philharmonic earlier this month announced an artistic partnership<\/a> to present a live score for \u201cThe Tempest.\u201d The music, written and arranged by London-based composers Daisy Coole and Tom Nettleship, will be performed by philharmonic members during the play\u2019s run.<\/p>\n

The partnership, Music Director Rei Hotoda said in a statement announcing the partnership, represents a shared vision and \u201csends a powerful signal that Fresno\u2019s arts organizations can do so much more when they work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same can be said for Warnors Theatre, which last year announced it would be the official home for the company.<\/p>\n

It was an early win for Chanticleer, Ellis says.<\/p>\n

\"The 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 <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese boards are 100 years old. She\u2019s an old girl, but she\u2019s beautiful,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis building is a gem right here in the Central Valley. That\u2019s a sense of pride I have.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues: Los Angeles also has a Pantages Theatre, but it\u2019s not doing Shakespeare. It\u2019s doing multiple runs of the Harry Potter musical tour. And it\u2019s not working to create any kind of opportunity or be a source of community pride, Ellis says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Blake 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
\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Joshua Tehee<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

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.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Blake Ellis left Fresno in the 2000s, it wasn\u2019t that he wanted to, necessarily. But he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[106181,112,114,113,106182,106184,106183],"class_list":{"0":"post-234562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-chanticleer-shakespeare","9":"tag-fresno","10":"tag-fresno-headlines","11":"tag-fresno-news","12":"tag-fresno-theater-company","13":"tag-professional-shakespeare","14":"tag-warnors-theatre"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}