Today we’d like to introduce you to Blake White.
Hi Blake, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My wife Peggy and I moved to Hilton Head Island so I could start work at a theater company in 2007. 6 years later that relationship ended and I need to take some time for a full life roboot. That company closed in 2014 and in 2015 I founded Lean Ensemble Theater, a small professional theater company who’s mission is to embrace theater’s vibrant relevance through diverse, ensemble based programming which compels thought, sparks emotion and inspires dialogue. We had no seed money, no gifted real estate. We started something from nothing that has since grown to an organtization with an annual budget of over 1./2 a million dollars with 5 staff people thats produced 44 shows, grown to over 30 ensemble members and survived 1 global pandemic. Other than getting married and getting sober (just celebrated 13 years), its the thing Ive done in my life that I am the most proud of.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As with any business, there have obviously been challenges. The pandemic, the racial reckoning in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, But these were also opportunities to learn grow and evolve. We go through major moments like that and hopefully come out the other side a better more fully formed person.
Its the day to day challenges that still can get me– the amount of hours in the day, the lack of a permanent performance space, money, etc.
But at the end of the day I’m still insanely lucky to have created my own full time dream job. I just sometimes have to remind myself that dream job still has the word “job” in it.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am theater person. I love theater- when its good there is nothing better, Its one of the most resilient art forms in history. Im so proud to work in this field, even when people only ask if Ive even done a movie to TV and if they think the theater company I run shows movies…
We strive to stimulate conversation through topical, entertaining and professional programming which delves into every element of the human condition. We have to entertain, but we also do work that hopefully asks you to look at the world a little differently.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was a pretty normal kid who grew up in the suburbs of Memphis. I had a great mom and 2 horrible older brothers that now mean the world to me. I was an athlete and a theater kid and my overly sensitive natire, I suppose, drove my towards theater as I grew up. My wife is also a theater person– she’s now the Artistic Director of the South Carolina Children’s Theatre in Greenville SC. We’ve been married for almost 20 years and nothing makes me happier than paying way too much money for dinner and a show with her.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://leanensemble.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leanensembletheater/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leanensembletheater
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8vscGOTtqSjlKJ3Huob1aw
