Biography

Blake McCarty

Blake McCarty is a writer, director and designer whose original work includes large-scale immersive projects, new musicals, devised theatre and documentary plays. He is the founder and Executive Artistic Director of Blindspot Collective, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s 2020 Theater of the Year, where he has directed award-winning productions that include Hall PassUntoldThe Magic in this SoulDanny’s Story and when the bubble bursts. His work has been developed or commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse, California Center for the Arts, Cygnet Theatre, New Village Arts, New York Theatre Barn and New York University. In addition to his work as a director, Blake is a two-time recipient of Outstanding Projection Design from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. As an educator, Blake has designed educational programming for San Diego Junior Theatre, The New Victory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, New Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Tribeca Film Festival and countless schools. Recent: writing the book and lyrics for Lit, an original musical that toured to San Diego elementary schools; producing Black Séance for the 2022 WOW Festival in partnership with La Jolla Playhouse, and designing projections for Cygnet’s Water by the Spoonful and Moonlight’s Cinderella. Upcoming: workshopping the new musical Mudtown with composer Ian Brandon; producing a new immersive experience in collaboration with David Reynoso and Optika Moderna; and returning to SDJT this fall to develop and direct Edgar Allan Poe’s Gruesome Gallery of Grotesquerie. Blake is a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts and the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, both at New York University.

The Phantom Tollbooth (Advanced Acting Camp Jr)

Directed by Blake McCarty
Book by Norton Juster and Sheldon Harnick
Music by Arnold Black. Lyrics by Shedon Harnick
Based on the book by Norton Juster

Norton Juster’s beloved children’s book is adapted for the stage and performed by Junior Theatre's Advanced Acting Camp, Jr.