Photography by Kitoko Chargois
Chanel Blanchett is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist & administrator who explores themes of black womanhood while creating through a lens of “rage-as-catalyst-for-action." She uses movement rhythms, breath, and materiality in her work to invoke and investigate the visceral//primal. Chanel is a writer, director, and teaching artist with a focus in devised performance.
Her art makes space for voices and bodies in more rooms, with a focus on empowering and creating opportunities for black women and youth. Her work creates visibility for those who are unseen by the socio-cultural movements they create and the societies they exist within.
Her most recent original work, [in]bodied, is an exploration of the rage and grief of black womanhood. The play uses devised movement, created language, and rhythmic text to create an absurdist world where the silencing of black voices creates monsters, and the release of those voices shifts the seen dynamics. She is currently working on expanding one of her past projects, Ships: 2AM, into a collection of object theatre stories on loneliness and connection.
Chanel has been a teaching artist since 2015 and directing since 2017. She has worked with organizations such as Epoch Tribe, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, and the Creator’s Collective. Her most recent directing project is I Am Queen: Charlotte, presented by Epoch Tribe and the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. She is currently the Associate, Operations & People at Fractured Atlas.
Chanel earned her MFA at Sarah Lawrence College. Her thesis solo performance, The Table, explored tokenism and double consciousness through movement and recorded interviews.
Chanel is a participant in TCG's Rising Leaders of Color Program, funded by The Opportunity Fund and Walt Disney Imagineering, and administered by Theatre Communications Group.