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Mercedes Blankenship

@mechblank

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Hi [instagram] I have something to promote! Blake High School’s theatre department has to significantly downsize our costume storage, and so, we will be holding a MASSIVE costume/clothing sale this weekend.

Some bullet points:
- All items will be priced at $5 or less (except for a select few specialty items)
- Items will be FREE for use by Montgomery County Public Schools staff members for MCPS organizations (such as, but not limited to, other drama clubs)
- There are literally THOUSANDS of costume pieces and clothing items of a HUGE variety that we are trying to do away with. It will be well worth your time to stop by!!!

See attached flyer for details (dates/times/address).

P.S. If any MCPS staff members are interested, we’re also doing a “pre-sale” on Thursday and Friday where you can stop in any time between 9am and 5pm on either day. If you’re interested in this, shoot me an email at Mercedes_Blankenship@mcpsmd.org 🙂

P.P.S. Feel free to share with anyone and everyone!!! Theatre teachers, costume designers, but also friends/neighbors/anyone who wears clothes and likes to pay very little money for them!!! This post is set to public so it should be shareable 🙂 by @mechblank

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4 months ago

ARGONAUTIKA by Mary Zimmerman
James Hubert Blake High School, November 2025
Directed by Mercedes Blankenship
Technical Direction by Jackson Elkins
Fight Choreography & Intimacy Coordination by Michael Arden
“Women of Lemnos” Song by Cole P. Abod
With an extraordinarily capable group of students (and volunteers) on costumes, props, lighting, sound, makeup, stage management, construction, and run crew, and Blake Stage Co Boosters on Pretty Much Everything Else
Photos by Shalini Benson, Emma Cooper, and Max Emerson

Had to comb through literally thousands of incredible photos of this production to pick just a few of my favorites. So infinitely grateful for all of the people who worked on this one, and all the people who kept me sane as I embarked on this crazy ambitious show. Reason had NO part in it — we got on that ship!!!! by @mechblank

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10 months ago

hello instagram followers here is the first half of my 2025
Q1: waffle house, cross stitch, tattoo (fake), scrim <3, friendship, tattoo (real)
Q2: hadestown starring cole p. abod, cross stitch (again), the helen hayes awards, powerpoints, and the lightning thief (tya version) (fancy opening night pics by alan kayanan)
here’s to a productive and profitable Q3! by @mechblank

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a year ago

Be More Chill, my beloved. I don’t know what I could say that could even begin to sum up how I feel. Directing this show sometimes felt like I was ripping my own heart open and putting it on display for everyone to judge, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. This show and these people taught me so much about directing, about life, about myself and my hopes and dreams and skills and flaws and values and core beliefs. And aside from all the deep meaningful stuff (which some may argue is me looking too deep into things anyway), this show also brought me much-needed levity, joy, silliness, and (appropriately) human connection. And it all came at a time in my life where I sorely needed all of those things. Thank you to this group for believing in me and my ideas, and creating something so much greater than the sum of its parts. And most importantly: long live the scrim. ❤️💚💙

Be More Chill
Rockville Musical Theatre, February 2025
Producer: Jackie Williams Rocco
Director: Mercedes Blankenship (that’s me!)
Music Director & Conductor: Anton Van De Motter @antonvvdm
Choreographer: Katie Quinn @k.gazella
Fight & Intimacy Director: Kiefer Cure @kshcure
Stage Manager: Hayley North (ASM Danielle Balsamo)
Set Designer: Andrew McMichael @andyroomcm
Costume Designer: G. Weiss @gian_weiss
Lighting Designer: Jake Gunter
Sound Designer: Connor Lugo-Harris @connormlh
Props Designer: Cathy Kieserman (Asst. Christal Taylor)
Cast: Elijah Beeler, Margot Cohen, Nickolas Cummings, Jarod Glou, Steven Magenheim, Jordan Neave, Jordyn Nicole, Maggie Rocha, Jake Schwartz, and Charlie Williams
Pit: Brian Berdan, Rachel Bradley, Bobby Potter, AJ Potvin, Kevin Uleck

Production photos by Faith Wang and Dana Robinson taken in Menlo Park Mall by @mechblank

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2 years ago

posting to the grid for the first time in a year and a half to commemorate the fact that i actually went somewhere! this post has everything: friendship, great theatre, fun times, graphic design, a plot twist, and a satisfying resolution taken in Easton, Pennsylvania by @mechblank

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2 years ago

I GOT A BREAST REDUCTION!
Everything went well, I‘m super happy and relieved, and being well-taken care of by friends and family. I wanted to make this post to a) normalize this being a thing that people can discuss and b) let people know that yes, there has been a change in my appearance and you don’t need to feel weird noticing/asking me about it!
I’ll be hanging out at home for the next two weeks, so if you’re around Silver Spring and wanna swing by, let me know!! Bonus points if you’re tall and can reach things on high shelves for me because I can’t raise my arms.

xoxo
gossip merced 💙 by @mechblank

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3 years ago

It’s been nearly 3 months since the production closed, but little did you all know that I was waiting until we got a new Percy Jackson book announcement to make my sappy post about The Lightning Thief! (that’s a lie but just go with it okay)

Watching the show every night, there was one lyric that always stood out and made me tear up. It’s during Drive, when the trio is on Ares’ motorcycle, time slows down, and Percy stands up:
“I never dreamed that I could do this
Never felt like I was worth a dam
But I — I’m sorta gettin’ through this
I mean, wha??
I mean, look at where I am!”
It’s such a specific little moment, but speaks to me so directly. Those moments in life when I zoom out and realize that I’m strong, capable, and I’m gonna be okay.

The company of WST’s Lightning Thief has given me so many of those moments. I’ve never been more proud of anything in my life than I was of this show. The amount of dedication and love put into this production was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced — truly, lightning in a bottle. I can (and will) brag about the sold-out run, the lovely reviews, and our niche internet micro-celebrity status on Tiktok. But the real source of pride for me with this show was the number of company members who came away from it having fallen in love with theatre again. Realizing that this is supposed to be FUN, that they are worthy of having their voices heard, that they can advocate for themselves, that they are talented and intelligent and capable human beings who deserve to be worked with as collaborators rather than chess pieces or race horses. That’s the kind of impact that I’ve always wanted to have on people, and I’m so happy they helped me realize it.

So much love to every single one of you (including those not pictured here — you know who you are). Never settle for anything less. 💙 omd taken in Camp Half-Blood by @mechblank

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4 years ago

This tattoo idea was crafted one night in 2017 while I was directing Spelling Bee, and it only took 4.5 years and a couple of impulse decisions for it to actually happen! Big thanks to @aryngrr and @meganhastie16 for helping me come up with the idea all those years ago, to Pop’s Tattoos for making the tattoo finally happen, and to Rachel Sheinkin and William Finn for writing such a beautiful show and including this alternate epilogue for those who, like me, found it “perversely uplifting.” taken in Pop's Tattoo by @mechblank

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5 years ago

official documentation of my trip to visit @beccamhaven and @kelziemer in Chicago, ft. special Kalamazoo guest appearance by @c.p.abod
Big thanks to these lovely friends for giving me an excuse to travel outside my Maryland bubble
(scroll to the last photo for the newest Michigan cryptid trio) by @mechblank

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5 years ago

take chances, make mistakes, get messy. ☀️🌎⭐️🚀 @ The Magic School Bus by @mechblank

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8 years ago

this pic was taken MERE MOMENTS after ya gurls finished casting our show!!!!
so happy and grateful to work with a lovely bunch of talented beans on this wonderful musical, and so glad i have these three to help me along the way 💕💕💕 [photo shamelessly stolen from @gracewalkerrr] by @mechblank

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9 years ago

Posting this bc it showed up on my facebook this morning and I loved this show and it was basically the only time Julia and I properly got to act together and also I love @juliaannettelink taken in Atlantic Ocean by @mechblank

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10 years ago