User:Bheathcote

Blake Heathcote was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he studied architecture and urban design at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1977.

After university he began work as a freelance director and writer in the theatre, subsequently directing many Canadian premieres as well as over a hundred other productions across Canada and in the United States. He worked as an assistant to Broadway director Harold Prince in 1981 and 1982, and with playwright/director Sir Alan Ayckbourn in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1990, where Mr. Ayckbourn directed two of Blake's plays (Three Men in a Boat, Augustus Carp: A Very Good Man) at the Stephen Joseph Theatre.

While working with Ayckbourn at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round in Yorkshire, Blake conceived the idea of creating a similar theatrical space in Port Colborne, Ontario, where he was Artistic Director of the Showboat Festival Theatre from 1987 to 1997. Based on Blake’s design and community efforts, funds were raised and the theatre was built and had its inaugural season in 1997.

Blake then founded a new theatre company in Port Dalhousie, Ontario. That company, Theatre in Port, continues to thrive with its intimate 120-seat theatre. He resigned as Artistic Director in 1999 to concentrate his time on writing projects, continuing to act as artistic advisor for the theatre until 2001.

In addition to his directing, his work as a playwright has been produced across North America and the U.K. He has written fifteen plays, including The Revenge of the Woman Dressed Largely in Black, Twist of Fate, Remains to be Seen, and adaptations of The Misanthrope, The Canterville Ghost, Scapin,and a 2-person Christmas Carol, which has had numerous productions across Canada.

Testaments of Honour
Blake’s grandfather, Major E.T. Heathcote MM ED, served in both wars, and his father, Lieutenant E.B. Heathcote, served in WW II. Major Heathcote, an artist, was in charge of the War Art program, and oversaw the efforts of the war artists and many photographers during WW II. While archiving his grandfather’s extensive scrapbooks and sketchbooks from both world wars, Blake conceived the Testaments of Honour project, a non-profit initiative whose objective is to chronicle on video first-hand accounts of Canadian veterans and to provide future generations with a richer, deeper understanding of Canadian history through use of these first-person testaments.

Blake was approached by Random House of Canada to author books based on his interviews, and he subsequently published the first book, Testaments of Honour, in October 2002, which became a number one Canadian bestseller. His second book, A Soldier's View, featuring photographs from the personal albums of veterans, was published in October 2005 and also became a bestseller. His work for Testaments of Honour has included the creation of video ‘chapters’ for use in video kiosks at the Juno Beach Centre in Normandy, 4,000 video chapters for the Veterans’ Affairs Canada Heroes Remember website, and the building and curating of an archive of 550 veterans’ interviews (60 in the French language), 14,000 photographs, 4,000 documents, and 1,200 hours of digital video.

He is Video Producer for Random House of Canada's Booklounge Website, creating video interviews with a wide range of authors (Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, John Grisham, Bill Bryson, and Farley Mowat among others).

Blake is currently working on his third book.