Nick Cassenbaum among four Jewish artists to receive residency at Arts Depot
Recipients benefit from funding, mentoring and the opportunity to share their work
Nick Cassenbaum- creator of the hugely popular Jewish pantomimes staged annually at JW3 – has been selected as one of the recipients of a new arts residency at Finchley’s Arts Depot theatre.
Tsitsit, the Jewish fringe festival has joined with the Arts Depot to choose nine artists and companies – from emerging voices to established creatives – who will be supported to develop their work over autumn 2025 and summer 2026. Each artist or company receives £1,000 seed funding, mentoring, professional development and the opportunity of sharing their work with audiences.
As part of its commitment to nurture new creative responses to Jewish identities, Tsitsit has sponsored four of the nine artists.
Alastair Falk, founder and Director of Tsitsit, says: “We are proud to support four exciting artists this year at arts depot, who each offer dynamic new creative responses to new Jewish identities.
“Tsitsit was founded as a platform to provide an outlet for exploration and expression of these unique perspectives. Through working in partnership with arts depot and commissioning fresh work, we can nurture emerging talent across music, dance, comedy, and spoken word.
“Together, we can create a wider conversation about our Jewish identities, celebrate the diversity within our communities and act as a cultural bridge between Jewish and other contemporary diaspora cultures.”
Nick Cassenbaum who describes his work as “unforgivingly Jewish and undeniably British”, has been chosen for his play Rebellion: After the B’nei Mitzvahs”. This work was informed by interviews with people who, as Jewish teenagers, experienced summer camps that offered a host of new things: being away from their parents for more than 12 hours for the first time, snogging for the first time, and a taste of freedom. His work includes not only Jewish pantomimes but also the Fringe First-winning, sell-out show Revenge: After the Levoyah.
Will Armstrong’s and Daniel Lipton’s talents include cabaret, theatre-making and filmmaking expertise to create live shows inspired by off-kilter comedy. Their most recent work stems from the sensationalism of haunted objects, tied in thematically with exploiting cultural history and their own relationship to their heritage and it is for the latter that they have been selected for a residency.
British-Ukrainian theatre director, choreographer and musician Anna Sanderson, who recently graduated with a BA in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge, has created theatre projects and academic research focusing on cultural heritage, historical memory and giving voice to marginalised communities in Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine. Anna has been selected to develop Stempenyu, an early 20th century Yiddish play by Sholem Aleichem about the romance between Stempenyu, “the Jewish Paganini”, and Rachel, the shtetl girl.
Lilit Lesser is an actor (Wolf Hall, The Mirror and The Light), writer, translator and cabaret artist, and the fourth Tsitsit residency recipient. They will develop their award-nominated work-in-progress, Lilit, described by Lesser as a cross-form cataclysm of cabaret, ritual, video, live sound and song, that reanimates the Jewish demon Lilith to reclaim incantations made to exile ‘othered’ entities, be they demons, Jewish, queer or disabled bodies.
Creatives applied from all over the UK and the recipients were chosen from 30 applicants. Monique Deletant, CEO/Creative Director of Arts Depot says: “We are grateful to all artists and companies who applied to be part of this year’s intake. Choosing the shortlist was very difficult as the standard and breadth of ideas were not only brilliant but also highlighted to us that creative inspiration is thriving.
“We are grateful for support from Tsitsit, and we welcome artists spanning local, London-based and international cultural identities and experiences. Themes this year include families, the environment, life and death and cultural heritage.
“We are also committed to being ‘a home in London’ for artists outside of London who could benefit from developing their work and networks with us as Barnet’s go-to cultural hub. “What sets us apart is that we want artists to enjoy the process of creativity without the pressure of generating an output, which we believe ultimately generates more authentic, challenging and new work. I can’t wait to see how work develops.”
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