The Artistic Director of a North East theatre company has been appointed a Fellow of the New York-based International Society for the Performing Arts.
Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh, Artistic Director of Newcastle-based ZENDEH, joins Dan Baker of Plymouth’s Barbican Theatre and Annette Corbette of Harrow’s young jazz musicians’ charity Tomorrow’s Warriors as the latest British Fellows of ISPA.
In 2001, Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh was awarded an Arts Council England Bursary to train as a theatre director at Leicester Haymarket Theatre under the joint artistic leadership of Paul Kerryson and Kully Tiara. Whilst at the Haymarket, she gained a five star review from the BBC for her original new work called Safe Passage. She then went on to become Staff Director at Derby Playhouse, working on small-scale touring and developing her interest in creativity, diversity and equality.
She founded ZENDEH in Edinburgh in 2004 and, with support from the Scottish Arts Council, launched its public programme in 2005 and in that year the company was awarded an Amnesty International Commendation. ZENDEH created partnerships and collaboration in Scotland and Iran, making new writing and new work. In 2007 the company moved to the North East of England where it is now based in Newcastle’s Dance City.
ZENDEH (a Farsi word meaning “alive”) is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and aims to produce high quality cross art form productions with creative engagement programmes which are culturally eclectic and attract new audiences.
Its productions include Paper Dolls (2010), Found (2012), Flock (2013), HEART (2014) and Cinema (2015). It is currently developing a new production, Transit.