About Stav
״A generous artist’s soul aimed gracefully, has the power to make lasting social change״ - Suzi Winson
Stav Meishar (she/they) is an award-winning performance maker, interdisciplinary stage artist, researcher and educator. Their work seeks to intersect history and current affairs by mixing together tools from the worlds of theatre, circus, and contemporary performance, exploring the power of art as an investigative tool for inciting change.
Photo by Annelies Vanhove
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Stav's most recent major work, The Escape Act: A Holocaust Memoir, is a one-person show blending puppetry, theatre and circus, rooted in a decade of historic research. It is based on the true story of Irene Danner, a Jewish acrobat who survived the Holocaust hiding at a German circus, and examines questions of antisemitism, xenophobia, and generational-trauma.
As a dedicated historic researcher, writer and lecturer, Stav's research spans their many interests, intersecting Jewish culture, circus history and/or queer history. Their research has been presented in academic conferences, festivals and public events around the world. Stav's next work, The Barbette Project (currently in-development), is a performance devising tool blending theatre, circus and live art, exploring gender performance and body image via the true story of Barbette, star gender-bending circus artist of the early 20th century. The work was pre-selected for the 2024 edition of circusnext, the EU's most important platform for the support and development of emerging contemporary circus talent. Recently Stav was one of 31 artists commissioned by disabled-led arts organisation Dash for WAIWAV, a project which was the largest showcase of work by d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists ever to be presented in the UK to date, spanning 30 galleries in the Plus Tate network. Now based between Bristol and NYC, Stav is proud to be a queer and neurodivergent immigrant of Middle-Eastern and Jewish roots. Their work will always and forever be shaped by those lenses. |
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Awards, Grants and Achievements: Stav is a current Theatremacher Fellow with the Alliance for Jewish Theatre and a proud member of the ROI Community. She was awarded The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus First of May Award and The Jewish Education Project's Young Pioneer Award, and was selected for The Jewish Week's 36 Under 36. Stav's stage work has received support from Arts Council England, The Puffin Foundation, TelepART, The European Cultural Foundation, NoFit State Circus, The Jewish Education Project, West of England Combined Authority, and Israeli Lottery Fund. Stav's work has been commissioned by Tate Britain, DASH Arts, JW3 (United Kingdom), De Spil Cultuurcentum, Kunstercentrum Vooruit, Circuscentrum Vlaanderen (Belgium) and Kucku Festival (Finland). Recent residencies include Prema Arts Centre (Uley UK), Jacksons Lane (London UK), The Invisible Circus / Unit 15 Creation Space, The Island - Artspace Lifespace (Bristol UK), and Loviisa Artist Studio (Finland). Stav received her MA in Contemporary Circus Practices from the Stockholm University of the Arts (formerly DOCH). They hold a BFA in Musical Theatre from The New School in New York summa cum laude, with a double minor in Gender Studies and Jewish Culture. |
Photo by Asaf Sagi
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