Cas has been a vital part of Zest for years, offering bold insights and honest feedback on every project. As a core member of Future Proof, he challenges, inspires, and helps us grow—keeping us true to our values of inclusivity and integrity.
Cas has contributed to the following projects:
Youthquake (2019/20)
*untitled (2020)
Never Was A Normal (2021)
Refresh Lincoln (2021)
The Forum (2022/23)
The Zone (2024)
Future Proof (2020-present)
Based in Lincolnshire, Cas met with Adam Perkins on Thursday 31st October, and Tuesday 12th November, to explore and share his journey with Zest.
What motivated you to join the Future Proof team with Zest Theatre?
‘After experiencing how Zest operates with Youthquake, I knew they were never going to get rid of me.
’The *untitled Project was offered to anyone from the Youthquake cast to make this strange, digital, visual EP for YouTube. This was an intense couple of weeks, with three-hour-long Zoom sessions twice a day, three days a week. Zest were open to what we wanted to create, as we couldn’t do anything else during lockdown when it felt like the world was ending. After *untitled, we created the youth board, Future Proof, and that was my way in.
‘I had spent a lot of my life being very quiet with people, feeling that they didn’t like the things I had to say, especially if I had controversial opinions or if I was criticising something. But then when Future Proof came along, with the pretence of ‘tell us if we’re doing a bad job because Zest is a company that exists to serve young people and is led by a middle-aged, cis-gendered, white men’, giving space to Future Proofs fantastically diverse group of people to express ‘I don’t like that’, or actually, ‘I really love that’ with core decisions, helped me feel like I am part of something that truly matters. Our first action as Future Proof was to rewrite Zest’s Maxims. Zest opened up the very core of our company, asking us to make sure that everything is right and that we’re working to the correct standards.’
In what ways has your involvement with Zest Theatre influenced your career path?
‘It’s difficult to break into the arts industry as it’s so competitive, but working on these projects with Zest have helped me get my foot in the door and gain experiences while improving my CV.
’During my last year of college, we were asked to create and perform a project surrounding identity, specifically around masculinity and femininity. I wrote a 45-minute autobiographical solo stage show called Self-Made Man about my experiences as a trans person. Participating in Youthquake, Refresh Lincoln and *untitled gave me the drive to write it. I was unable to perform this at college, but last year, I performed for a weekend at the Theatre Deli, London, as part of the Shift+Space Programme. Again, something I would never have done if I hadn’t had these unique experiences with Zest Theatre.
’In 2022, I was invited to do a TED talk in Lincoln based on my work with Zest, which was a 14-year-old Cas’ dream. My talk was about how the education system is flawed and that there are alternative forms of education that work better. I spoke about Refresh Lincoln as I’d had the opportunity to work with young people aged 9 – 20 in a completely open environment, listening and understanding how they’d gone through such different experiences with lockdown, the pandemic, the rise of technology: things that we’re truly eye-opening. From a professional standpoint, I could never have done that previously because people wouldn’t have known who I was and I hadn’t had the confidence to memorise, stand up, and speak for 10 to 15 minutes, but I did, and that was absolute madness.
‘After Refresh Lincoln, I landed my dream job, running a youth theatre at the Lincoln Art Centre. This was my first proper job interview, and I felt massively under-qualified as the job required a degree-level qualification and experience leading a youth centre. I had none of that, but I was at college studying performing arts and had all these experiences working with young people through Zest. I landed my dream job, working with both the junior and senior youth groups, and we had the most fun. We asked the young people, ‘what do you want to make a show about?’. They came up with their own characters and storylines, and I curated a script, ran rehearsals, helped the young participants with props and costumes, all leading to their own performance. It was honestly two of the best years of my life.’
How did you get involved with Zest Theatre?
‘The first project I worked on with Zest was Youthquake. While studying Performing Arts at Lincoln College, our tutor told that there was a project coming up with Zest and I was desperate for anything outside of college, so I signed up and became part of the Lincoln youth-cast. It felt completely on a whim, as my college only offered this to half of our year group, so I was in the right place at the right time. The first green flag was on the Zest sign-up form, where they asked for pronouns, demonstrating inclusivity.
’After Lincoln, we went and performed in Norwich after their entire youth cast had dropped out. As a joke, I said to Toby, ‘Just take us (Lincoln cast) instead’, and the next day Toby asked us, ‘Who wants to go to Norwich?’. We got in a minibus, went to Norwich, and did an extra show there, which was weird but fun.’
How have your experiences with Zest Theatre benefited you personally?
‘When it comes to personal development, my confidence has skyrocketed.
‘I’m an anxious person, and I struggle a lot with mental health, but I can do things that I never would have done before the work with Zest. If you’d asked me five years ago if I would run a workshop in a school with 13-14-year-olds first thing in the morning, I’d assume they would judge and hate me. But no, Refresh Lincoln involved some of the best fun and the most insightful experiences I’ve ever had. This built confidence within myself, assuring me that I am someone worth listening to and having around because Zest have always been so supportive.
‘I’ve always said I want to grow up to be the person I needed when I was younger.
‘During Refresh Lincoln, we met young LGBTQ+ people between 5 and 13 years old. I remember a year six class where a young person was speaking and shared with the class, ‘I’m gay’, and half the class responded, ‘Yeah, we know, stop going on about it.’ This was beautiful. Another young person spoke emotionally about hate crime and terrifying suicide statistics for trans people. I shared that I had felt how they feel now when I was their age, and that I’m still here, and I’m doing the thing that I love. They could see someone 8 to 10 years older than them and know that there is a life after this. I realised that I have grown up to be the person I needed, and now I can be that person for others.
‘This was a turning point for me, and it was a lot of the work I’ve done with Zest, plus the conversations I’ve had with Toby, that have dug me out of some really dark places. I had felt that maybe I didn’t want to wake up tomorrow, but when I do, I knew they were there to say, ‘I’m glad you’re still here because we need you’. These experiences had a really positive impact on my whole life.
‘Toby is one of the very few people in my life that I’ve been able to fully open up to about my mental and physical health. With Zest, it’s never been a question of, OK, this isn’t going to work; it has been, OK, how are we going to make this work for you?
‘I have Dissociative Identity Disorder, which means sometimes I turn up to a meeting, and I’m not me, and that can be tough for an outside person to deal with. But I spoke to Toby about it, and he said we’re going to come up with a plan and create a mega document that explains everything to ensure that everyone’s briefed so I can talk about it freely if I want to. This has made my life so much easier because these are issues that previously made me ‘unemployable’; it’s just too much effort, too confusing, and time-consuming for other people, but with Zest, this was all OK.’
Could you share any standout moments, stories or achievements with Zest Theatre?
‘During Refresh Lincoln at a primary school, we’d been talking about climate change and deforestation, and a 10-year-old boy mentioned that he’d written a ‘rainforest rap’ in one of his lessons. Suddenly, the class said, ‘What?! You’ve got to do it right now!’ The boy stood up with all the confidence in the world and busted out this rap, and we just sat there amazed. It was just so magical.
‘In another Refresh Lincoln session, young people were talking about trans rights, and they had such an incredible grasp on these things. I held it in until we left, then on the car ride back, I just lost it and cried. It was so affirming to hear young people have so much kindness, social awareness, and empathy that you don’t always see in adults. It was beautiful.
‘My other favourite moments are from *untitled. Rob, Lachlan, and I lived in Lincoln, and Toby brought out these chopper bicycles and asked if we’d like to do a day of filming. Toby asked, ‘Can you ride a bike?’ and I confidently said yes, having not ridden a bike in 10 years. The first thing he wanted to film was me in beautiful double denim going down a hill at full speed - I thought I was going to die! But then I got the hang of it, and we just went all around the city filming different parts, setting off smoke grenades in the common and generally dancing about and having fun. It was wonderful and needed at that time because we were still in lockdown, and it was unclear what we could do. We had so much fun, and I felt like a human being again.’
