COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS

NOT JUST WORDS

Theatre is about human connection; stories are told not just through words, emotions are conveyed through the non verbal language of the body and images. This is especially relevant when working in the CALD communities, as we go beyond information delivery and connect to the heart, drawing out the power and truth of people’s lived experiences. 

VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY

Over the years, Catherine Simmonds has successfully run workshops, devised and directed ten different performance scenes within the Vietnamese Community in collaboration with Australian Vietnamese Women’s Association (AVWA) and Springvale Indochinese Mutual Association (SICMAA)

These scenes were devised with and performed by family members who’d been directly harmed by gambling or gambled themselves. They performed in/at community events, to the police, seniors groups, play groups and in the Dame Phyllis Frost prison. 

ARABIC COMMUNITY

In collaboration with Arabic Welfare and Victorian Arabic Social Services, Catherine Simmonds conducted consultations and ran a series of workshops with the counselors and people of the community. For most people the workshop experience was the first time they’d shared and unpacked their experiences of gambling harm within a group context. A scene with the bi-lingual workers from the Turkish, Greek and Arabic communities was devised and performed. 

ABORIGINAL COMMUNITY

We presented performances at Galliamble men’s group which enabled conversations about communities’ experiences of gambling – for some it was the first time they had spoken about it. 

Series of eight workshops in Ngwala (residential AOD residential treatment centre) with ten women. The workshops built stories and performance scenes that were conducted as a ‘rehearsal for life’.