Using the visceral art of theatre to mobilize and powerfully communicate the authority of the lived experience.
Consultative Process
Catherines’ method is unique, a deeply consultative and creative workshop process that eventuates in people’s ability to act the lead role in their own story. “The methods are there for the people not the inverse. “I lead workshops and make theatre with communities. I’m not a therapist, but the journey is therapeutic”.
Workshop Process
There is no process of audition, rather inclusion that seeks to discover each persons unique character and story. Frequently people come to workshops with feelings of isolation, defensiveness, low self-esteem and inner turmoil. The process is playful and interactive, building trust between participants, who creatively transform these feelings, learning they’re not ‘so alone’.
Engaging Body, Voice & Mind
Through a dynamic process engaging body voice and mind, participants explore their own and each other’s stories, in turn building peer connection and other ways of seeing. Pluralizing the personal story through the stories and images of a group helps to hold the personal story in a wider social context. Embodying one’s story and collaborating with others is a space in which connection and confidence can grow.
Individual Sessions
People articulate their story in more detail, identifying their struggles, strengths and what it is they want to say. Catherine asks the question: “If you thought someone would listen what would you say?” This question invites self-determination and activates the idea that there may be a listener (an audience) and so the journey of a life creatively examined begins.
Theatre – Social Impact
The theatre work gives respect and dignity to people, an act that moves from the personal, to the collective, to the social-political. Catherine’s work is a creative investigation and an act of transformation as people who are not actors take center stage in the ‘lead role’ of their own stories. People who never intended to inhabit such a role become the accidental activists of the issues their stories reveal.