Restorying Co-Lab is a women-centred weekend theatre workshop offering a safe, creative space to explore lived experience through storytelling, embodiment, and collective witnessing.
Rooted in socially engaged theatre practices, this work centres women’s voices, bodies, and realities — particularly stories shaped by endurance, resistance, care, and the ongoing work of standing up for what matters.
This is not theatre for performance or spectacle.
It is theatre as a tool for reflection, agency, healing, and change.
Women-Centred
Theatre for change, healing & lived experience
About the Work
Stories do not exist in isolation — they live in bodies, relationships, memory, and time.
Across the weekend, participants are supported to develop theatre skills, build trust within the group, and (if they choose) explore personal stories using creative approaches that prioritise safety, clarity, and choice.
The work draws on Brechtian and verbatim theatre traditions, allowing women to step back from lived experience, observe it from new perspectives, and have it witnessed without being required to carry it alone.
At the conclusion of the workshop, participants may choose to have elements of their lived experience respectfully embodied or spoken by other members of the group — an act of collective holding rather than exposure.
What to Expect
Over the Weekend
The weekend is carefully structured to prioritise safety, trust, and creative confidence.
Day One: Building the Ground
Day One focuses on connection, play, and skill-building — creating the conditions for trust and collaboration.
Participants will be guided through:
- Gentle physical theatre practices exploring movement, presence, and embodiment
- Vocal work supporting breath, confidence, and expression
- Character and role exploration as creative tools rather than personal exposure
- Ice-breakers, theatre games, and playful ensemble activities
- Team-building exercises designed to foster laughter, trust, and mutual respect
One. The emphasis is on fun, curiosity, and connection, while developing a shared creative language and sense of collective care.
Day Two: Story, Shaping & Witnessing
Day Two gently shifts into story-based work, guided by clear boundaries, consent, and participant choice.
Participants may be invited to:
- Share lived experiences in ways that feel safe, contained, and self-directed
- Explore storytelling through verbatim and Brechtian-inspired theatre techniques
- Shape moments, fragments, or themes into short theatrical forms
- Have aspects of their stories respectfully embodied or spoken by other workshop members, if they choose
This process is not about re-enactment or performance for an external audience.
It is about witnessing, reflection, and reclaiming voice.
Wellbeing-informed practices are woven throughout to support grounding, regulation, and care.
Who This Space Is For
- Restorying Co-Lab is for women who:
- carry stories that are rarely heard or easily spoken
- have navigated opposition, scrutiny, or systemic imbalance
- are seeking a creative, contained way to explore lived experience
- value safety, boundaries, and respectful witnessing
- There is no expectation to speak or share personal material. Listening, observing, and witnessing are equally valued forms of participation.
- No prior theatre experience is required.
Values & Approach
This work is grounded in the belief that women’s lived, embodied experience is a vital source of knowledge and truth.
We value:
- Women-centred storytelling, grounded in lived and embodied reality
- Safety over spectacle, with clear boundaries that support honest sharing
- Consent and choice in how stories are told, witnessed, or held
- Creative distance, using theatre to reflect rather than re-enact harm
- Collective care, where stories are held by the group, not carried alone
This space prioritises trust, respect, and the right of women to speak freely without fear of judgement, correction, or intrusion.Our comprehensive suite of professionals caters to a diverse team, ranging from seasoned architects to renowned engineers.
Facilitator
Marianne Buchanan — teacher, counsellor, and advocate for healing through story. Trauma-aware and ethically held, guiding creative expression with care and integrity.
Safety, Participation & Eligibility
Restorying Co-Lab is intentionally designed as a women-centred space.
To protect the safety, trust, and purpose of the work, Starlet Creative Industries reserves the right to determine suitability for participation and to decline or limit attendance where necessary.
Participation requires a willingness to respect boundaries, uphold confidentiality, and contribute to an environment where participants feel secure enough to engage openly.
All enquiries are welcomed and considered thoughtfully, with participant wellbeing as the guiding priority.
Starlet Creative Industries supports Amity Place and is a Social Enterprise and proud member of the Queensland Social Enterprise Council and Queensland Artsbook.
0466 660 773
director@starletcreativeindustries.org
Starlet Creative Industries 