Family Story Workshops
The Family Stories Project began as a series of in-person workshops created in collaboration with Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (caap.org.au) to reach communities ahead of a national theatre tour of Lost in Shanghai. During February and March 2024 the company and I performed in ten theatres from Darwin to Hobart.
The workshops have been redesigned for adults (online and in-person) seeking to discover their family stories. I share what I’ve learned from more than three decades as a storytelling and interviewer. I work with individuals and groups in Australia and beyond.
The beginners workshop series Beginning, Middle & End is perfect for individuals who want to kick-start their family story-telling and sharing journey.
The May-June series is currently underway.
Please contact me if you’d like to be added to the waiting list for the September 2024 series.
Workshop testimonials, December 2023
February - March 2024
Lost in Shanghai On Tour 2024
During February – March 2024 I performed Lost in Shanghai (Season 3) in ten theatres around Australia during our February-March 2024 tour.
Lost in Shanghai is my family story. It began with my mum, Beatrice, born in Shanghai, in amixed-race (Eurasian) family. All through my life, pieces of her story; the fragments she didn’t share, have come looking for me.
After leaving journalism in 2019, I finally began to put her story together, pitching it to the creative team at Contemporary Asian Australia Performance (CAAP). I was warned it may take a while for the idea to receive funding so that it could be developed into a work for theatre. In the meantime, I kept researching Mum’s story. During COVID, public libraries opened their digital archives so we could access them from home. As well as finding many revelations during this time, a treasure-trove of historic family images came to light.
In mid 2021 I received news that Sydney Festival had commission this production for its 2022 season. The show was developed over Zoom with a talented group of creatives and our first in-person rehearsal took place shortly after distancing restrictions were lifted in Sydney.
It opened to a sell-out first season in January 2021.