Their performance wasn’t artful, nor was it perfect, but rather unguarded. Every participant that arrives is present to the group not to hone their drama skills, but to build confidence and to find a community.

Be You — Be Scene — Stories at the heart of change is a storytelling workshop that acts as a sequel to the successful show Act of Translation. It’s located at RMIT’s Bourke street campus, a centre where International students study. At 5.30 pm the building’s cafeteria is filled with International students, overseas migrants, and those who are plainly interested in it. It also functions as a safe space; in here the people are encouraged to let their walls down, to be open and vulnerable, something that they automatically resist in the outside world.

“Most of the time people think I have to fit into something else…that the vulnerability of who you are is often hidden and until you can be confident enough to stand in vulnerability I don’t believe your true power manifest” Catherine Simmonds, the woman who started it all told me.

Her work started in 1992 by founding the Brunswick Woman’s Theatre (BWT), sharing stories of woman refugee labourers in Brunswick. Overtime she continued working with culturally diverse migrants, asylum seekers, translating unheard voices into orchestrated body languages. Her work with international students came about in 2012 when she was invited to tell the issue of gambling and international students.

The City of Melbourne saw what Catherine did, and encouraged her to further insight overseas students, ergo Act of Translation Reaches Out was produced. the 20 actor performance was a success, and evolved into current weekly workshops starting from July.

Catherine starts the workshop-theatre improv by gathering every participants into the middle to form a circle. Sometimes the circle can fit the edges of the room, sometimes it barely scratches 5 tiles. “Take your shoulders up and just let it fall and make a huge sound” she ordered, having everyone in the room take big breath of relief.

The ice breaker exercise then escalated into expressive practices, one which is called “Tree in the wind” where participants coupled and taking turns to be a tree, the other a hailing wind moving the tree around.

When Catherine feels that everyone is ready, she progressed the practice to have a goal. An improvisation directed by personal narrative. You have to tell your story and show it to people. “That’s why it’s called Be you Be Scene” Catherine talked to the room, making the homonym scene and seen clear.

After sometime, Catherine dings everyone to gather round. One by one, the international actors perform their hearts out. One reveals their journey coming to Australia, another expresses their concern of the cultural barrier. Some lights the room with laughter, while others bring out the issue they all are too afraid to face alone.

Catherine Simmonds is an unconventional journalist. Her primal work centres around telling stories, revealing a truth and finding connections through it, but the result isn’t a writing on a paper. It’s a theatre. “I talk to them, they share their stories and got them in the room and they started telling stories and I created performance out of that and they haven’t stopped for the past 27 years working with all kinds of communities” Catherine explained to me “The essence of the work is really about building people’s confidence to be who they are to stand up.”

The night ends with pizzas where new and returning members socialize, while Catherine goes into a corner to talk privately with one person, hearing his/her story in the goal of directing them to tell it themselves.