Healing stories: First Nations theatre for health equity

An innovative research partnership between Senior Lecturer in Theatre Dr Sarah Woodland and First Nations theatre practitioner Kamarra Bell-Wykes is helping to improve the health and relationships of First Nations young people.

The project centres around THE SCORE, an inclusive, flexible health promotion and education model that uses participatory theatre to support young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to develop respectful sexual relationships, consider how their choices affect their own well-being and that of others, and understand and protect their sexual health and reproductive rights.

In partnership between the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) and ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, Australia’s longest established First Nations theatre company, the model has been developed through robust community engagement and privileges First Nations knowledges and cultural approaches, community engagement, and capacity building.

The project builds on Kamarra’s decades of work as a playwright and theatre director with ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, as well as Sarah’s experience as a researcher, practitioner, and educator in applied theatre and participatory arts, which includes facilitating theatre in criminal justice settings and criminalised communities. Members of Free Theatre and Zeal Theatre Company also contributed to the model’s development.

“Theatre and performance can provide a dynamic, culturally safe, stigma-free space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to explore safe sex and healthy relationships,” says Kamarra.

The program involves an ensemble comprising six young First Nations arts education workers going into communities around regional Victoria. The ensemble starts with an interactive ‘Kick-Off’ performance introducing two young characters navigating sex and relationships over the course of a football carnival after-party and its aftermath.

This is followed by a two-to-five-day residency with young people in the community, where the participants safely unpack the issues raised by the Kick-Off performance through yarning, drama, and experiential games and methods.

Following the residency, a ‘Grand Final’ performance takes place where the young participants perform their version of THE SCORE alongside the ensemble to an audience of invited friends, family, and community members.

Kamarra says it’s wonderful to see how young participants have a real sense of pride in their contributions to the work, and how the ensemble’s engagement with communities can lead to lasting transformative change.

“[It enables] Mob and community to have an opportunity to see theatre, but also to experience making it and performing it and what it feels like to be able to tell their stories, their way,” Kamarra says.

The program also offers capacity building workshops to community workers who want to learn more about using and adapting the theatre-based and experiential methods.

Sarah says the model, which uses holistic, strengths-based, peer-based approaches to sexual health education and promotion, contributes to self-determination and cultural leadership among young First Nations peoples.

“Robust community engagement and culturally-led models are essential in responding to health inequities in First Nations communities,” Sarah says.

In feedback sessions after the performances, young people involved (participants and audience members) demonstrated high levels of engagement with the model, and reported they intended to act on information and advice regarding sexual health.

THE SCORE ensemble reported increased awareness of STIs and prevention and education strategies and increased levels of confidence and self-determination in leading important conversations within their communities.

In addition, partner organisations and stakeholders (including staff, Elders, and Traditional Owners at four locations across regional Victoria) reported increased awareness of STIs and prevention and education strategies, increased collaboration between organisations to address sexual health needs of young people in communities, and an increase in skills and capacities in using arts- and theatre-based approaches to sexual health promotion and education.

Sarah and Kamarra recently  published their findings in a report, as well as analysis of the impacts of Kamarra’s earlier theatre works, in a book titled First Nations Australian Theatre for Health Equity: Healing Stories, published by Palgrave Macmillan (2024).

Sarah and Kamarra also presented at a symposium facilitated by the University of Melbourne and ILBIJERRI Theatre Company in 2024 called Healing Stories Symposium, which also featured a performance of THE SCORE.

“The impact of THE SCORE on young people and communities has been undeniable. We know this model works and is flexible and resilient enough to respond to different settings and contexts. Now that we have the evidence, we look forward to building on its success and sharing it in more communities around the country,” Sarah says.