Welcome to Storytelling Night!
“Storytelling crosses all the bridges of division, race, religion and age. They bind us into an army of words and emotion which many women would be too timid or shy to express by themselves.” Marie Clear, Wiradjuri Writer, Wagga Wagga Resident
With frogs and birds from Wollundry Lagoon adding an impromptu live soundscape, we transformed the Wagga Wagga Station Creative Space into a magical world of story. Opening with a beautiful Welcome to Country by Wiradjuri Elder and storyteller Aunty Cheryl Penrith, diverse stories were read by Haya Arzidin, Melanie Reeves and Abbey Rumbachs.
Seeing life from a different point of view makes us stronger, and we love to celebrate that with cross-cultural Australian stories! We welcomed keen and enthusiastic Open Mic participants to take part and they delighted our audience with stories from across the spectrum of life!
“I walked away feeling listened to, valued and part of a bigger community. Spending the day on Country with Aunty and Uncle and creating my own individual story with the support of the team was really special. Such a wonderful opportunity to connect, share our stories and celebrate what makes us all unique in the Riverina.” Melanie Reeves, Wiradjuri writer, performer
“I loved the fabulous stories and perspectives about life, family, country and identity and what it is to be a woman. Women’s experience is so often sidelined, suppressed and silenced. Events like this bring people together to celebrate and validate those experiences.” Lisa Jones, local audience member
The night also marked the launch of our fundraising campaign for our next program ‘The Crossing Place’. What more meaningful place could there be to begin this journey than on Wiradjuri Country — a place of deep cultural connection, history and storytelling. We need your help to make it happen. If you are able to support our work with a tax-deductible donation, no matter how small, your contribution will go directly towards creating opportunities for women to tell their stories, celebrate their experiences and have their voices heard. Every dollar donated goes straight to the project. Consider making donation at voiceswomen.com
Lighting design Rey Baird. Photography @jackofheartsphotos. Supported by @easternriverinaarts and @creative.australia #ausartday2026 and Carla Zampatti Foundation.
PROGRAM
Directed by Lliane Clarke. Written by Aunty Cheryl Penrith, Gabrielle Tozer, Haya Arzidin, Marie Clear, Melanie Reeves, Eleanor Waters-Jones and Joy Lubawy. Devised and Performed by Aunty Cheryl Penrith, Haya Arzidin, Melanie Reeves, and Abbey Rumbachs.
THE STORIES
MANDAANG GUWU BILA/ RIVER REFLECTIONS written and performed by Aunty Cheryl Penrith
JEANS devised by Lliane Clarke, Aunty Cheryl Penrith, Haya Arzidin, Abbey Rumbachs and Melanie Reeves.
DARESEENEE written and performed by Haya Arzidin
THE GREAT FADE written and performed by Aunty Cheryl Penrith
DOLLY AND HER FAIRYTALES written and performed by Melanie Reeves
ROCKS written by Joy Lubawy and performed by Abbey Rumbachs.
OPEN MIC SESSION
INTERVAL 15 mins
OPEN MIC SESSION
I WANNA GO HOME written and performed by Aunty Cheryl Penrith
EXTRAORDINARY written by Eleanor Waters-Jones and performed by Abbey Rumbachs
THE HOST written by Marie Clear and performed by Haya Arzidin
LOOSE ENDS written by Gabrielle Tozer and performed by Melanie Reeves
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body. This project has been assisted by Eastern Riverina Arts and the Carla Zampatti Foundation. Supported by City of Wagga Wagga.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Haya Arzidin is a writer and performer, appearing in TOME, a fully improvised show with four actors which toured to Brisbane in 2021. Working closely with the refugee community in Wagga Wagga, she co-developed Sharing Stories Sharing Place at the Wagga Civic Theatre in 2021. Haya was a writer and performer in Voices of Women’s Embellishment on tour to Wagga Wagga and Dubbo in 2023 and writer and performer in the AWGIE Award Winning Women of the Riverina at KXT Broadway in 2025 and on tour in 2026.
Lliane Clarke is the Artistic Director of Voices of Women which she founded in 2018, a writer, journalist, published author, producer and director. With a passion for diversity in written and spoken stories, she has directed community-based workshops across NSW and internationally and has devised aaward-winning collaborative community-based productions for live performance and film.
Marie Clear is a Wiradjuri woman, a mum, grandmother and foster carer with a passion for writing about the things that matter to her. From children in out-of-home care, domestic and sexual assault to death, war and the afterlife, she writes about life, its struggles and its mysteries. ‘I hope my words touch readers, open minds and hearts, and leave them with something meaningful to take away.’
Joy Lubawy is well known in the Riverina, as a former teacher, published academic author and singer/songwriter. She came to Wagga with her soldier husband during the Vietnam war in 1968 and took the opportunities to further her education at RCAE/RMIHE and ultimately CSU. Now she is trying her hand at writing for the stage, and this is her first (of what she hopes will be many) new works. She says she has become a miner, digging deeply into her own life for materials that might shine brightly in the footlights.
Aunty Cheryl Penrith OAM is a Wiradjuri Elder, mentor and performer with a passion for fashion. Her focus is community development and capacity building, business and strategic planning, cultural empowerment, community health and wellbeing, involvement in decision making and the revival and reinvigoration of cultural practices such as language, possum skin cloak making workshops and women’s cultural business. Cheryl appeared in the Voices of Women feature film Entanglement, was a writer and performer in Amplify in 2022, writer and performer in Embellishment at KXT Broadway in 2023 and writer and performer in the AWGIE Award WinningWomen of the Riverina at KXT Broadway in 2025 and on tour in 2026.
Melanie Reeves is a proud Wiradjuri woman who is a catalyst for positive change in the Murrumbidgee health landscape with over ten years’ experience in strategic planning and management. She is passionate about advancing First Nations in regional and remote communities. She is excited to be exploring her development as a writer, guest speaker, MC and performer.
Abbey Rumbachs is a drama teacher, dancer and creative based in Wagga Wagga who is excited to explore her creative talents.
Gabrielle Tozer is an award-winning author based in regional New South Wales. Her latest works include The Unexpected Mess of It All, which won the 2025 ACT Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction, beloved picture books Before We Met and Tiny Good Things (illustrated by Sophie Beer) and Can’t Say it Went to Plan. Over the years, Gabrielle has received honours including the State Library of Victoria’s Gold Inky Award for The Intern, and appeared on the CBCA’s Notable List for Remind Me How This Ends. Her seventh novel and next picture book hit shelves in 2027. Say hello: gabrielletozer.com
Eleanor Waters-Jones is an 20-year-old writer, performer, social activist and tutor from Wagga Wagga. She is studying a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English and Theatre Studies and minoring in Art History, at the University of Melbourne, and is currently on Exchange at Durham University, England. She is inspired by the idiosyncrasies of humanity and life’s big questions. Notably, she has had multiple works accepted for the University of Melbourne’s Farrago Magazine, and been shortlisted for the John Bell Shakespeare Scholarship. She loves writing anything and everything, from poetry, to essays, to novels. In this monologue, ‘Extraordinary’, Eleanor pays