Finding voice through performance: Adoptees reflect on creating TAKEN

In December 2025, two powerful theatre works took the stage at Gasworks Arts Park’s Studio Theatre, developed by adoptee, theatre-maker and researcher Dr Alison Ingram in collaboration with adult adoptees and mothers of loss to adoption.

On 15 December, Infans, VOIC’D: A History Play in Five Acts, first performed in June 2022 as part of Alison’s Theatre and Performance doctoral research, was re-staged for an invited audience. Latin for ‘one who cannot speak’, Infans, VOIC’D is an immersive audio drama created by Alison in collaboration with six Australian adoptees, using their exact words to bear witness to the lifelong impacts of adoption. The 2025 performance was followed by an audience discussion with Alison and the original cast, creating space for reflection and dialogue.

On the following evening, adoptees from VANISH and mothers from ARMS Victoria performed rehearsed readings of excerpts from TAKEN, a new verbatim theatre piece currently in development, that builds on Alison’s previous work.  

This performance marked the culmination of the first phase of the innovative Survivors of “Past Adoption Practices”: A Theatre for Social Justice and Creative Oral History Project, that combines online and in-person group discussions, in-depth oral history interviews, and theatre workshops. The project began in March 2025 with a series of six online storytelling workshops facilitated by Alison, which critically examined dominant and “scripted” adoption narratives, providing participants with tools, language, and a supportive peer environment to develop and share their authentic stories, some of which are shared in our Personal Stories.

Following the storytelling workshops, nine adoptees and four mothers from ARMS Victoria collaborated with Alison to co-create TAKEN through in-person performance-based therapeutic workshops. On 16 December, they presented the first 30 minutes of this new work to an invited audience of approximately 60 people, offering an intimate and reflective insight into the enduring impacts of past adoption practices.

Below, five adoptee co-creators of TAKEN share their reflections on this journey.

Fiona

“There is a moment in performance when something shifts. The air changes. What begins as individual voices, individual bodies, individual stories, moves into something shared — a collective rhythm of thinking, feeling, breathing as one. It is a rare and powerful moment, both for those on stage and for those witnessing it. I remember that moment clearly during our adoption script reading, when we stopped standing as individuals telling our own stories and became a unified group—holding each other, carrying each other, and honouring each other’s journeys through the act of telling them together.

The reading of our adoption stories was deeply transformative. Through the workshop process, guided with extraordinary care and insight by Alison Ingram, we were supported to find our voices—many of us for the first time. We found courage, acceptance, learning, and understanding. We learned how to be brave in ways that felt both terrifying and necessary. But above all else, we found each other. We discovered a space of profound safety and connection—a group bound not only by the five adoption events that shaped our lives, but by shared recognition, empathy, and respect. For many of us, it was the first time we felt truly heard, understood, and supported in our stories.

Those fortunate enough to attend and witness the reading would have seen brave women standing together on stage—mothers and adoptees—telling stories that were raw, powerful, and long overdue to be heard. Alison Ingram deserves deep recognition for the remarkable teaching, writing, directing, and unwavering support she offered throughout this process. She created the conditions that allowed us to return to our adoption stories with honesty and strength, and to speak them aloud in ways that honoured both pain and resilience.

These are stories that must continue to be told. We hope this work marks not an ending, but the beginning of an ongoing process—one that continues to make space for truth, connection, and collective healing.”

Kim

“I jumped when I read the VANISH email—oral history and a theatre project! I knew that this was for me. I didn’t know what I could offer however, my experience of Alison and the group participants expanded beyond boundaries I had not considered nor expected.

Alison’s knowledge, understanding and lived experience of the impact of language, history, and politics experienced by many adoptees grew a deep resonance and understanding of my experiences. Group participants, who are now my closely held friends, shared openly, empathetically, and vulnerably of their individual and, sometimes unknowingly, our shared experiences!  It was mind blowing listening to the experience of these amazing women and to hear parts of my life in their voices.  This was unexplored territory as I have not experienced such a deep connection with people who were strangers a few short months ago.

Yes, there were tears and fears leading into the Reading.  Learning lines, how to project my lifelong learned small voice, and how to walk (“you’re walking like a crab”) was challenging and powerful.  Sharing my story and hearing our collective voices born witness by an audience of friends, family and strangers was cathartic, visceral and healing. This is the ongoing gift of this Project.”

Libby

“I have gained so much from going through this process. It began for me with the Adoptee Storytelling Workshop led by Dr Alison Ingram, where I learned language that allows me to feel heard, understood, and uninterrupted when I share my adoption story. I now use the terms Mother and Father, consciously letting go of words like birth, first, biological, and natural, which no longer reflect my lived experience.

Through this work, I met and formed deep friendships with other adoptees who truly see me and share many similar experiences. During our meetings and rehearsals, we shared our stories openly, and when I became emotional, I felt held and supported by the group.

I now allow myself to take up space and have grown in confidence. This experience has become another form of transformative therapy—one I have discovered and embraced as part of my healing journey.”

Ali

“Participating in this theatre project was a journey of many firsts. It was the first time I shared my full adoption story and it was profoundly emotional and liberating. It was the first time that I encountered the personal accounts of other adoptees face-to-face and met mothers of forced adoption which deepen my understanding and empathy. Alison created a nurturing space that allowed each of us to feel heard and supported. She masterfully wove our stories together, highlighting both unique and shared experiences.

This process not only strengthened my own narrative but also built a powerful connection with my fellow cast members.

Looking ahead I would love the opportunity to bring this performance to a wider audience. I’m deeply grateful for VANISH for providing the space for this meaningful project.”

Michaela

“When I saw the information on the VANISH newsletter seeking people for the theatre-making workshops I thought ‘why not’. I have no performance experience but I was curious to see what would emerge under the professional guidance of someone like Alison Ingram.

From the first interview through to the rehearsed reading I really felt like I was part of something powerful. There are so many ways that adopted people have told our stories, we have written books, submissions to inquiries, podcasts, you name it, we’ve tried it, but there is still so much lack of compassion and understanding from the broader community.

I have reflected on how much the complex and intersecting themes of identity, belonging and personal history needed to be respected and have so much respect for the way Alison did that with our shared stories.”

Survivors of “Past Adoption Practices”: A Theatre for Social Justice and Creative Oral History Project will continue in 2026 with renewed funding from the Forced Adoption Support Services (FASS) Small Grants Program supported by the Australian Government’s Department of Social Services and Relationships Australia Victoria.

Phase II of creative development of TAKEN will involve finalising the script, followed by rehearsal and recording in preparation for premiere hearings in December 2026.

We look forward to supporting further healing, recognition, and community understanding through creative practice grounded in lived experience.