Two years ago Laura-Lee Röckendorfer went to Bologna for theatrical research concerning her diploma thesis. There she had her first contact with La Baracca/Teatro Testoni Ragazzi and Small Size. Back home in Vienna (February 2012) she founded Theater Nuu together with Sarah Gaderer. They decided to concentrate on performances for young people with a focus on the smallest ones (aged 0-6).
"Our first show VIDULI - I pack my bag (2+) had it’s premiere in June 2012 at Marhaba Festival in Cairo. It was important , and still is very important , for us to meet the children in spaces which are familiar to them. So we perform in creches and kindergartens, but we make sure that our shows can also be performed in theaters.
Right now we are working on our second show MOON AWOOH (1,5+), which we have already performed in kindergardens and crèches in Austria. There is also a version especially for the theatre which won the JUNGWILD 2013 award for young theatre and will be first shown in February 2014 at spleen*graz Festival."
"We had the chance to meet people from the Smallsize network in Egypt (Cairo), Ireland (Galway, Newry), Italy (Bologna) and Austia (Vienna, Linz) where we participated as performers, gave workshops and saw many other shows. In March 2014 we will perform our show VIDULI at Visioni di futuro, vision di teatro... in Bologna."
This connection with an international network gave us the possibility to see a lot of great and diverse work for young audiences. This had a huge impact on our work, especially concerning our approach to a very young audience. Further more we found and shared time with many great people with similar intentions to our own! For us this international network has been a platform of communication and exchange in several aspects."
LAURA LEE WISHES THAT:
First: Working in creches and kindergardens needs a lot of time, knowledge and sensitivity in order to be promoted correctly. In our experience, the children and pedagogues in these institutions welcome this kind of contact with art with open arms. However, as it is really hard for them to find the time to source something that is suitable for their spaces and it is also hard for us to do the whole promotion on our own, we would wish for more support from the government to facilitate communication.
Second: The access to art is still a privilege. We would wish that there is more financial support for kindergardens and creches (and other institutions for children) to open doors to art for every child and their parents not depending on their social background.
Also for the artists there should be easier ways to get financial support, to guarantee the quality of their work.
Third: Theatre for the smallest ones is still very rare. It is always very inspiring to meet people with the same artistic intentions. So we wish that there will continue to be a form of network where exchange can take place.
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