Ms. Lazarić, you are an educator and puppeteer. How did you come to it?

I completed a DaF/DaZ (German as a foreign and second language)
master's degree at the University of Vienna. Since I come from Rijeka in Croatia and I am myself am a DaF/DaZ spokesperson, I have a great understanding of the topic that is increasingly important in Austrian kindergartens and schools. I thought about how I could combine my interest in DaF/DaZ and for theatre and came across Papperlappp, which works on the same topic as a picture book magazine in two languages each.
So, I came to work out the “bees” story of Papperlapapp together with the puppet designer Rebekah Wild. I managed the project work with the children, Rebekah built the puppets. Since then, I have literally brought to the stage several Papperlapapp stories, such as those about electricity and those about dinosaurs.
 
To what extent are your projects tailored to DaZ/DaF students helpful or specifically tailored to their needs?
In fact, I especially like to work in schools with a high proportion of DaF/DaZ children. Because I am convinced that these students can virtually playfully improve their language and reading skills in the relaxed atmosphere of the puppet theatre and unfold their creativity. In addition, in my opinion, DaF/DaZ students usually have a greater need for cultural offerings than autochthonous.

Do you use puppets or Shadow theatre for different age groups?
Puppet theatre in the sense of implementing the Papperlapapp stories I do with children, shadow theatre with youth. This year, for example, I will be working on a shadow theatre piece for students aged 14 and over, based on the Leporello “Wolfgang Amadé Mozart in Vienna”. The students will make the silhouettes themselves and then “play” them. In the same area, they learn a lot about Mozart and his life years in Vienna.

They have already adapted several cardboard stories for the stage. How do you proceed?
The dino piece is a good example of how my theatre projects will continue to develop and become more and more professional. During the start-up phase, I designed the puppets of the story and the stage design together with the children. This dino version, which was also documentarily recorded, was then performed both in school and on several stages, namely in the main library in Vienna.
As part of the next production in the autumn of this year, I will be using characters designed by Rebekah Wild and Julia Jeulin. It is important that the figures are not too small so that everyone in the hall can see them well but also not too big, otherwise they would be too hard to keep.




How do you get the children to become actively involved?
All students of the class are involved in the events: one reads the story, the others play the characters. If the piece comes to the performance, there are, of course, a few children who do not want to be in the foreground from time to time. That is to be respected. These children then also get supporting roles or help with the lighting or stage technology.
But I have also been able to get students who have a problem with discipline. And it was always wonderful for me to observe how they were increasingly playing in the center of the event, having really blossomed and gaining self-confidence.
 
Born in Rijeka, Croatia, Nené Lazaric studied literature and linguistics in Italy (Università degli Studi di Padova)  and is currently completing the DaF/DaZ Master's degree program at the University of Vienna. Nené is a puppeteer, project manager and teacher and uses the media of shadow, puppet and object theatre to promote the linguistic skills of DaZ/DaF students. She is a consultant for theatre pedagogy in adult education and a member of the Papperlapapp Expert Advisory Board.