Hawke's Bay performer Layla Pitt is forecast to glow in a bilingual puppet show encouraging literacy and the use of te reo Māori.
Pitt is a former Havelock High School student who is pursuing her passion for the performing arts through a venture into glow-in-the-dark puppetry.
'The Wonderland Glow Show' is a bilingual puppet show that stars the London-born, Hawkes Bay-reared performer. Pitt sees the show as an opportunity to "influence children in a good way, so they can really see the culture of the country they are living in."
The show's Kiwi twist to Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' classic is important for Pitt, who remarked that as New Zealanders "a lot of the media that we consume is American or British" and doesn't let Kiwi kids feel represented.
Through the vocal talents of the performers involved in the show, Pitt hopes they will convey the diversity of Aotearoa in the accents and language that they use.