WAITSBURG - Waitsburg Elementary students were in for a treat Friday afternoon as puppeteers from Tears of Joy Theatre performed in the Waitsburg High School Auditorium. Carrie Anne Huneycutt and Gregory Mulkern performed Malika, Queen of the Cats - a Palestinian folk tale - and spent time answering questions from the wide- eyed watchers.

The puppeteers' performance was paid for from the Elementary ASB fund which is funded by profits from the annual Cookie Dough Sale. The visit was coordinated by Second Grade Teacher Deanna Coulston.

"It was really fun," said sixth grader Seamus House. "The older kids got to sit up in the balcony and we could see the puppeteers. They told us after that it was neat that we were up there because we got a 'sneak peek' into how it worked. We could see them changing the lights and music on their computer system and everything. It was neat."

Tears of Joy (TOJ) Theatre is nonprofit corporation based in Portland, Ore. with a mission to "produce, develop and present puppet theatre that celebrates the diversity of world cultures; and to teach children and enrich their lives by helping them experience and perform art with professional artists." The company operates an extensive touring program and presents in-house shows at the Imago Theatre in Port­land, reaching over 100,000 children and adults each year.

According to Huneycutt, the theatre specializes in sharing world folk tales. Malika, Queen of the Cats is based on a Pal­estinian fairy tale called Sitti and the Cats by Sally Bahous, who grew up in Palestine. The story introduces children to Middle Eastern culture and focuses on the power of kind­ness, generosity and giving as contrasted to the evil of greed and selfishness.

In this production the puppeteers are unseen and perform sitting on stools behind a backdrop with large rod puppets - like those used in Sesame Street -- held above their heads. The puppeteers explained that different TOJ productions incorporate different puppetry techniques and use different styles of storytelling.

Tabletop puppetry is used in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Raven Stories makes use of an unusual Polish tech­nique where the puppeteer is visible and manipulates wood block totems. "Our home production - The Monkey King - uses puppets engineered by a seventh-generation Chinese Puppet Master who designed a secret way of manipulating puppets. We've agreed to keep that secret," said Huneycutt.

All Tears of Joy productions use original music, costum­ing and choreography. "One of the core values of the com­pany is that they will never dumb down a production or make it frivolous simply because it's a children's production. We maintain the highest quality at all times," she said.

Malika is the first TOJ production for Mulkern and Huneycutt, both accom­plished performers who joined the company in Octo­ber. Mulkern said he became interested in performing in second grade when he took part in his first musical. "The kids universally love it," said Mulkern "It's so fun to watch them and see their interest. It reminds me of how I would have been at that age." Mulkern is an accomplished musician who plays banjo and sings with the Portland-based "multi-genre original, lyrically driven" band, Sold Only As Curio.

Huneycutt began acting as a youth as well. She earned a fine arts degree in Los Angeles and has worked in dance, act­ing, costuming and puppetry along the west coast. She also founded a non-profit called Full Cirquel through which she taught dance to children in Uganda, Africa.

Puppeteers Gregory Mulkern (l) and Carrie Anne Hun­neycutt (r) pose with puppets Malika and Sitti prior to Friday's performance at Waitsburg Elementary School.

"Tears of Joy is a dream come true for me," she said. "It's a non-profit, we work with children and I get to perform. It combines my three great loves."