Tears of Joy Theatre

I sincerely love Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre! Their plays are beautifully crafted works of phenomenal puppetry from around the world.
It’s amazing to watch children’s faces while they experience the magic of puppetry. In a world of hi-​tec animation, the puppetry of Tears of Joy and their arts outreach programming still connect with the imagination of today’ youth. I’ll be honest, I know this first hand having worked in their After-​school outreach program.
Plus, ToJT is in it’s 40^th year! Hell yah local theatre keepin it going!

I just attended a performance in Kirkland, WA of «The Reluctant Dragon» performed by the Tears of Joy Theatre. The ticket was $ 28 for a 45 minute performance which seems kind of steep. The performance itself was mediocre. There were so many spots that could have been made funnier, more informative or clearer but it seemed like the performers had a hard enough time simply getting the puppets through their paces. For the most part, their speech was clear, but there were points when I know my 4 ½ year old son couldn’t understand the performers because their speech was so affected or they talked too quickly.
That was all passable but the absolute worst part was when they opened up a question and answer session at the end. They obviously had no liking or understanding of children and wanted to be done. It was a very quiet and polite batch of kids, each raising their hand to ask a question of one of the puppeteers. I saw one boy (maybe 6 years old??) raise his hand and when called on by the woman performer, began to tell her about a spaceship model that he had made and had turned into a puppet and before he was finished, the woman said, «That is a statement and not a question» and ignored him, turning to another kid. Good lord. It’s not like he took forever in getting his idea out. How about responding like, «That is very interesting. Would you like to ask a question about one of the puppets that I am holding?» I could see her dislike and disrespect for kids all over her face. She ignored my son the entire time, who was patiently waiting to get called on (there were only 7 kids in front of her and only 2 had their hands up at any given time). I am so happy that my son enjoyed the evening and didn’t see that side of it. If this theatre company is going to put on shows aimed at kids, AND interact with kids at the end, they need to employ puppeteers who are more human friendly.