AUBURN - When John Potocnik and Carol Mandigo met while attending SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island in the early 1970s, they put together a puppet show just for fun.

Thirty years and thousands of shows later, Potocnik and Mandigo are the proud proprietors of the Catskill Puppet Theater, and they gave a performance Sunday afternoon at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn.

Part of the center's “Word + Images=Stories” series, the show was called “The Lion's Whiskers,” and was based on an old Ethiopian folk tale, Potocnik said after the show.

The couple married after finishing school and relocated to Oneonta, where they formed the theater several years later, he recalled. “Carol's a sculptor by trade, and I did a master's thesis on street performing, so (forming a puppet theater) was a natural way for us to combine our areas of expertise.”

“The Lion's Whiskers” is just one of several puppet shows the couple performs at schools, libraries and other places throughout the Northeast. Even though they've done shows in Canada and Europe, Potocnik said, they usually perform near Oneonta.

The story itself is one the couple heard from two school teachers who traveled through Africa, collecting stories from ancient oral tradition along the way. The tale centers around Elijah, a young African boy who must learn to love his stepmother after his real mother passes away.

As the story unfolds, the stepmother calls upon the local witch doctor for assistance, who tells her that he will make a potion for the boy, but he requires three lion's whiskers as ingredients. The stepmother gets them, only to realize that it is her character and goodness that Elijah must love. In the end, he does so, and Elijah's family is finally united for good.

After hearing the story, the couple decided to adapt it into a puppet show, and were soon busy writing the script and music, and building the six puppets used in the performance. After recording the dialogue and soundtrack, which were played over a sound system during the show, the pair hit the road, touring to countless venues like the Schweinfurth.

After the performance, Potocnik and Mandigo brought several puppets out into the audience while demonstrating how they are operated. Many children gathered around the lion's huge head as Potocnik explained how his mouth moved.