GHS Students Become Wizards in Puffs The Play

During the weekends of November 11th and 18th, Gainesville High School presented the play Puffs, a comedic spoof of the popular Harry Potter series. The 2015 production by Matt Cox is essentially an off-brand story about the Harry Potter series. However, this seven-year story isn’t told from the original perspective but instead puts the Puffs in the spotlight. Puffs are one of the four knock-off houses at a school for magical students, being the sweet, airheaded kids everyone tends to hate. It was the story of Wayne Hopkins, a Puff who’s just trying to get through magic school without failing or dying. 

Gainesville’s production of this play had a lot of effort put into it, by the crew, cast, stage managers and everyone else involved. One of the things that made this play different was its double cast, which means this play had two different sets of actors playing each character. The two casts, Red & Gray, were not allowed to go to each other’s rehearsals or opening nights, as each of their plays were slightly different. Each cast had its own improvised lines, which complicated things for the crew and director, but made this play unique. 

Cedric, played by Christopher Glicoes, was the student that all the Puffs looked up to. His charismatic and fun nature made him loved by all. Glicoes enjoyed playing this role and got along with the rest of the cast quite well. 

“It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience,” Glicoes said, “The cast was really great, we all got to know each other really well and we developed a sort of groove.” 

Mrs. Maxted is the theater teacher at Gainesville High School , and the director of this play. The casts looked up to her, and thought she directed the play very well. Jordyn Nesbitt, who played Oliver Rivers, the nerd student in the main Puff trio, agreed with her peers on how wonderfully the play was directed. . 

“She did it wonderfully,” Nesbitt said, “she’s probably the best theater teacher I’ve had.” 

The crew for the play worked very hard to make the production come together and planned every detail for months, along with the director. With Glicoes commenting on Mrs. Maxted’s great direction of the play. 

“She was great,”  Glicoes said, “she had all the stuff planned out, she knew what she was doing, along with the crew. Them directing us, helping us, making sure we’re where we need to be.”  

Glicoes also talked about how helpful everyone was during the production of Puffs,  

“It’s sort of that dynamic-” Glicoes said, “director, to crew, to cast, then back to crew and director, which is one of the greatest parts (of the production process).”