Trinity Theater’s production of “Puffs” brought a touch of magic and plenty of humor to the Attic Theatre stage from March 20 to March 22. Directed by Liam Brinks, senior theater major, the show’s opening night was the culmination of months of hard work by the cast and crew. The production was met with such enthusiasm that on closing night, the theater had to turn people away due to a lack of seats for all those who wanted to attend.
Written by Matt Cox, “Puffs” follows a characteristically unremarkable main character, Wayne Hopkins, through his seven years at A Certain School of Magic and Magic. Throughout the play, Hopkins dreams of becoming a hero, but his aspirations are continually overshadowed by another not-so-unremarkable boy named Harry. Brinks said he was immediately drawn to the play for its humor, fantastical elements and his connection to Hopkins’ comedically perpetual side-character status.
“I’ve always enjoyed the fantastical, the fantastical world within the real world. And I think this is one of those plays that is really exemplifying that,” Brinks said. “I also really relate with the main character …[who] is a side character in someone else’s story, which I think is a way that people feel a lot, and I think that’s such a cool focus for a show.”
After Brinks proposed “Puffs” to be one of the student-directed lab shows last semester, he and the crew had from early January until March 20 to complete auditions and rehearsals. The cast included 11 first-years and sophomores, with about 10 people on the crew.
Stacey Connelly, associate professor of theater, served as the faculty mentor. Brinks emphasized that every member of the cast and crew played a crucial role in bringing the show to life within the tight time frame, a process he expressed deep gratitude for.
“I underestimated what I was getting myself into because this show is one of the most technically heavy shows I’ve ever worked on. We have about 500 light cues, 200 sound cues, 30-something costumes, 100 props. It’s crazy, and so I don’t think this would have been possible at all without the crew that I assembled around myself,” Brinks said. “Just having this opportunity to work with the cast and build this show from the ground up has been so incredible, and it’s been such a unique experience to watch it literally form in front of my eyes.”
Maddy Supan, sophomore communication major, played four characters: Leanne, Ginny, Frenchy and Helga. This was Supan’s first theater performance since middle school, making “Puffs” her official Trinity theater debut. She said the enthusiasm and strong rapport the cast and crew shared made her reintroduction to theater easier. “I’ve really enjoyed making new friends, and seeing the set come together was probably one of my favorite things, because it just made it feel so real — like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is happening,’” Supan said. “I really enjoyed rehearsal. The play itself is really fun to do, and so rehearsal feels like we’re just hanging out and doing something that we’re all enjoying, and nobody’s like, ‘I don’t want to be here.’ So everyone is super positive and has a really good attitude about it, and I think that makes it a lot better.”
Chance Wales, first-year theater and business double-major, played the lead character. Before “Puffs,” Wales performed in two other productions at Trinity: FYPOT and “Hamlet,” where he portrayed Fortinbras, Prince of Norway. Wales emphasized how honored he felt to be cast as the lead and how enjoyable the entire process was, though his favorite part was getting to perform the play in front of an audience.
“You never really know how this show is gonna go, even if you rehearse it perfectly 1000 times, until that first show. You don’t know how the audience is gonna laugh. You don’t know what jokes they’re gonna laugh at. You don’t know what jokes were gonna land. And that first show was really awesome because all the jokes landed,” Wales said. “That was a lot of fun.”
