Cardinal Theatre Company Puts on a Spellbinding Production with “Puffs”
On Tuesday, November 8th at the First Church, the cast members of “Puffs” whispered nervously backstage minutes before the first performance. The chosen play, a comedic adaptation of the beloved Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, told the well-known story from the perspective of the lesser-known Puffs. “Puffs: Or, Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic,”was written and adapted by Matt Cox, and has been performed from New York to Australia.
The cast had been rehearsing since September, with Ms. Ollagnon directing the production. “I picked Puffs because it was something I had been wanting to do for a while,” she said in an interview. “It gives everyone opportunities to play different roles and get to do a lot of fun and interesting things onstage.” Besides her love of the play and characters, she also talked about how the Harry Potter storyline in “Puffs” engages the students as well. “So many students love the Harry Potter books and movies, I think it holds a great appeal to young people.” When asked if she had any favorite parts of the play, Ms. Ollagnon replied, “One of my favorite lines is when the teacher says, if the puffs do that, I’d eat my shoe, and then the character responds, I ate a shoe once, it didn’t taste good, but it didn’t taste bad either... I [also] really like the Great Hall scene, when everybody does the giant Puffs hug. I always think that’s really cute.”
The cast members of “Puffs” share a big group hug during the “Great Hall” scene.
From left to right, members Erik Briggs ‘26, Evans, and Danny Cha ‘24. The three cast members all played leading roles in the production.
“I thought it went well, I know playing in front of the entire school can be daunting, but I thought everyone did really well,” Evia Cobo, a ninth grader who saw the production at First Church. “I also think everyone was really immersed in their roles... It was really fun to watch.” While the performances were loved by fans, the production did not come without its challenges. “We struggled with consistency in rehearsal, because a lot of people were not at rehearsals regularly,” Ms. Ollagnon disclosed. “We also had to replace an actor, and then the person who was going to step in decided not to do it, so we had to replace that person. It ended up working out well, but that was definitely stressful.” “Memorizing lines was really hard,” said Erik Briggs, who starred in the role of Oliver Rivers in the production. “It was my first time doing theater, and backstage is crazy.” “Yeah, I agree,” commented Aster Evans, starring as Megan Jones. “Memorizing lines is always a very tough thing, as well as blocking. Remembering blocking is always a very difficult thing, but I’m very glad that we managed to pull through.”
The Cardinal Theatre Company is now looking ahead for the METG (Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild) statewide theatrical contest. The production, “Gathering Blue,” will be performed for the school and as part of the METG festival. Overall, the theater activity has provided a fun, bonding experience for many student actors. “Theatre Club is amazing and I’m going to do it again,” Erik said, grinning. “Highly recommend. You should definitely join it.”