Author: Christina Huang
Date: 4/6/2022
Caption: EVHS Drama promotes their upcoming show, Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic.
Source: Instagram @evhsdramaclub
From the very first book of the Harry Potter series, when Draco Malfoy sneered, “Imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?” the fate of the house of Hufflepuff was set: Forever a “lot o’ duffers,” as Hagrid told Harry, the one house without any remarkable characteristics – after all, anyone could be loyal or kind. By fans and characters alike, it simply became viewed as a house that was thrown together for those without enough courage, ambition, or smarts to go to any of the other houses.
“Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic,” written by Matt Cox, however, centers around this neglected house, telling the well-known story of Harry Potter’s seven years at Hogwarts … from the perspective of Hufflepuffs. It turns the established stereotypes of the house upside down, showcasing the bravery, intelligence, cunningness, and, most of all, selflessness of the Hufflepuff “extras” during the most important seven years in the Wizarding World, and with all the whimsy, magic, and compassion signature to only Hufflepuff.
“We are so in love with this play,” says Ms. Harter, EVHS’ Drama teacher, when asked for an interview. It sure seems like it: In the drama room, the students are bursting with high spirits and good jokes to tell about the process of bringing Puffs to life, bantering with each other and whipping out their best Harry Potter references.
Cristina Padovani, Vice-President of the EVHS Drama Club and long-time student of the EVHS Drama course, says that they had watched the show during distance learning and loved it. Anya Gadakari also adds, “One day, way back when, Ms. Harter came up to me and Cristina, and she was like, ‘Guys, what if we did Puffs?’”
Padovani agrees. “We said ‘Yes.’ ‘Cause it’s just such an absurd show, so it’ll be fun to do it.”
Many drama students agree that while their general goal was to stick to the “classic” play without straying too far down their interpretation, they were able to still add a lot more of their uniquenesses to the show because of the spontaneous and silly nature of it. Ms. Harter says, “[Puffs] was such a hit that now that there are high school shows available, they give you a lot of liberty to make it your own. So there are even parts in this script that allow you to ‘adlib here!’ or ‘change this line here!’ to make it more uniquely suited to [our] community.”
Mohsin Abbas says on what he likes about the play, “We’re pretty creative with what we do with our acting. Like, we can make so many comedic scenes. How [the play] is done, it just lets us be silly.”
One example, Ms. Harter says, is of the WART-appropriate rules they made for Hogwarts, in parody of EVHS’ ROAR-appropriate rules. “We dodged copyright!” she jokes excitedly. “We dodged it! But we also made it ours.”
Caption: “WART,” or, the Puff version of “ROAR,” is scrawled on the whiteboard. Ms. Harter and many students are eagerly thinking of other possible pieces of the acronym.
Source: Christina Huang
Even with the success and acclaim of Puffs, the play of Broadway, Puffs, the play of EVHS, is made by the touch of its performers: The movements, inflection of tone, and comedic timing are all unique to the students of EVHS Drama and its director, Ms. Harter.
One student says, “Ms. Harter was an amazing director, obviously, and she helped us workshop things, but a lot of the base blocking was our ideas.”
Ms. Harter agrees, “I helped block mostly in the beginning to establish the tone of the show, then it became: ‘Okay, go crazy!’” She does this in a theatrical manner, and the rest of the room laughs along with her.
Ms. Harter also says that she was able to let the students have more freedom in running the show because everyone was put into the advanced drama course. “The Advanced Drama class, we really focused on performing and workshopping together. In Beginning Drama we learn the basics. [In] Advanced Drama we learn what we know and we add so much more to it. We work on stage designs, staging, all those things.”
Padovani says, “[There was] a lot of creative freedom.” She also goes on to say, “Also, having [it] as a class production, we get to do it during our class hours, so it’s just been something we’ve been doing for a long time now.”
Even with the play up and running, one of EVHS Drama’s main goals was to spread the news of the new production. On campus, they posted dozens of badger symbols: On the gate to the pool, in hallways, in teachers’ classrooms.
Caption: Taped badger icons all across campus, encouraging students who find them to take pictures of them and tag drama’s social media.
Source: Christina Huang
They’ve come up with a myriad of creative ways to intrigue others to watch the show, including posters posted as if they were made by the characters themselves and a “Helga’s cup” hidden somewhere on campus, awarding the lucky person who finds it a free ticket to the show. They also plan to use their social media to spread the word.
Caption: WART’s banner
Source: Ms. Harter, EVHS Drama
Padovani says, “We’re doing a trailer, working on it. We’re also going to have our Voldy do morning announcements. Have you watched Hamilton? You know how at the beginning King George does the ‘Hello,’ and then the ‘Join my show.’ That’ll be Voldy, and he’s going to be like,” she lowers her voice into a hissing sound, similar to the sinister and snake-like voice of Voldemort from the original Harry Potter series, “‘Bring me Potter.’”
One thing Ms. Harter also says is an advantage with having an advanced drama club session is the efficient teamwork that comes from letting the experienced cast members be more in charge of their creative output. “[We] have a different kind of company ensemble connection.”
The teamwork they’ve developed is evident even among the drama room itself: The cast has produced their own inside jokes, such as the picture of Robert Pattison taped to the whiteboard.
When asked about it, Padovani says, “Robert Pattinson played Cedric [Diggory] in the Harry Potter movies, so he’s like our inspiration.”
Cedric Diggory, who represented Hogwarts alongside Harry Potter in the Goblet of Fire, was the most, if not only, represented Hufflepuffs in the entire series. As such, he is considered one of the most notable Hufflepuff alumni.
“Oh yeah, Cristina also says he is there for eye candy,” adds another student.
“He is scientifically eye candy,” protests Padovani when the rest of the students tease her. “It’s not just me, okay?”
“She likes the ‘Puffs,” says Ms. Harter.
When asked what they enjoyed most about working on the play, one student says,“We can enjoy our time,” Then he jokes, “And we get to know how good we are.”
But above all, the most agreed-upon reply is, “We all got a lot closer through the show, and now everybody in our class is really close to each other. Not only are we seeing each other every day, we’re like a cast now. We’re like a company.”
“Yeah, we’re like a family of some sorts,” says Steven Bui.
At this, the entire room bursts out in mock outrage.
“We ARE! We ARE a family!” says Padovani.
Another student cries, “We’re like a family of some sorts? Of some sorts?”
“Nothing he says goes on record,” teases Ms. Harter, which earns laughter from the room.
“We’re a family and also Steven is here,” quips another student.
Bui laughs, “Okay okay, I’m just here so I don’t get fined, alright?”
“He’s our trademarked mascot.”
The cast bickering mirthfully, Robert Pattinson’s – the eye candy’s – own eyes smile proudly from his taped position on the whiteboard. With the showings on April 7th at 6:30, April 8th at 6:30, and April 9th at 1:30, they will soon show their own versions of a play that has been performed off Broadway for over 600 performances, one that is unique to them, to EVHS.
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