By: Faith Montagnino, Arts & Entertainment Editor

Live indoor theater is back on the calendar at Trinity Hall. Throughout September and October, the Queen’s Court Company prepared daily for their fall comedy, Puffs, to the school community, with opening night at the Brookdale Performing Arts Center taking place on November 18.

Puffs is a comedic reimagining of the Harry Potter book series by J. K. Rowling, but from the perspective of the “Puffs,” or the least popular, dorkiest students. As opposed to following Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger around the grounds of Hogwarts, Puffs follows Winnie Hopkins, Oliver Rivers, and Megan Jones throughout the halls of a “Certain School of Female and Male Magic.” 

All had been buzzing with excitement to return to a relatively normal theater experience, complete with sets, costumes, and music upon an indoor stage. “It’s been so fun to record the chimes!” said senior and Instrumental club member Annaliese Heidelberger. As Puffs is a unique comedy that calls for several pieces of theme music, the Instrumental club, overseen by music teacher Andrew Bogdan, had accepted the challenge head-on and recorded music sequences bit by bit for weeks.

The Basie award-winning costumes team had also been meeting on Thursdays. Led by humanities teacher Samantha Puma, the group was responsible for designing and piecing together the show’s costumes. Student leader Sierra Larson had been hard at work directing her team with the help of fellow senior Alex Talamayan, who created jewelry pieces by hand.

The sets team, led by humanities teacher Mariana Sierra-Santana, also worked creatively. Using her knowledge of circuits from her engineering classes, senior Sydney Torres led her team in creating handmade, light-up wizard wands for the members of the cast to use onstage. By pressing a piece of metal against a small battery, the white LED light at the tip of the wand receives electricity and lights up. This example of design thinking at work surely added to the magic of the Puffs production.

Through it all, director Ellen Phillips and student assistant directors Natasha Zovak and Nora Phillips avidly supported the cast of the production. “I’m so excited to see how it all turns out!” said senior cast member Sofia Ranucci, prior to opening night.

Stay tuned for a review of the show in our next publication.