Theatre Overview 2026-2027: Puffs

What an exciting year for theatre this will be! With shows picked with the intention of having large casts, or an advanced acting opportunity with switching characters, this season offers a wide variety of new opportunities. But what are these shows? Well, I am here to discuss the two shows from this year’s theatrical season, Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic which will be the fall play, and Come From Away which will be the spring musical. My intention is to cover Puffs in this article and cover Come From Away in the coming months. With that being said, let's begin.

Background For Puffs

Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic by Matt Cox, is the comedic story of a magical boy who, at the age of 11, finds out he is a wizard and travels to a special school to study magic. Although one might think this is the plot of the famous story of a certain boy wizard, it is actually the plot of Puffs. The story follows the life of wizard Wayne Hopkins and his time at a “certain magic school.” Originally, this show premiered Off-Broadway in 2017 and was called “a funny intersection of J.K. Rowling's original work” by the New York Times. The play is well-known for its 11 actor base who play over 50 characters, which might seem a little hectic, but provides a hilarious experience. The play’s reliance on improv is also quite impressive, to an extent where one character has to make a multi-minute monologue for themselves. The structure of the play is similar to that of its “source material” (if you know you know). Seven sections that tell the different years at this wizard school, the most hilarious being “Year 4: The Year Where the Puffs Mattered.” The events of the play overlap with those of the certain boy wizard, once again if you know you know. This is the central comedy the play draws upon. However, knowledge of the source material is not required to enjoy the play. Side note: As someone who was there to witness the reveal of Puffs, I can vouch that so many people in that room thought we were doing a very successful Broadway play based on that certain boy wizard, which, I guess, shows how this can easily pass off as a great parody.

Spoiler-Free Plot Summary of Puffs

What I mean by “spoiler free” is to anyone who has been involved with the source material or has seen Puffs before. If you know what will happen to that certain boy wizard, you only have a slight idea of what is going to happen in Puffs, so keep that in mind. Puffs starts with an introduction from the Narrator, who introduces the audience to the story of a wizard born with a “certain shaped scar” on his head, and how this story… is NOT about him. This story is about Wayne Hopkins, a wizard from Cattlepoke, New Mexico. He is an orphan who lives with his Uncle Dave, gets accepted to a “certain magic school,” and learns about the four houses of the school: The Braves, The Smarts, The Snakes, and The Puffs. As a rule people think very little of the Puffs. Thus begins “Year 1: The Puffs and the sorcerer’s attempt at earning points and making friends.” With that introduction, Wayne meets the rest of the Puffs and his two friends for the following years: Oliver Rivers and Megan Jones. Oliver is this play’s equivalent to the wizard boy's smart bookish friend, in the sense that he was born to non-wizard parents but possesses magical abilities. Megan is the daughter of the very scary witch Xavia Jones who works for the story's antagonist “Mr. Voldy” Megan believes that she was sorted into the wrong house and that she should be a Snake. We are also introduced to other Puffs. One Puff, Cedric introduces himself, since he is a 4th year, he serves as a mentor for the rest of the Puffs. As the year’s title suggests, the Puffs try their hardest to gain points through their classes and make friends. At the end of the year, we learn the Puffs didn’t reach their goal of getting at least the 3rd most points. The Puffs feel disappointed, especially Wayne who, throughout the year, believes his story can be great, but since it’s the same as another certain boy wizard he can’t tell it. To be spoiler-free, I will not be covering the rest of the play. I advise you to go see it in November! If you can’t wait for some Puff action, there are recordings online. Now that you know about Puffs, what does the director have to say?

Why Puffs?

I asked Mr. Brock, the theatrical director at Springs, why he chose Puffs as the Fall play, and here is what he had to say: “After doing Hamlet – a four hour tragedy – last fall, I wanted to have fun! Puffs is a fast paced, short-ish (90ish minutes) comedy. The show also offers a lot of casting options (flexible cast size) and a lot of skill-set learning opportunities specifically: dialects, multiple characters, puppetry. Also, a certain boy wizard is about to be rebooted on HBO, so I thought it would be fun to play around with a parody/celebration of the books/movies leading up to that.” And I can’t help but agree.

Closing Thoughts

Whether you're in Puffs or not, it is going to be an amazing show, and I highly encourage that you come support not only the program but your fellow peers and appreciate their hard work. The show dates for Puffs are November 6th through 9th. Can’t wait to see you guys there.