“Puffs” Crew bring life to the show
Students were in a hurry as they worked tirelessly to perfect the play set. Makeup brushes swept across faces, while paintbrushes glided over sets adding color and depth to every piece. The sharp clang of the hammers and the hum of saws filled the PAC, as sawdust swirled through the air as the wood was cut and shaped. Each student moved with a purpose, watching for the smallest details to capture the story of Puffs.
When people watch a musical or play, their eyes are initially drawn to the set design, the makeup, and the costumes. However, no one talks about the hard work put into all of that. There is more to see than what meets the eye.
“I’d say we put a pretty fair amount of effort into it,” Harrison Shultz (11), leader in construction for the musical, said.
Many factors go into getting ready for a show. The student crew works very hard to get everything perfect.
Tech week is the most important part of preparing everything for opening night. This is the time when the crew gets most of their work done, as there are many steps to putting a set together.
“We usually have someone design the set, whether that be the director or an administrative student who chooses to become a set designer, and they give the master carpenter the instructions in the blueprint and layout for the set, and then they produce the set and paint it and cover it,” Shultz said.
The construction part of the crew is not the only thing that makes the play come to life.
Makeup, hair, and costume designers also have a big role in really wowing the crowd. The student makeup designers come up with all the designs and work hard to make them match the story perfectly.
The designers get some of their ideas from Pinterest, but most come from their imagination and what they think would be perfect for the show.
“We’ll read through the script so we know what’s going on and then we create a vision board of every character and kind of how we want their look to come together and then put that into makeup looks,” lead makeup and costume designer Kara Laber (10) said.
The crew members have a lot of pressure to get everything done before the show in a short amount of time.
“The challenging part of our job is completing it on time. We have in this show specifically about 25 wigs at the top of the show and we have to make quick changes in and out of them as well. It is difficult to get 30-something actors ready in time for the curtain call,” Laber said.
The set is what ties the ribbon, it is a very important part of the show. Without the set, no setting can make the play confusing to the audience. The set also adds detail to make the story more interesting.
“The set provides a setting and a layout for where the characters are, but it can also make it seem larger than life and it can make it seem like it goes beyond what’s just inside the theater,” Shultz said.
There can be a lot of stress in the crew but everyone ends up falling into place and having a great time making memories and meeting new people. In crew, you can make lifetime connections.
“The best part of being on crew is the bond you make with the people in the crew. There are friends in the crew that I made in seventh grade and we are still friends because of theater,” Shultz said.
Being in the crew can shape someone into a better person. It can help you do things you may have never thought to do, or it can make you realize how good you are at something. It can also help you learn to be more confident in doing new things.
“It is a great way to get out of your comfort zone because no matter what you join you are forced to learn something new and be around people you don’t necessarily know.” Laber said.
Minds behind the curtains
Stepping into the challenging world of “Puffs”, Highlands High School students are bringing their own magic to the stage. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes, such as overcoming challenges, and most of all having fun in the process.
The parody of the Harry Potter series shows the story in a more lighthearted funny setting, while still giving an eye opening watch.
“It’s a satire, so it pulls from a lot of jokes that exist in the literature. It’s based on the Harry Potter books and gives students the opportunity to play multiple roles,” Highlands High and Middle school theater teacher Claire LaNicca said.
The show has a big variety of roles, but since some of the characters appear on the show only for a short moment, the actors are able to take place in multiple roles exploring variety and the lightheaded way of the magic school.
The playful story and the backstory was a big part of the reasons why students got interested in the show.
“I’ve always been a big fan of Harry Potter myself, and this was the show I got pretty excited about, so that’s really what motivated me,” Jake Hagerty (11) said.
The attention of Harry Potter fans was drawn to act and participate in this show because the show is based on the book. The multiple books describe seven eventful years of magic school, which you can see in this play.
“I’ve done theater since 7th grade, but most of the time I do crew. I went to GSA over the summer for acting, so I was like I’ll try my hand at acting for this,” AJ Street (12) said. “I like that the show is light hearted, we haven’t really liked our shows recently especially for plays, so I’m glad for this year we finally have a more light hearted show.”
After several years of tackling serious, weighty dramas, the actors and crew at Highlands High School were thrilled to discover that this year’s play would take on a lighter, more playful tone.
Choosing the play and actors for it is a serious and fun job for the director.
“I love casting, it’s like one of my favorite things about doing/directing shows,” LaNicca said.
LaNicca’s favorite part of rehearsals is, “Probably watching everything come together, like seeing the vision kind of come together, and seeing the students have fun.”
They have been working on this play for a while now, and through all their struggles finishing then performing to display all their hard work will be very fulfilling.
“There are more challenges too, like there is this giant snake in the script, a giant spider, and a dragon. I mean there are all these things like magic and fantasy plays that are really challenging,” LaNicca said.
The fantasy aspect is going to make it flashy and eye drawing, especially with the help of the giant spider and dragon.
They have worked their tails off in all facets of the play, in acting, in makeup and costume design, lighting, tech, just all around theater.
“Oliver faces a lot of bullying and struggles with magic school, he doesn’t really get better at it, just learns how to get over it, just kind of has fun in the process,” Hagerty said.
According to the actors the scene at the end of the show is one of the most impressive parts of the story. It’s among the hardest of scenes to learn, yet it is still one of their favorites, showing their readiness.
“There is a scene at the end of the show called the battle, and it’s basically like the climax of the whole show which is pretty fun, we do a lot of tricks,” Street said.
A big part of the idea and thought behind the show is that every character is important, they do have leads but every characters’ story progresses the theme and their message.
Throughout the play, they follow behind multiple different characters that go through their own struggles as they attempt to overcome them.
“I hope they leave feeling proud of it, and then I hope that the message in Puffs is like that like side characters or like the underdogs, the forgotten people, they are just as important,” LaNicca said.