May 9, 2022
By Pickerington Online Intern
& Central Sophomore
Heath Scofield

Beginning on May 13th and running through May 15th, you can catch Wagnalls Community Theatre’s production of Puffs at Wagnalls Memorial (150 E Columbus St, Lithopolis).

Directed by Joe Werstak, Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic, focuses on the characters living in the background of a particular Scottish castle. Specifically, the Loyal House of Badgers, who are belittled and ignored throughout the entire series. It focuses on the character Wayne, an orphan from New Mexico whose classmate may have defeated some snake-guy as a child. 

The story follows the adventures of Wayne and his friends year-by-year, as they experience trials and tribulations that are ignored entirely by the school. Discovering secrets and growing their relationships, the Puffs are involved in much of the scarred orphan’s journey unseen and ignored.

Producer Donna Elliott recommends that audience members come in costume, as they will have a costume contest and “adult butter beverages”.

“It is a lot of laughs but it is also for more mature audiences – like the ones who have grown up with a certain boy wizard,” Elliott said. “Plays are not rated but it is probably close to a PG13 movie.”

Several families from the theatre group saw the show Off-Broadway, and with many cast members being fans of the wizard world, the choice was natural. 

“It is very, very funny and face paced. Never a dull moment!” Elliott said. “It is not necessary to know all about the certain boy wizard to enjoy the show. There are a lot of “Easter eggs”, however, for the die hard fans.”

Tickets for each show cost $15.00, and can be found at the Theatre’s website, https://wagnalls.ticketleap.com/puffs/dates. 

Additionally, don’t miss Wagnalls performances of Little Shop of Horrors in the first couple weekends of November. Auditions for the show will take place August 23 & 24.