The world of wizardry and witchcraft will hit the Philomath stage this week with the high school’s presentation of “Puffs, Or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years At A Certain School of Magic and Magic.”
Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. Friday and 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday in the PHS auditorium. Admission at the door is $10 for adults, $5 for students.
Gallery: Philomath High’s ‘Puffs’ (April 2025)
A collection of photos from the Philomath High Drama Club’s production of “Puffs” at a dress rehearsal on Wednesday.
“This play is a comedic spin on a classic tale about a certain boy with a certain scar that goes to a school of magic,” PHS senior and Co-Director Reagan Chisholm said. “It’s the same seven years that the boy is there but from the perspective of the ‘Puffs,’ which is a group with an affinity for badgers and loyalty who happened to be there at the same time.”
It’s been three years since Philomath High has performed a “straight play” — one that focuses primarily on spoken dialogue, character development and a specific narrative.
“We wanted to create a place for people who didn’t want to perform in a musical or didn’t want to do dancing and singing,” said senior Co-Director Thatcher Noel.
Several different plays were considered before settling on “Puffs,” including “Clue,” “Romeo and Juliet” and others.
“We ultimately decided on ‘Puffs’ because it had a big range of how many people you could cast,” Chisholm said. “And although there are a lot of costumes and lighting and sets, we just thought it would be a really fun play.”
In the past, Philomath High’s plays have always featured adults in the highest organizational roles. But “Puffs” is entirely run by students, including props, sets, makeup, lighting and sound.
“The only thing with an adult is having an adult adviser in the room so they make sure we don’t burn the house down,” Chisholm said.
In addition to Chisholm and Noel, the rest of the student production team includes Rachel Zerby (stage manager), Allister Mahoney (props co-manager), Michi Araki (props co-manager), Jack Billings (set manager), Elle Marchesi (hair and makeup manager), Andy Glover (light operator), Joey McGovern (sound engineer) and Avery Petropich (sound effects operator).
“The set was designed by a student but it’s being built by Roman (Guenther), who is a volunteer,” Noel said. “For safety reasons, we wanted an adult building the set, not students. He’s from the Majestic Theatre and he’s volunteered a significant amount of his time.”
The play features a small cast of 13, not including the cameos by educators. Chisholm said they’ve come a long way.
“They started out just kind of standing there scared and now they’ve just been like projecting loud,” Chisholm said. “Like, we don’t have mics on them and we can hear them all the way up in the tech booth. They are so loud and their characters are amazing.”
A fun part of the process for Chisholm is watching the actors transition into their roles.
“It’s really funny — once they get those costumes on, it’s like a switch,” she said. “You just fully see the character light up in their face.”
The on-stage talent includes Meghan Real, Achilles Gaskill, Levi Storch, Gabi Mollova, Laurence Mielke, Magnolia Warren, Daniel Larson, William Clements, Audrey Glover, Aaron Hazzard, Esperanza Hernandez-Torres, Elizabeth Ottomeier and Jack Billings.
“I’ve really enjoyed watching it all come together and watching the actors come into their characters and start having fun with it and playing their parts,” Noel said.
Noel and Chisholm themselves have both been involved in high school theater since the sixth grade. Noel had done theater tech up until this current production while Chisholm has mostly in the past been involved as an actor.
The co-directors have experienced challenges along the way over these past four months, including what’s involved with behind-the-scenes management.
“We have a whole spreadsheet that’s about 15 pages long with micromanaging information,” Chisholm said.
The students do not receive extra credit and their involvement with the play is not connected to a specific class. It’s all volunteer work.
“We’ve probably spent hundreds of hours (on it),” Noel said. “We started planning this production at almost the start of September … that’s when we decided that we wanted to pursue a student-led play.”
Along the way, the students established a drama club. Fundraisers have helped cover upfront expenses for the play.
Auditions occurred in January and rehearsals started soon thereafter.
“I am so proud of everyone,” Chisholm said. “We even got some teachers involved.”
Educators with cameo appearances include Mark Henderson, PHS principal; Daphnie Collins, assistant principal; Kim St.Clair, counselor; and teachers Jessica Mattson, Len Cerny, Alice Eldridge, Erica Hall, Scott Card, Savanna Sanders, Andrea Heidinger and April McKinney.
“It’s pretty fun,” Noel said about directing administrators and teachers. “We got Mr. Henderson in the first headmaster role and it’s really fun putting him in a wig and making him wear a costume.”
Noel added that all of those educators and the front office staff have been “super helpful with this whole production.”
