Here at Pioneer Valley High School, the Center Stage department gave a warm “HIIII!!!” & celebrated its special 20th anniversary. They definitely celebrated it by presenting the play “Puffs” for the anniversary. Directed by Jesus Diaz, a Righetti Alumni, and produced by Selyn B. Harwin who enacted the famous movie series “Harry Potter”, a magical school filled with wizards and witches and of course, “Muggles” as we like to put it. But this wasn’t focused on Harry Potter, but instead on the PUFFS, a house that was there to see the story unfold. “The play was all of the seven Harry Potter films summed up together and told by the PUFF’S house.”, theatre teacher Selyn B. Harwin had to say. According to the director, Jesus Diaz, the play was a last-minute thing for the Center Stage, as stated, “We only had six weeks to pull this whole thing together, and boy was it a wild ride.” Another challenge for the director Jesus Diaz was new performers joining the year with Center Stage, but said, “These students immediately made it known that they were willing to work hard to bring this show to life.” Jesus Diaz was correct, as the Pioneer Valley’s high school performers of Puffs put their magic into making the story come to life.
The story was narrated by Zinc Garcellano, who played the narrator in the play and told the story of the character Wayne Hopkins, “A kid that’s bad at magic and clueless about it.” who is played by Kye Sheehy, and his two sidekicks Oliver Rivers, who’s “A plain nerd and also bad at magic.” played by Nicholas Davis and Megan Jones, “A girl that wants to be rebellious but is at heart, also a puff.” played by Emma Dworaczyk. Many families and students were excited and fascinated to see the performers put on such a great play at Pioneer. Board of Direction also did a fantastical job at proposing amazing magical effects and sets for the play; making the background of the play by the workshop teacher at PV and the students doing the painting of it, making the play more alive than any play performed at PV has been. The cast was also seen dressed up in the costumes of robes they wore during the play, giving the play the extra kick it needed and bringing out the inner characters of the actors.
The play PUFFS was an overall success, as they had sold out on their first show and had many applauses from the audience with their incredible acting during the play. “It was overall really fun to work on, and the students as well had fun with it.” theatre teacher Harwin had to say about the making of the play. This was not an ordinary play as well, as it wasn’t a musical, which made it a little complicated, yet unique for the cast and direction. The PUFF’s play was a play that was neatly organized and overall hilarious with jokes, music, dancing and running the cast, as their characters, did.
