This story has been updated.
Playhouse in the Park, the community theater in Murray, is set to perform Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic this week.
Puffs is a satirical play which features a British wizard school and a group of friends who battle the forces of darkness. The school in the play remains nameless, and the plot focuses on a different group of wizards who aren’t typically at the forefront of fantasy stories.
The community theater will present the play Nov. 10-12, with Friday and Saturday start times of 7 p.m. and a Sunday start time of 2:30 p.m. Tickets are available on the Playhouse in the Park website.
Sarah Hines is directing the Murray production, which is the two-act edition of the play.
“It is based on some source material that you probably know and love … and it's kind of a satirical parody look at that,” Hines said. “This show shows us seven years from the perspective of the Puffs. They're not the ones who are the smartest, they're not the ones who are the bravest, and they're not the ones who are the meanest, but they really do have a lot of heart and friendship and really good redeeming qualities”.
Hines said the story is about love and friendship.
“We find out that love is the greatest magic there is, you know, who is better to show us the love of magic than the puffs. Right?”
She said that the performers – which include Stacey Cayton and Murray State University student Eli Borwick – enjoy this play so much that they often break character and laugh during the rehearsals for the upcoming show. Hines’ experience in improvisational comedy as a longtime member of Paducah Improv inspired her direction of Puffs.
“This was one that really stood out to me… I'm a big fan of the source material. It was important to me, but I also came from an improv theater and the way that it's written: very similar to a lot of improv and very, very fast,” she said. “I've had a lot of experience doing improv and directing improv for 10 years now and my experience with improv is something that really lended itself to this show.”
