Director's Statement

Puffs is more than just a story about young witches and wizards; it is a celebration of self-discovery and inner growth. Over the course of seven years, the Puffs come to realize that what they were searching for in the world around them was within themselves all along. This journey mirrors the experiences of Lake Highlands students, who are are bombarded with expectations and pressures from society, social media, and their peers. Through Puffs, we hope to remind them that true confidence and self-worth come from within. Each character’s journey, with all its humor and heartache, serves as a reflection of our students’ own challenges and triumphs.

The central image we've chosen for our production is that of an antique junk shop. You could say the show is is set in a room that provides everything the actors require to tell this story. A Requirement Room. This eclectic, cluttered space represents the messy, winding search for one’s true self. It’s filled with relics of other people’s lives—things that may not belong to the characters but still invite them to explore and experiment. As they sift through these artifacts, they begin to uncover what resonates with them personally. The set itself is a living, breathing part of the story, with props scattered around the stage, readily available to the actors. The stage becomes a space where everything the characters need to discover themselves is within reach, symbolizing that the answers they seek are closer than they realize. 

This production of Puffs is not just a comedic romp through a familiar magical world—it’s a heartfelt exploration of what it means to grow up, to question who we are, and to learn that the most important discovery is the one that happens within. We hope that our students and our audience leave the theater with the understanding that self-discovery is a journey worth taking—and that the journey begins with looking inside.

Thank you for sharing your students with us. Thank you for joining us tonight. And thank you for supporting live theatre!
Third or nothing!
-Toby Meeks

P.S. I need to note that in the script, the actor playing Zach Smith is given free reign to monologue about "Literally anything. Any sort of crazy story. A description of a movie plot that Zach Smith experienced. An existential pondering. Just wizard jokes. Just random regular jokes. What once began as a single line of dialogue transformed in to this long, crazy, and fun ride every performance." Our actor has been challenged to make up a different school appropriate monologue every night.