Costume Design ideas
Production Meeting Notes
Oct. 7 Auditions were Monday and the show has been cast. I had the idea of using drum sticks for wands and Rob volunteered his old beat up sticks for free. We're allowing the actors to "decorate" their wands any way they want and then we'll let them keep them after the show.
Oct 14 I've gotten all the new people measured. I made a slide show of all the costume ideas and started ordering the student uniforms from Amazon. I started pulling all the Professors costumes and every black cape or coat or gown we had in stock for the Death Buddies.
Oct. 21 It was decided that we needed a giant teddy bear costume, so I ordered one. Also, it got really cold so I ordered more scarves, hats, and sweater vests for all the Puffs so that they'd be warmer during the show. I suggested to the girls that they'd probably want to get some leggings to wear underneath their skirts and socks to keep their legs warmer. We started fittings this week.
Oct. 28 It was decided that we needed a giant spider costume, so I ordered one. Most of the items I ordered have finally arrived. I went to Joanne's to buy fabric for the ghost costumes on Sunday and came back with a lot of wonderful stuff for 25% off my total purchase plus with another three coupons, I basically got $400 worth of stuff for $200. I need to pull a grey shirt, tie, and socks for Myrtle. We already made her a grey Smart badge out of felt. I decided earlier that we could just pull a period suit for Ghost Professor so we didn't have to make a fourth costume. Guest Artist and alum Matt Smith is making the ghost costumes for me. Mr. Nick is going to be extra fancy with pumpkin hose, doublet, and ruff. I need to pull him some tights.
Nov. 4
Oct 14 I've gotten all the new people measured. I made a slide show of all the costume ideas and started ordering the student uniforms from Amazon. I started pulling all the Professors costumes and every black cape or coat or gown we had in stock for the Death Buddies.
Oct. 21 It was decided that we needed a giant teddy bear costume, so I ordered one. Also, it got really cold so I ordered more scarves, hats, and sweater vests for all the Puffs so that they'd be warmer during the show. I suggested to the girls that they'd probably want to get some leggings to wear underneath their skirts and socks to keep their legs warmer. We started fittings this week.
Oct. 28 It was decided that we needed a giant spider costume, so I ordered one. Most of the items I ordered have finally arrived. I went to Joanne's to buy fabric for the ghost costumes on Sunday and came back with a lot of wonderful stuff for 25% off my total purchase plus with another three coupons, I basically got $400 worth of stuff for $200. I need to pull a grey shirt, tie, and socks for Myrtle. We already made her a grey Smart badge out of felt. I decided earlier that we could just pull a period suit for Ghost Professor so we didn't have to make a fourth costume. Guest Artist and alum Matt Smith is making the ghost costumes for me. Mr. Nick is going to be extra fancy with pumpkin hose, doublet, and ruff. I need to pull him some tights.
Nov. 4
The Build
Besides building the ghosts, we had to make badges for the school robes. P for Puffs, B for Brave, S for Snakes, (as well as two S for Smart but one in grey for Myrtle who's dead, the other for Cho) in the appropriate House colors. I let student Rosie Fisher choose the font.
Press Photos
We took the press photos today for the Waco Tribune Herald. I'm really happy with how the students costumes are turning out so far. The new badges look really good.
From left to right: Lee Brown as Oliver, Garland Petterson as Wayne, and Ashlyn Meador as Meagan.
Guest ARtist Matt Smith and Brianna Veselka's work on the build
Fittings
Production Photos
Reviews
Wayne Hopkins (Garland Petterson, right), Oliver Rivers (Lee Brown) and Megan Jones (Ash Meador) work their way through seven years of magic school in McLennan Theatre's "Puffs."
Rod Aydelotte, Tribune-Herald
By Julie Campbell-Carlson
I have missed attending live theater performances, but I will also admit that live streaming also is great. I can now see productions from hither and yon that I might now otherwise get to attend. Productions like Oklahoma City University’s October production of “Spamalot,” featuring Waco’s own Nick Atkins as Sir Galahad, Herbert’s Father and the Black Knight.
MCC Theatre also has returned to the stage with a production of “Puffs” scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19-21 with a matinee at 2 p.m. Nov. 22.
“There is absolutely nothing like a live performance,” said Lise Uhl, chair of the division of the visual and performing arts. “Live theater has the unseen element of the ‘give and take’ between the performers and audience. The more we bring to our audience, the stronger they react; the stronger they react, the more we give, etc. We are looking forward to allowing the students to have this experience even if it is for an extremely small and socially distanced audience.”
Julie Campbell-Carlson has written for Waco Today since 1997. She's always looking for interesting tidbits for her column. She can be reached at [email protected].
Baylor University photo — Robert Rogers “Puffs” transports the audience to a familiar school for wizards, but it is not the enchanted tale of brave wizards you may be expecting. Instead the play follows the escapades of middling, misfit magicians, better known as Puffs. The New York Times proclaimed that “POTTERphiliacs who grew up alongside Potter and are eager to revisit that world, ‘PUFFS’ exudes a jovial, winking fondness for all things Harry!”
“We chose it as a fun, pop culture-infused energetic entertainment,” said “Puffs” director Kelly Parker. “The play is accessible to audiences of all ages. It is a charming, raucous play that engages the imagination of the performers and the audience.”
“Puffs” will be performed on the Bosque River Stage, MCC’s outdoor venue, although plans remain very fluid.
“For many years we have had the option of outdoor theater with our BRS venue, and I believe that in the future, we may make more use of it, not only in theatrical productions but for other performing arts,” Lise said.
Because of COVID-19, capacity at the BRS will be limited and masks will be required. However, MCC intends to livestream the production to the public.
“We are currently in the process of setting up equipment for livestreaming,” Lise said. “It will definitely open up our audience to a wider geographical area, which can only help us in further establishing our college as having one of the finer educational theater departments in the state.
“We have often considered streaming our performances in the pre-COVID era. Now it is really a must but I can see this being something we continue even after this period of COVID protocol.”
Kelly has altered traditional rehearsal methods to accommodate pandemic guidelines.
“Our rehearsal will be done in a hybrid manner; via Zoom and in-person while utilizing social distancing protocols and masks,” he said. “Our students and faculty are incredibly resilient, and we are embracing the adjustments and limitations necessary in the time of COVID. Those limitations can open the door to new, unforeseen creativity.”
Lise concurs. “Although the new protocol has proven to be a strain at times on the students and faculty, the one thing that still remains is the beauty of the art of theater and the impact it can have on the performers and the audience,” she said. “COVID protocol has forced all of us in performing arts to be much more creative in how we not only ‘keep’ live theater but how we keep it at a level where all participants are comfortable and feel safe.”
“Puffs” will actually be the second production of the year. MCC’s theater season opened in October. Two more productions are planned for the spring, but more on those in future columns.
Wayne Hopkins (Garland Petterson, center), Oliver Rivers (Lee Brown) and Megan Jones (Ash Meador, right) work their way through seven years of magic school in McLennan Theatre’s “Puffs.”
Rod Aydelotte, Tribune-Herald
Carl Hoover
The full title of McLennan Theatre’s production of Matt Cox's “Puffs” tips its hand on what it’s about: “Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic.”
For anyone who grew up in the 1990s and 2000s, or were parents during that time, “school of magic” likely triggers thoughts of Harry Potter, the English schoolkid who discovers he’s really a wizard with a major destiny ahead of him and his magical training. And if “Puffs” brought thoughts of one of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’s four student houses, then points to Hufflepuff.
But just as the major villain of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter epic was He Who Must Not Be Named, any overt references to He Whose Copyright Is Protected From Commercial Infringement are similarly euphemised or danced about. Instead, the action concerns three friends — the somewhat nerdy Wayne Hopkins (Garland Petterson) from New Mexico and his fellow Puffs Oliver Rivers (William Lee Brown) and Megan Jones (Ash Meador) — at a “certain school of magic” with three houses, the Puffs, the Snakes and the Braves.
In a theater season whose rehearsals and performances have been disrupted by COVID-19 and the measures taken to slow its spread, “Puffs” may be the play that’s needed at this time, said McLennan Community College theater instructor Kelly Parker, the play’s director.
The full title of McLennan Theatre’s production of Matt Cox's “Puffs” tips its hand on what it’s about: “Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic.”
For anyone who grew up in the 1990s and 2000s, or were parents during that time, “school of magic” likely triggers thoughts of Harry Potter, the English schoolkid who discovers he’s really a wizard with a major destiny ahead of him and his magical training. And if “Puffs” brought thoughts of one of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’s four student houses, then points to Hufflepuff.
But just as the major villain of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter epic was He Who Must Not Be Named, any overt references to He Whose Copyright Is Protected From Commercial Infringement are similarly euphemised or danced about. Instead, the action concerns three friends — the somewhat nerdy Wayne Hopkins (Garland Petterson) from New Mexico and his fellow Puffs Oliver Rivers (William Lee Brown) and Megan Jones (Ash Meador) — at a “certain school of magic” with three houses, the Puffs, the Snakes and the Braves.
In a theater season whose rehearsals and performances have been disrupted by COVID-19 and the measures taken to slow its spread, “Puffs” may be the play that’s needed at this time, said McLennan Community College theater instructor Kelly Parker, the play’s director.
Originally scheduled for last spring and indoors, “Puffs” got COVID-canceled. As McLennan theater faculty thought about restructuring their fall instruction and season, “Puffs” offered something light in tone and adaptable for the outdoors if necessary. “We just needed to do something fun and enjoyable,” he said.
“Puffs” follows three magic students who don’t fall into the Braves or the Snakes houses as they work their way through seven years of instruction and the edges of more notable events at the school. It’s a fast, witty and sometimes zany show that doesn’t require deep knowledge of Potterdom to appreciate, but it’s icing on the cake for those who do, Parker said.
The 20-person company will perform at MCC’s Bosque River Stage due to COVID-19 protocols and other events at the Ball Performing Arts Center, but will move to the college’s Music and Theater Arts building for a Sunday matinee in case of rain.