THE CAST OF “PUFFS” BEGINS REHEARSALS

BY JADE WILCOX

Wadsworth High School was originally going to perform the production of “CLUE.” This changed, as the rights to the show could not be received. The new show chosen was “Puffs” written by Matt Cox.

Students were disappointed that they could not perform “CLUE,” but they also looked forward to the new show.

“I was very sad for ‘CLUE’ to get cut because the show would be very fun and I had been looking forward to it, but I am glad this is the show we replaced it with,” Chessa Homan said. Homan plays Megan Jones, the lead female role.

“Puffs” features a cast of witches and wizards, performing magic and going to school at the same time as the “famous certain-boy wizard.” change his fate.

The writer tip-toes around becoming copyright stricken. It is evidently a spoof on the “Harry Potter” series, written by J.K. Rowling. For example, the school the magic users attend is called “a certain school of magic and magic” instead of the original phrasing used in the books. He had also renamed the houses as the Brave, Smart, Snake, and Puff houses instead of the ones used in the famous franchise. This borders on satire, seeing as the houses include their own stereotypes-- stereotypes that Cox decides to name the houses after.

Auditions were held Monday, February 13. Rehearsals began a week later on Tuesday, the 21. They were originally going to watch the movie on Amazon Prime, but when that did not work out, the directors decided on doing a read-through of the script, as per tradition.

There are character changes throughout the entire script. James Welsh, a WHS sophomore, changes from Cedric in the first half of the show to Voldy in the second-- two characters with vastly different personalities. The cast is smaller, but is determined to succeed.

Sophomores like Welsh have more years to continue their acting career, but a majority of the WHS cast are seniors performing their last show at the high school. So far each rehearsal has been filled with laughter and cast bonding.

Even though the script looks like it has a typo, “Magic and Magic,” this is just to avoid copyright. This is the script the cast will be using for the next eight weeks. Photo by Jade Wilcox.

The script follows the life of a young wizard in the Puff house by the name of Wayne Hopkins. He was allegedly never destined to do anything great, as he was placed in the Puff house, but he intends to

“Yes, I am very excited for this show because it is my senior show and I can not wait to see how amazing everyone does. I am also very excited because Puffs is a spoof of Harry Potter and I have always loved Harry Potter,” Homan said.

The students in the production share a similar love of the wizarding franchise and acting alongside one another. The cast has been together from last year’s comedy production of Game of Tiaras all the way through this year, with some new additions to the group.

The cast looks forward to sharing this play with the high school, and putting in the work to prepare.

“Our previous comedy was probably the best part of my school year, and I’m looking forward to another great show,” Welsh said. “Come see Puffs April 27-29!”

BY LILY LOVE

Since the initial release in 2016, “It Ends with Us” has become an extremely popular release among high school students.

This novel, written by Colleen Hoover, is soon to be made into a major motion film, which is set to release in mid 2024.

WHS senior Zoe Parrish is a fan of Colleen Hoover’s popular books. “I feel like “It Ends with Us” blew up on Tik Tok, and everyone wanted to become part of this series,” Parrish said. “Then everyone realized that she was actually a good writer and kept reading her books.”

Recently, her books have become popular within our school as well as many others. This is largely due to the casting announcement regarding the “It Ends With Us” movie.

WHS sophomore Karley Allwood is a longtime fan of Colleen Hoover and is excited to see “It Ends with Us” turned into a movie.

“I think her stories have become so popular because there are a lot of high school students that like to read about Romance,” Allwood said.

“When you add a really good plot with a lot of twists and turns in it, the results are going to be appealing to people all over America.”

Casting for the movie will include big name actors such as Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.

Due to the series being so popular among students, there has been some controversy over the casting of the books’ two biggest characters.

“I wish she choose different actors, but I think it will still be a good movie,” Parrish said.

The book “It Ends with Us” was originally published in 2016, and has received various fan made cast speculations as to who would portray the two main characters.

“I feel like everyone when they read has a picture of someone,” Parrish said. “ I feel like [Blake Lively] does not fit Lily’s character in the book at all.”

Despite this controversy, the casting of the two main characters has not changed. While many people see an issue with the casting, they also believe that the movie itself will be a success.

WHS freshman Keira Hutchinson, is excited for the release of the “It Ends with accounts.

It Starts with us book cover. This is the sequel to It Ends with us. Many fans of Colleen Hoover are speculating that after the release of It Ends with us, it’s sequel movie will follow. Photo courtesy of Fair Use.

Us” movie.

“One thing I like about her books is how they deal with more serious matters that are not talked about in other teen books,” Hutchinson said.

With the increasing popularity of “It Ends with Us”, Colleen Hoover has begun to share details regarding the movie across her Instagram and Tik Tok

“I am excited just because I love the books so much, but I am worried that people are going to build it up so much,” Allwood said. “I don’t know if a movie can really show how good of a good book it is.”

In doing this, many readers have begun to speculate about different topics concerning the upcoming movie.

The two most speculated topics among fans are casting, and book to screen accuracy.

“I feel like they should have picked a younger role for Lily to fit the character better,” Hutchinson said. “I know some people thought that Sadie Sink would have been a better choice because she is younger, and a redhead.”

While casting may be one of the big issues for fans of Colleen Hoover, book to screen accuracy is also a discussion topic among fans.

With the making of any adaptation, there are always things that are changed throughout the film. These changes could be small things like dialogue,set design,or character appearance. However, the changes could also be big things like, where the story takes place, who is in the story, and what the story is about.

“I don’t think that the movie will ever match up to the book,” Allwood said. “I personally like to be able to make up what the character looks like in my head and when the movie puts a face to the characters it doesn’t make the story as good.”

Fans will continue to speculate about details of the movie, as the release date comes closer. Leading to an even bigger rise in popularity of her books.