Hawk Theatre Company will perform “Puffs”, a Harry Potter spin-off about the lives of the Hufflepuff students, in the auditorium Nov. 14-16 at 7 p.m.

“I like Harry Potter a lot, and I’m in Hufflepuff house,” senior Celeste Karraker said. “When the [theater directors] said, ‘Not only are we doing a Harry Potter play, but it’s based on the Hufflepuff perspective,’ I really wanted to do that.” 

Despite the play taking place in the same time period of the original Harry Potter series, this adaptation focuses on the Hufflepuff perspective of the events happening at Hogwarts. The original books and films rarely focused on Hufflepuff characters.

“The beauty of the show is that it’s an underdog story about the people that usually don’t get their stories told, so that’s where the fun is,” director Jami Sauls said. “And they are Hufflepuffs, so they are just goofy and weird and funny.” 

The play is centered around an orphan named Wayne who, like Harry Potter, didn’t know of his magical heritage until receiving a letter from the Magic School of Magic. The production has their own “golden trio,” but instead of Hermione, Ron and Harry, it follows Wayne, Oliver and Meghan. The other characters, excluding the trio, are real characters from J.K. Rowling’s novels. 

“It’s basically like Harry Potter fanfiction, but from a Hufflepuff’s point of view,” Karraker said. “And it’s accurate to the films and books but pokes fun at them in a lighthearted way. Hermione is played by a broom, and Ron is a puppet.” 

The company has been working on production, including the Hogwarts-themed set that director Ryan Heitzman designed, for two months. The directors and cast are excited for the audience’s reaction of their adaptation of the Harry Potter universe. 

“Heitzman’s inspiration was the world of Harry Potter,” Sauls said. “We wanted to keep the magic of Harry Potter in the show, even though it is a comedy about the puffs. We still wanted that world and that environment to still be there. The things that Wayne, Oliver and Meghan are doing and the choices they are making are exciting for me as a director to see, so I’m excited to see them lead the show in the direction it’s going.”