Puffs: An interview with the producers

“Puffs” is an offBroadway play written by Matthew Cox that serves as a parody of the “Harry Potter” series. It is a comedic yet heartfelt look at an often forgotten side of “Harry Potter:” the Puffs. “Puffs” relegates Harry Potter and the main crew as background characters, going so far as to turning Ron and Hermione into quiet, unassuming mops, and focuses on a group of misfits who are not “brave” or “smart” or “always look like they’re about to throw a glass of white wine in your face.” The play tells us that “we are all the heroes of our own story,” a lesson that Dr. Mark Law, the director of the UF Honors Program, particularly admires.

Dr. Law became involved with “Puffs” at the encouragement of UF Honors alumnus and twotime Tony-winning producer John Pinckard. Like the main hero of “Puffs,” Dr. Law played a crucial but often overlooked role in the success of the play. He served as an associate producer who focused on the business investor side. Some of his duties involved devising ways to increase ticket sales, general marketing and budgeting to provide the behind the scenes magic that brought our heroes to the main stage. Although Dr. Law has always been interested in theatre and participated in productions since middle school, “Puffs” led him to become far more invested in it. Even though the play is no longer running, Dr. Law is still involved in theatre. One of his new projects, also spearheaded by a former “Puffs” producer, involves a “choose your own adventure” performance where audience members make choices on their phones to control the actors. These live shows have been particularly successful over Zoom. John Pinckard, on the other hand, started his career at UF as a physics major. He took a couple theatre electives and participated in a Florida Players production. Pinckard ended up becoming so enamored with the process of creating plays that he switched his major to theatre. It was a risky decision, but it ended up working out for him, considering that he is now a two-time Tony Award winner

(although he often uses one of the Tonys as a doorstop, just to keep it real). Mr. Pinckard had his hands in a little bit of everything as the executive producer, although he was particularly focused on creative development. He primarily worked on the script and production design, constantly putting out fires and tweaking the show to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible. Mr. Pinckard specialized in lightning design at UF, which is evident in “Puffs,” especially in its more dramatic scenes. Although he was careful in making sure not to impose his own vision on his creative team, he encouraged them to go bigger during more iconic moments, which led to thrilling results, especially when the dementors attacked.

Mr. Pinckard advises students and anyone who has an interest in theatre, “if you want to get involved in theatre, do it. There is a misunderstanding in this culture that the only legitimate way to be involved in the theatre is to make a living at it, but I don’t believe that. Anyone can get involved in theatre.” UF itself has many theatre organizations, including the Florida Players, Shakespeare in the Park and Theatre Strike Force, which are open to all students regardless of skill level or experience. Mr. Pinckard is currently working on a “queer, musical spin” on “Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde which he will be

Story by Ananya Jain

Design by Emily Miller