JASPER – Jasper Acts is stepping onto the stage for the first time with its production of the 2015 original comedy play Puffs this weekend.
The production is being organized by three co-directors: Grade 9 student Adelle Riopel, Grade 11 student Emerson Gibbons and Thayne Harden, who works for Parks Canada and has a background in improv theatre.
“We have so many people coming already, and it’s just fantastic to see how many community members want to come and see a show that you put on,” Riopel said.
She has contacted Gibbons about how they wanted to put on a play, and after getting together with others, they ultimately settled on Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic.
As the name suggests, the play by Matt Cox is a parody of the popular book series that must not be named (for copyright reasons) that retells the story from the perspective of the “Puffs.”
Being into wizards when she was younger, Riopel was naturally drawn to the play.
“I read the script, I thought I had a good plot, I thought it was doable, so I pitched it to this big group of people that we had before anything started, and yeah, we all just landed on that,” she said. “I pitched two other plays as well, but this one was a more natural choice, and everyone seemed the most excited about it.”
The first step was putting a call out for auditions on social media, which Gibbons described as the “firing bullet” behind Jasper Acts.
“We were kind of told you cannot turn anyone down, and we were like, ‘Well, we wouldn’t have anyway. They’re all really good at what they do, and they’re all really enthusiastic about it’,” he said.
The cast of 18 ranges in age from seven to 43 years old and includes local students as well as adult community members.
The next step was organizing rehearsals, which proved to be challenging early on due to other extracurricular activities. They started rehearsing in January, sometimes two or three times per week, and rehearsed every day last week as opening day draws nearer.
“It’s so funny, right? You see a performance, and that’s really the tip of the iceberg with something like this because 99 per cent of time is spent in rehearsals,” said Harden, who got involved with the play later.
“That’s what’s so fun about this, too, especially for folks who don’t necessarily have a sport that they’re going to be playing or anything like that,” he added. “This is a real place for folks to have a community, and you’re building skills, and you’re going somewhere every week to hang out with folks that you like and do a project.”
Habitat from the Arts and many community members are supporting the play. The Men’s Shed has constructed sets, and the Jasper Junior/Senior High School is providing a venue.
“It’s become a big community project,” Harden said. “The amount of folks who are involved with it, I think we could easily say there’s 40 or more people.”
Gibbons described the process as a fun experience, even when they were busy wrangling actors together for rehearsals and had no spare time.
“I would not trade it for the world,” he said. “It was a really fun experience getting everyone involved, making this play, working with people, helping them improve as actors and helping them get involved in their community.”
He was also told by some older teachers that this would be the first proper production in the school since 2017.
“I think everyone’s really excited,” Harden said. “Everyone has worked so hard on this project, whether it’s our folks who are doing tech or the actors. I think it’s really cool just to get it up on stage and get in front of an audience and just have fun with it.”
There will be three showings of Puffs at the Jasper Junior/Senior High School from Friday (May 2) to Sunday (May 4). , with the Friday and Saturday showings already sold out.
Jasper Acts is also looking for an indoor venue to host rehearsals for future productions. The group can be reached .
