PUFFS Makes Its Australian Premiere Plus Added Performances in NYC

PUFFS or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic - the hit comedy currently running Off Broadway at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street) - celebrates its first ever global expansion with the announcement of the play's Australian premiere in Melborne this May. In addition to this landmark debut, plans for a U.S. tour and a national broadcast, the Puffs New York production will expand to seven shows a week this month. Puffs in Australia is presented by the Tilted Windmills Theatricals (John Arthur Pinckard & David Carpenter) in partnership with Australia's leading touring and ticketing company TEG [LIVE]. It starts previews at Melbourne's Alex Theater in St. Kilda on May 26 and opens on May 31, 2018. Tickets will be available at PuffsthePlay.com.

As audience response has continued to grow since the show won another set of rave reviews last summer, Puffs is now on sale through November 4, 2018. From its origins at the Peoples Improv Theater in 2015 to its official Off-Broadway opening at the Elektra Theater in 2016, Puffs continues its remarkable journey with two weekend matinees designated "family friendly." After entertaining over 35,000 audience members, the show recently introduced new sets and new creatures, but kept the same beloved Puffs!

At the request of fans around the world, "Puffs: Live Off Broadway" was captured in front of a live audience in a unique multi-camera production and will soon be available for download and streaming.

PUFFS - presented by Tilted Windmills Theatricals (John Arthur Pinckard & David Carpenter) - takes a hilarious second look at everyone's favorite world of wizards through the eyes of the Puffs, a lovable group of magical misfits. After the recent transfer, the sold-out sensation was hailed as "funny and affectionate," by Time Out New York, which added "there's heart as well as humor here." The New Yorker says "the audience nearly weeps with joy." According to the SYFY Channel, "to say Puffs is a lot of fun just might be an understatement. You'll laugh a lot, but the show has its heartfelt and slightly serious moments too." It was called "a fast paced romp" by The New York Times. Mugglenet recently exclaimed: "Go buy a ticket immediately. I promise you will not regret it." The Wall Street Journal called it "an alternate narrative from the underdog." Puffs is written by Matt Cox and directed by Kristin McCarthy Parker. Tickets are now on sale at www.Telecharge.com.

When Puffs opened at the Elektra in 2016 after its original run at New York's Peoples Improv Theater, it immediately started gaining national media attention. The show was praised by Entertainment Weekly as "packed with knowing winks to its source material and a heart all its own" and by The Huffington Post for its "rip-roaring staging, wit and delightful theatrical craft." MTV News called it "equally laugh-out-loud funny and achingly tender." Hypable said "come prepared to laugh, but also to cry. The draw is Matt Cox's brilliant script and the cast's comedic chops." According to Nerdist, "As surprised as I was by how much I laughed at Puffs, I was all the more surprised at how it actually moved me."

For seven years a certain boy wizard went to Wizard School. This, however, is not his story. This is the story of The Puffs... who just happened to be there too. This is a play for anyone who has never been destined to save the world. Puffs, or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic is a Potter inspired comedy for anyone who has ever felt like a secondary character in someone else's story. The play gives you a new look at a familiar adventure from the perspective of three new heroes just trying to make it through magic school.

The full company features Langston Belton, Madeleine Bundy, Jessie Cannizzaro, Nick Carrillo, Anna Dart, A.J. Ditty, Julie Ann Earls, James Fouhey, Jake Keefe, Andy Miller, Zac Moon, Eleanor Philips and Stephen Stout. Puffs has production and costume design by Madeleine Bundy, lighting design by Herrick Goldman, sound design by Matt Cox and original music by Brian Hoes. Daniel Kuney/KGM Theatrical serves as general manager.

The show is produced by Tilted Windmills Theatricals (John Arthur Pinckard & David Carpenter), Stamatios Tom Hiotis, John Paterakis, George Stephanopoulos, Invisible Wall Productions, Letter Blue Entertainment, Sally Cade Holmes, Heather Shields, The Harris Brothers, and Alan Koolik/David Treatman, in association with GG Entertainment, Mark & Alison Law, Paul C. Bongiorno, Oliver Baer, Eric Kelhoffer, and Stephen Stout and Colin Waitt. It was originally produced at The Peoples Improv Theater by Stephen Stout and Colin Waitt, and developed in part during a residency with the University of Florida, School of Theatre + Dance, Jerry Dickey, School Director.

PUFFS or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic is performed at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10019). Starting March 2018, the new performance schedule is Mondays at 8:00 PM; Thursdays at 8:00 PM; Fridays at 8:00 PM; Saturdays at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM; and Sundays at 3:00 PM and 7:30 PM. Both the Saturday and Sunday matinee shows are special "Family Friendly" performances for audiences of all ages. Tickets, which are on sale at Telecharge.com, start at $52.00. Premium seats are $87-$97.

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Matt Cox (Playwright) is a playwright, actor, and improviser based in New York City. His plays include Puffs Or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years At A Certain School Of Magic & Magic; Cool Chefs Jr.; Adult Mutant Ninja Turtles; The Madness of Captain Dread; and the three-part epic Kapow-i GoGo (Time Out New York "Critics' Pick," Theatre Is Easy "Best Bet"). He also authored the radio play El Hombre Bovino for WNYC's The Greene Space, and contributed to The Flea Theater's The Mysteries. His work has been produced at The Peoples Improv Theater, The Tank, and The Flea Theater, among other places. Matt has studied at The Upright Citizens Brigade, The Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Tarleton State University, and is a member of The Story Pirates. He is currently working on a book about an Orc. MattCoxLand.com

Kristin McCarthy Parker (Director) is a freelance director in New York City and founding member of Recent Cutbacks. Her work includes Matt Cox's Puffs and Kapow-i GoGo, Recent Cutbacks' KEVIN!!!!!, Hold On To Your Butts, and Fly, You Fools!. She has directed and developed work at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Primary Stages, Ma-Yi, 59E59, Chicago's The Second City Training Center, The Flea, HERE Arts, Dixon Place, Columbia University, Mason Gross School of the Arts - Rutgers University, Atlantic Acting School, and the University of Florida, among others. Assistantships include Ed Iskandar, Michael Greif, Wendy Goldberg, and Trip Cullman. KristinMcCarthyParker.com

Tilted Windmills Theatricals (Producer) is a producing partnership between David Carpenter and John Arthur Pinckard. The company's mission is to be a disruptive, forward-thinking innovator that presents fresh, unexpected, and culturally current theatre for both the seasoned arts patron and the audiences of tomorrow. David Carpenter's Broadway career has taken him from industry powerhouse Dodgers Theatricals (Jersey Boys, Matilda) to DreamWorks Theatricals. John Arthur Pinckard's producing career began over a decade ago with the cult festival hit Silence! the Musical. Soon he won the prestigious T. Edward Hambleton Fellowship for Creative Producers from Hal Prince, the 21-time Tony Award winning producer and director whose 60 years of hits range from Fiddler on the Roof to Phantom of the Opera. John's work as an independent producer has garnered him four Tony Award nominations and two wins, for Clybourne Park and A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder.

Stephen Stout (Original Producer) is an actor, producer and Artistic Director of The Peoples Improv Theater. He co-produced the original sold-out run of Puffs at The PIT as well as the geek theater epic Kapow-i GoGo. He co-created and produced the sold-out, late night hit SERIALS at the Flea Theater from 2011 to 2014. He also ran the New York wing of The Old Vic Theatre's Old Vic New Voices and produced programming at 3LD, Soho House, The Vineyard, The Public and The Old Vic itself.

Colin Waitt (Original Producer) co-produced the original sold-out run of Puffs at The Peoples Improv Theater. He produces SERIALS, the Flea Theater's late night short play competition. Additional credits include cult sensation Kapow-i GoGo (The PIT), I Want To Be Your Man (Feinstein's/54 Below), and Our House in Concert (Associate Producer, The Savoy Theater in London's West End).

Daniel Kuney/KGM Theatrical (General Manager) Credits include: Rock of Ages (Broadway), Fela! (Broadway, Tours), Reasons to Be Pretty (Broadway), The 39 Steps (Broadway), The Homecoming (Broadway), Talk Radio (Broadway), Heathers (Off-Broadway), Altar Boyz (Off-Broadway), Dog Sees God (Off-Broadway), My Name is Rachel Corrie (Off-Broadway), In Masks Outrageous and Austere (Off-Broadway). KGMTheatrical.com

Photo Credit: Hunter Canning