“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” High School Edition: Wands at the Ready Competition Launches

by · November 30, 2023

Competitions run throughout the Harry Potter series, from the House Cup to the Quidditch World Cup and the most difficult of them all, the Triwizard Cup. Now, Muggles can join in on the fun as Broadway Licensing Global launches a competition for high schools, with the winners being granted the opportunity to produce Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

The high school version of Cursed Child was announced back in September to welcome us all back to Hogwarts. The show is being developed for high schools and other amateur productions by director John Tiffany, writer Jack Thorne, and producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender. This competition, entitled Harry Potter and the Cursed Child High School Edition: Wands at the Ready, launched on November 17 and is taking applications from high schools across the US until December 15. Applicants must explain why they think they are the most magical place in their state to hold the first license for the show, covering categories such as diversity and community relations. All winning schools will show their productions between October 15 and November 10 next year.

 

 

The high school edition of the show is being adapted from the original in a range of ways. The show is being shortened from the one-part version shown in several cities worldwide, and creative ways of converting the high-tech, magical stunts performed in theaters to simple wizardry that any school, regardless of budget, could manage are being concocted. Early developmental pilots of the show will be tested out over the spring of next year before the official versions debut in the winning schools in the fall.

While the competition is exciting for new versions of the show, an older version is also celebrating. The Broadway version of the show has broken yet another record, becoming the longest-running show at New York’s Lyric Theatre in history. As of October 2023, the show has hit the 1,550-show mark and overtaken the previous record holder, 42nd Street.

Congratulations to Cursed Child for its most recent record, and we look forward to more in the future. Do you know of any schools around you entering the competition?

Neave Williamson

I've been a proud Slytherin for as long as I can remember, and love taking inspiration from the Wizarding World for short films.