Theater Camp: Making Cardboard Into Gold
Opening Campfire at Upside Arts Overnight Camp, located at North Star in Poland, ME. Photo by Laura Riggle
The 2023 mockumentary, “Theater Camp”, has been on my watch list since it was recommended in my camp counselor group chat. At the end of the summer for the past five years, I have ended up in Poland, Maine counseling for my local theatrical production company, Upside Arts. A movie with iconic stage performers like Ben Platt and Noah Galvin poking fun at something as unhinged as theater camp was something I needed to see.
The story follows an overnight theater camp in upstate New York that loses their founder when she falls into a coma. Her son comes to hold down the fort at camp but struggles after learning the camp is at risk of closing forever. The movie’s satirical jabs at theater kid chaos and the daily irritations of being a camp counselor made me feel like I was back on the campsite.
The first time I traveled up to Poland was when I was 17. The theater community around me told me I had to be there. I started as a counselor in training, and I felt like I had missed out since I hadn’t been there as a camper. After the first campfire I realized that it didn’t matter who age you were, as quoted in “Theater Camp”, “this place is for people who need it.”
Molly Gordon, who plays Rebecca-Diane, and Ben Platt, who plays Amos, in the mockumentary, “Theater Camp” which came out in 2023. Photo from Sundance Institute.
When I went to theater camps as a kid, I put pressure on myself to be the best or do nothing at all. I shouldn’t have approached it that way, but I felt as if there was no room for imperfection if I wanted that feeling of being special and fanning in the glory of being on stage. The problem was I was not perfect, and I never would be, causing my own expectations to be my downfall.
New campers are integrated into the Upside Arts family on the first day and returning campers maintain the standard of inclusion and celebration of others’ accomplishments. There are opportunities for campers to be commemorated every day, not just for their talent, but for their good deeds as well, through our Centerstage Awards, given to campers every day before dinnertime. As a counselor in training, I was encouraged to embrace my own weirdness and make mistakes because with this support, the weight of failure didn’t feel as heavy.
Magic and whimsy are at the forefront of every activity including morning circle, classes, workshops, cabin time, mealtimes, and night activities. I had wondered why there were so many campers that weren’t theater kids, but camp is a place for all creative thinkers alike. Activities like silent lunch, game making, cabin bonding activities, talent shows, and camp-wide dances allowed all campers to make meaningful relationships in non-conventional ways, which I think anyone can benefit from.
A view of the waterfront at North Star campground. Photo by Laura Riggle
Stepping into a counselor role is best described by Ben Platt in “Theater Camp”, “I’ve been here 10 minutes and it’s unbearable.” I thought back on how effortless the counselors had made it seem the year prior.
As a counselor, you must be everything for the campers: a mentor, an authority figure, their parent, their older sister, their scene partner, and the coolest person in the room. To campers, Upside Arts Overnight is known for its reoccurring characters and themes, little inside jokes that make them feel like they are a part of the whimsy. I wanted to be someone that they remembered, someone they were excited to see, and someone they could trust.
I also wanted to be respected but balancing that friend and role model relationship can be tricky. I try to lead with authenticity and empathy, and the only way to do that is to put effort into the one-on-one relationships from the moment the kids step into the cabin. Making my rounds is the way I make those instant connections and find similarities between myself and the camper, as well as between campers.
I cherish the hours between 10PM to 12AM where the counselors all meet up on the dining hall porch for “counselor time”. It looks different every night. Some nights, we rehearse for our counselor cabaret we put on for the campers. Other nights we sit around the table for “secrets hour” and tell stories. When we need it, there are even nights where we confide to each other about struggles in the cabin, in classes, or our own personal battles. The relationships we form with the counselors are how we can, even in rough times, put a smile on our faces and make each camper’s time special.
Laura dressed up for the Wild West Carnival at Upside Arts Overnight Camp in 2023. Photo by Laura Riggle
Being an outlet for a camper is the best feeling in the world to me. A camper trusting me to help them through a hard time, advice on a situation, or even support on a talent show act means that I did my job. You never know where this kid is coming from, what their home or school life looks like, or their own inner turmoil. I was, and still am, an insecure human being that benefits more from gaining support externally rather than executing it myself. That is what I want to be for them.
One of Upside Arts’ founders, Miles Burns, wrote a song that campers learn on the first night of camp at the opening campfire, called “The Friendship Song”. As we stand around the campfire, we sing, “This is where I grow. This is where I don’t fall apart. If you lead me, I will go. If you’d like to, we can share our hearts.”
Theater camp, like the movie, may be filled with loud, melodramatic extroverts speaking in showtunes, but through those stereotypes and the stigmatism, is a kid looking for a place where they can belong, and theater kid or not, that place is Upside Arts.
