There’s nothing quite like the memories you make at summer camp, but this summer’s “Theater Camp” might come close. The movie stars Ben Platt and Molly Gordon as Amos and Rebecca-Diane – best friends who met at theater camp and now work there every summer. There’s nothing they love more than summer days spent teaching children the art of the musical. But when Troy (Jimmy Tatro) takes over the camp and starts to run it into the ground, they have to rally with production manager Glenn (Noah Galvin) to save the day. The movie, which was one of POPSUGAR’s favorite films of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, premiered in theaters this July, and it finally has an official streaming date.
Gordon worked with Platt and Galvin, who are engaged, as well as Nick Lieberman to write the screenplay. Gordon and Lieberman directed the film, which involved a ton of improv for the cast. The ensemble includes “The Bear” star Ayo Edebiri, comedian Patti Harrison, and Amy Sedaris. The film also features a sprawling cast of super-talented kids who bring the camp’s plays and musicals to life.
“[Theater kids] are main characters of their own life, and they should be made fun of in a wonderful way because they’re amazing,” Gordon said about some of the inspiration for the film in an interview with W Magazine back in January. She added: “Theater people and normal people sometimes speak a completely different language, but if they come together, there’s a lot of mutual love.”
As for the kids in the movie, Gordon told the outlet, “The hardest thing selling this movie was people wondering if kids could improvise. So the thing Nick and I felt most proud of was that the kids were better than all of us.”