11th Jul 2003
Camp
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a magician. What little boy didn’t? So, one day my mom finds an ad in the back of the New Yorker for a summer camp (we were big on summer camps, growing up) called Stagedoor Manor. It’s basically a theatrical camp, up in the Catskills, a former Borscht Belt resort.
Long story short, from age 13 to 15, I had the acting bug. I eventually got over it (after one particularly disappointing TV commercial audition), but I did have a great time at that camp. All sorts of terrific memories (first time getting to second base, winning best supporting actor award in a musical, great friendships, etc.). The camp really was remarkable, too, for its preformance training. Rigorous courses in dance, singing, acting, voice, mime and so on, plus each kid was in a different play every couple of weeks. And not just “Annie” and “Grease,” either. I remember them staging “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf,” Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros” and “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad” among others (and these are kids age 12-18, mind you), as well as lighter fare, too. And given the camp’s quality, a generation of successful young actors passed across its stages, including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Natalie Portman, Robert Downey, Jr. (whom I don’t remember from the time, but apparently we were there together), Mary Stuart Masterson (whom I do remember, and had a big crush on) and Jon Cryer (who was my roommate for two years and close friend at the time).
Well, it wasn’t just me who was so inspired by it. Jon and I got back in touch via email a couple of years ago, and he told me he was thinking about making a film about the camp (he wrote and starred in the film “Went to Coney Island on a Mission From God… Be Back by Five” in ‘98: IMDB | official site). Turns out someone else beat him to it: actor, writer, producer Todd Graff has just released “Camp.” Got good attention at 2003 Sundance (Rolling Stone write up). Here’s a Reuters review.
I’m going next week to a screening and party for Stagedoor alumns. Thilled. I also just signed up for a Stagedoor alums email discussion list. Boy, wouldn’t I love to be back at camp again just for two weeks this summer…
No tags for this post
Leave a Reply