“Theater Camp”: indie filmmaking at its best

I’ve never been to theater camp and never really done theater.
(That’s assuming you don’t count two nights in a small-town Wisconsin high school. You shouldn’t.)
Still, I love “Theater Camp” (shown here), the movie that just reached Hulu. It reminds us just how good an independent film can be.
Indie movies are often made with a shortage of money and an excess of wit and skill. They’re where Greta Gerwig started (with “Lady Bird” and such) before “Little Women” and “Barbie”; where Jennifer Lawrence showed her talent (with the wonderful “Winter’s Bone”) before becoming a superstar; where Wes Anderson remains, through “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Asteroid City” and more.
They’re where clever ideas find a home.
“Theater Camp” began with four people (now in their late 20s) who are long-time friends and long-time theater people.
Three are actors, with considerable success: Ben Platt starred in “Dear Evan Hansen,” becoming the youngest person to win a Tony for best leading actor in a musical … Noah Galvin played Kenny, the gay teen at the core of ABC’s “The Real O’Neals” … Molly Gordon played the main character’s teen crush in both “Animal Kingdom” and “The Bear” and is Linda Zafrini (a Forum administrator) in “Winning Time.”
The fourth is Nick Lieberman, a director who had been shooting Platt’s music videos. They co-wrote an 18-minute “Theater Camp” short, put it online, got a good response and decided to go further.
They added a few familiar folks – Jimmy Tatro (the rich brother in “Home Economics”), Ayo Edebris (the young chef in “The Bear”) and, briefly, Amy Sedaris – and lots of kids. The four friends did a script , but there was also lots of improvising during a quick, three-week shoot at a former camp in upstate New York.
Lieberman and Gordon were the directors and he was the editor, rushing to finish it for the Sundance Film Festival. There, it was nominated for the grand jury prize and won a special jury award; it was for $8 million, made about half that in a brief run in theaters, then jumped to Hulu.
The result is everything you hope for in an indie. It may be a tad ragged at times, but it feels fresh and original, with new twists popping up.
Sure, there were parts I had misgivings about. Tatro did a fine job, but his character – a lunk-headed chap, trying to run his aunt’s camp – was a bit much. I also thought this perpetuated the stereotype that “theater kids” are fragile and odd; in real life, I haven’t found much proof of that.
But most, there were things I loved. There was Edebris’ character, who followed a theater tradition (lying about everything on your resume) to an extreme. Or the kid working on his dream, to be an agent. Or the instructors, fanciful and vague. And most of all, Amos and Rebecca-Diane (Platt and Gordon, shown here), whose long-time, platonic friendship is deep and at a turning point.
I was soon rooting for all of them, while laughing at their excesses. Even someone who’d never been in theater camp – and almost never been in theater – can savor “Theater Camp.”