By Maryjane Bradbury
School won’t be out for a few weeks, but it’s not too early to think about summer camp — or in this case, “Camp Sunshine,” a musical comedy written by the late Ken Bradbury, that will be performed at Triopia High School, April 19-21.
The show may not be the summer camp you remember, but you might find a few similarities, and you will certainly enjoy lots of laughs. This Baptist summer camp takes place in rural Arkansas with Gloria, an extremely over-enthusiastic Camp Activity Director, and Uncle Ernie, who takes his role as the Physical Fitness Coach very seriously — with a “just because you are bleeding doesn’t mean you are hurt” attitude. Add in a laughing Catholic nun and a group of young campers with their own apprehensions and fears, and well … that’s “Camp Sunshine.”
Avery Garner, who plays Skip, returns to the Triopia stage after making his debut in “Children of the Rainbow” last year. Garner said, “It went so well I had to do it again this year.”
He continued, “The biggest challenge for me this year is singing because I didn’t sing last year.”
Garner said of the performance, “I enjoy being around the same great people every night with the laughs – it’s really great time all around.”
“Camp Sunshine” is one of more than 500 speeches Bradbury wrote, and some of those speeches are still performed by middle school students in competitions today. In 2009 Bradbury was quoted, “I wrote this little thing for the speech contest market and when it began winning national awards, I thought maybe this idea was worth expanding into a full musical.”
He then called his longtime friend, collaborator and music composer, Roger Wainwright. The pair turned “Camp Sunshine” into a musical and it was performed at the Sophie Leschin Theatre in Jacksonville in 2008. Again in 2009 it was performed in both Pittsfield and in Petersburg’s Theatre in the Park. Bradbury said, “I like what happened.”
New to the Triopia stage this year is seventh-grader Riley Lovekamp. Riley’s sister, Rhianna, who is also in the show, talked Riley into auditioning for the Beardstown Opera House’s production of “Shrek: The Musical, Jr.” last summer, and he enjoyed it so much he decided to audition for “Camp Sunshine.” Riley said, “Without my sister, I never would have been interested in theater productions, so I’m glad she introduced me to it.” Outside of the theater, Riley keeps busy with track, baseball, basketball and archery.
While Bradbury wrote many musicals for Triopia, this is the first time “Camp Sunshine” will be performed there.
Olivia Curry is a junior at Triopia and shared, “I was involved in numerous productions at the Playhouse on the Square in Jacksonville in grade school and junior high. My favorite show was ‘Annie.’”
She continued, “The directors, Katie McDannald and Casey Suhling, are doing a fantastic job, and it has been so much fun. I have enjoyed getting close with all my classmates during the show. We tell each other everything. We truly have become such a family — we are each others’ biggest supporters.”
McDannald and Suhling were classmates at Triopia and performed in Bradbury’s productions of “Samson” and “The Miracle Kid.” They have returned to their alma mater to give the students the theater experience they enjoyed.
The cast of “Camp Sunshine” includes Ticen Crawford, Lily McEvers, Avery Garner, Jaxon Dion, Riley Lovekamp, Anna Isringhausen, Faith Embley, Eve Crawford, Olivia Curry, Evie Langley, Sydnie DeGroot, Keylie DeGroot, Jack Crews, Rhianna Lovekamp and Charlee Miller.
Show dates are April 19 and 20 at 7 p.m. and April 21 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $8 at the door.
