Molly Gordon and Ben Platt appear in “Theater Camp.” (Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)
By Lucy Spicer
Her character is the beloved founder of the AdirondACTS theater camp. She’s mother to one son and mentor to hundreds of campers over the years, some of whom go on to become camp instructors themselves. The film’s first intertitles tell us that she, Joan Rubinsky, is the focus of the documentary crew’s project.
She’s also absent for 95% of the movie because she falls into a coma three minutes in. It’s the result of a strobe light–induced seizure at a middle school performance of Bye Bye Birdie.
Played by Amy Sedaris during her brief time on screen, Joan is nevertheless the beating heart of Theater Camp, a mockumentary directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman that premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Since she’s unconscious in the hospital while camp is in session, the documentary crew resorts to filming the person who fills in for Joan during her absence: her son, Troy (Jimmy Tatro), a wannabe financial influencer who knows nothing about theater and discovers the camp is on the brink of foreclosure.
Meanwhile, Joan’s spiritual presence is thick as the summer humidity. The children are cheering for her recovery. There’s a banner devoted to her hanging on the side of a cabin. The head of music theory, Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon), tries to channel her for guidance in a séance while the staff are making casting decisions for the camp’s shows.
And then there’s the session’s premier musical — written and directed every year by Rebecca-Diane and Amos (Ben Platt), head of drama, codependent best friends and teachers at the camp for the past decade. This year, it’s called Joan, Still. You guessed it, it’s all about Joan’s life. It’s sweeping. It’s tear-jerking. There’s a disco number that takes place inside Studio 54 where a giant papier-mâché nose snorts cocaine.
Joan isn’t just a teacher. Joan is mother. And while her own son never quite grasped her devotion to this scrappy camp full of near-obsessed children before, he’s still earnest in his efforts to save it now, because he loves his mom and he knows she loves AdirondACTS.
And there’s no question of AdirondACTS loving Joan back. Because cliquey and cutthroat as these campers may seem when they’re competing for roles, by opening night they’ve become family. That’s an invaluable experience for kids who often arrive at this place feeling like outcasts. “That’s why I built this camp,” says a recording of Joan in the first minutes of the film. “I wanted to make a place where anyone is free to be themselves.”
Joan knows that the camp has something to offer everyone. And it continues to do so in mysterious ways while she’s in the hospital. Even Janet (Ayo Edebiri), who told some magnificent lies on her résumé in order to get hired as a camp instructor, discovers some hidden teaching talents of her own despite her lack of qualifications. There’s space for all at the table, whether it’s belting out a solo, managing light cues, sewing costumes, or any of the other dozens of jobs on a production.
During the traditional confiscated booze–fueled staff hangout around a bonfire, the camp’s costume designer, Gigi (Owen Thiele, who runs away with every scene he’s in), makes a toast to Joan, recalling how she helped him find his niche as a kid.
“So I was a camper here. And Joan said to me, she looked me in the eyes, she said, ‘You’re untalented. You can’t dance, you can’t sing. You can’t act. You’re very bad at this. But you look amazing. Your skin is glowing, and your outfit is unbelievable.’ And she was right.”
So here’s to you, Joan. Your time on screen was short, but your place in our hearts is eternal.
