Spotlight On: Camp Rock Crew

The AMS Theater Club’s performance of Disney’s Camp Rock: The Musical is coming soon, but it takes far more than a cast to make it possible. The crew works hard backstage during the weeks before the show painting sets, practicing make-up, finding props, and much, much more. The Front Office Crew sat down with some crew members and here’s what they found out!  Performances of Camp Rock: The Musical will be held at Amherst Middle School.  Showtimes are March 14^th at 7pm, March15^th at 7pm, and March16^th at 2pm & 7pm. Tickets are available for $5.00 at The Homestead, The Black Forest Café, and The Amherst Middle School Main Office. Come and enjoy the show!

Kristin Meader and Hannah Rawitscher, two members of the ‘Front Office’, had the chance to interview Janie Campbell—one of the other crew members. Janie is on the Hair and Makeup Crew; she’s working on making sure the audience can actually see the cast members’ faces, and making sure that the cast looks just like their roles. She’s been doing the AMS Theater Club for four years. Out of those four years, she’s been in one play—and for the rest, she has done Hair and Makeup. She added that if she couldn’t do Hair and Makeup, she would do Set Design. Or if there was fashion design, she would like that also. Janie says that she loves being in the AMS Theater Club because it’s a lot of fun being with your friends, and having something to do after school. “Out of all of the plays that I’ve done, I think Dear Edwina was the most fun!” Janie Campbell said.

As part of the Front Office crew, Julia Tilton had the chance to sit down and talk to the Marketplace Crew. Before she even started to ask her questions, she noticed that they were all wearing funky silly bands in a variety of colors. They explained that they were one of the products being sold at the show. Another thing that will appear at their “Marketplace” will be Lolligrams for members of the cast and crew. This crew also does one raffle basket per show to raise money for the AMS Theater Club. When asked if they’ve enjoyed this extracurricular activity, they all nodded simultaneously. “It’s fun to socialize with others” said Rowen Bentley-Melle, a member of the Marketplace crew. “I hope your sales are a success!” Julia said at the end of the interview.

As part of the Front Office Crew, Rebecca Benjamin sat down with Brenna Desborough to ask her some questions about Camp Rock. Brenna has been part of the AMS Theater Club crew for four years. She is on the Set Design crew. Her favorite part of the program is being able to express your ideas, be creative, and have fun. Some things that we will see on the set are “Camp scenes and for Camp Star, a lot of glitter.” Some surprises include lots of props, and not just painted things.  Brenna’s favorite show was, “Alice in Wonderland because the set was really cool.” 

            Julia Tilton had the chance to interview some of the first year students on the Props crew. The crew members were Laura Pease, Dylan Carlson, and Priya Gavini. Dylan Carlson explained that one thing they are currently debating is whether to make a guitar or borrow one. “One thing we were thinking is to have guitar-shaped slices of wood stacked on top of each other.” Another idea is to possibly make the guitar out of mixed materials. Other props that may appear in the show are banners, songbooks, and cell phone covers. The purpose of the cell phone covers would be as substitutes for the actual cellphones needed for the show. All the crew members agreed that if they had the choice they would definitely do this again.

Charlotte Futrell sat down with Camden Patt to ask her some questions about Camp Rock. Camden has been doing AMS Theater Club for four years now and has only done crew. She has done Set Design, Playbill, and is currently doing Hair and Make-up.  Camden explained why she participates - “I like Theater Club because there’s a lot of fun stuff to do and you feel like you’re helping out. I’m not involved in any other theater club.  AMS is the one.” Her favorite crew assignment has been face-painting the Flowers in Alice in Wonderland.  When asked if she would change anything if she was the director, Camden responded, “No, the show is great and I don’t think anything could change at this point. The director knows what she’s doing.”  Camden believes adults and children would enjoy Camp Rock because it is a fun and energetic play.

-Written by the AMS Theater Club Front Office Crew: Kristin Meader, Hannah Rawitscher, Charlotte Futrell, Rebecca Benjamin, and Julia Tilton