Get ready to laugh with the latest production of ACT II Community Theatre, Dear Camp. This play explores the journey of Hildy, a recently widowed woman, preparing to sell her husband’s hunting camp. With the help of some friends, the story takes us on a journey of memories, mysteries, and joy mixed with a full liquor cabinet.
I had the chance to speak with the writer Lisa MacDonald about the backstory of Dear Camp. Lisa lives in eastern part of the Upper Peninsula and is an active member in the local theatre. Over the years, it has been challenging to find plays that fit the interests of the area, so Lisa took the matter into her own hands. Relating to her community, Dear Camp is a twist on a traditional deer camp, and as Lisa described “a Midwest production”. In 2019, Lisa submitted the play to the Michigan Playwrights Festival sponsored by Theatre Nova in Ann Arbor. Out of 40 submissions, Dear Camp was one of seven selected for a professional reading. Since then, the play has only been performed twice. Lisa shared that the play is meant for an older audience as it is intertwined with adult humor and language, but still enjoyable for all.
Through a network of connections, Lisa reached out to ACT II Community Theatre’s Director, Tom McClure, to inquire about the Albion’s interest in performing the play. Tom jump on the chance to bring something new and unique to perform in our community. Now, Albion has a fun opportunity to be one of the first communities to perform and enjoy Dear Camp. ACT II Director, Tom McClure described the play as “a warm, heart wrenching, belly, laughing comedy about life at the end and beginning of a deer camp, a topic enduring to those Michigan deer hunters.”
Experience the humor of Dear Camp at the Bohm Theatre May 16th – 18th at 7PM and 19th at 2PM. Learn why it’s “Dear Camp”!
By Cassidy Porter