Questions? Email amstheaterclub@gmail.com

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

Spotlight On: Camp Rock Cast 

 It's that time of the year again when the AMS Theater Club is preparing its annual production. This year’s show is Disney’s Camp Rock: The Musical, based on Disney's hit movie Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. One unique feature of the AMS Theater Club is that students are involved in all areas of production with adult mentors.  An example is The Front Office, a crew that works on publicity, playbill and tickets.  Recently, Front Office reporters interviewed members of the cast to get an inside look at Camp Rock.

      I got the chance to interview one of the leads, Madelyn Gillespie. Madelyn’s role is a girl named Tess. As a part of the ‘Front Office’ I asked her a few questions about the show, and about what she likes about it. One thing Madelyn told me was that she loves doing the AMS Theater Club. She likes to dance, sing and hang out with her friends. She thought that doing Camp Rock this year would be cool; because she likes the whole Camp Rock show. The music and the dancing.  ~Hannah Rawitscher, 7^th grade

I had the opportunity to talk with Lauren Rohlfs and Drew Whitney from the AMS Theater Club. They have both participated in this program since fifth grade, where they were cast in “Beauty and the Beast”. Lauren was a servant with only one line, and Drew was a villager. Four years later, Drew and Lauren are still with AMS Theater Club. Drew and Lauren both agree that over the years the dances have become harder and they have become longer. In their opinions, “Can’t Back Down” and “Heart and Soul” are the hardest. They say that their favorite dance number is “It’s a Brand New Day” because there are so many people rocking it out together.  ~Julia Tilton, 5^th grade

This year the AMS Theater Club is performing the show, Camp Rock: The Musical. This show is based on Disney’s movie Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. I got a chance to interview Faith Farnham, who is part of the cast. Faith has been in the AMS Theater Club for 4 years. You may recognize her in this year’s play, because in last year’s production of Alice in Wonderland she played the Queen of Hearts.  She loves doing theater club because she gets to bond with the cast and become a team. This year she is playing the role of Dana, a girl from Camp Star. Her favorite part in the show this year is the dancing because it’s upbeat and fun. When asked who would like the show, she said, “Because the show is about a summer of music, people who are music lovers and people who can relate to show because they go to camp would really enjoy the show.” ~Kristin Meader, 7^th grade

As part of the Publicity Crew, I had the chance to interview cast member Shawn Latulippe. Shawn is an 8th grader and has been in the AMS Theater Club for 4 years. She told me that Camp Rock is about a group of kids having fun at summer camp and that her character, Lacy Williams, is really into herself and thinks she is an amazing performer. Shawn told me that she likes playing Lacy because she is normally a nice person but gets to play the part of a mean person.  I asked her what it is like being part of the AMS Theater Club and she said "it is cool because I get to do all my favorite things. I love to sing, dance and act, and all my friends are in the play so we have a good time".  She also told me that her favorite part of the show is the song “Fire”, which is one of the main songs of the play, and that there may be a surprise or two during the song.  Shawn also told me that she is planning on joining the Souhegan High School Theater Club next year and that she hopes that lots of people can come and see Camp Rock in March! ~ Charlotte Futrell, 5^th grade

You can see Disney’s Camp Rock: The Musical at the Amherst Middle School on March 14^th, 15^th and 16^th.  Tickets are $5 each and are available at Amherst Middle School, The Black Forest, and The Homestead.