It’s All About the Drama in First Trailer for Quirky Comedy Theater Camp

There’s something about the summer camp setting that is just an inexhaustible supply for teenage pathos, isn’t there? All those raging hormones, barely supervised, coming together in a single location at the cusp of adulthood–even if you never experienced summer camp yourself, it’s a setting where we can easily imagine the awkwardness of our teenage selves, made manifest. No wonder the setting has been used for so many film and TV comedies over the years. And you can add another potential classic to the lineup in the form of the upcoming Theater Camp, which debuted its charming first trailer today. You can see that trailer below for the film, which is scheduled to hit U.S. theaters on July 14, 2023, via Searchlight Pictures. We caught it and enjoyed it when the film was first released at Sundance earlier this year.

This indeed does feel like a Searchlight sort of film, from the era that brought us the likes of Little Miss Sunshine, crossed with obvious references to Wet Hot American Summer and perhaps a dash of Wes Anderson. Directed by Booksmart‘s Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman, and starring Gordon and Dear Evan Hansen star Ben Platt, the film tells the story of a pair of young drama instructors overseeing a struggling theater camp in New York. As the official synopsis puts it:

Tony Award winner Ben Platt and Molly Gordon star in the new original comedy Theater Camp as Amos and Rebecca-Diane – lifelong best friends and drama instructors at a rundown camp in upstate New York. When clueless tech-bro Troy (Jimmy Tatro) arrives to run the property (into the ground), Amos, Rebecca-Diane and production manager Glenn (Noah Galvin) band together with the staff and students to stage a masterpiece, and keep their beloved summer camp afloat.

The trailer, meanwhile, stands out for some very funny lines from a variety of some of our favorite comedy faces, including Patti Harrison, Amy Sedaris and The Bear‘s Ayo Edebiri. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one, and will be hoping that Theater Camp can nail its soliloquy on July 14.