UPSTAGED

Your last summer at arts camp is the perfect time to tell your camp bestie you have a crush on her, right?

It’s the summer before high school, and Ashton Price is excited for their six-week arts camp. In addition to stage managing and building sets for the “Cinderella”-inspired musical Ella, they’ll bunk with lead actor Ivy Santos. She’s the “PB” to their “J”—and maybe more? But then, things start to go wrong. The friends are assigned to different cabins, rehearsals keep Ivy super busy, and worst of all, there’s Lucas—a.k.a. Prince Charming to Ivy’s Ella. He’s always there with Ivy, being charming, and Ash spirals into jealousy and depression. Can anything salvage this summer—and this friendship? Illustrated in warm, dusty pastels, Highland Arts Camp will delight lovers of theater and summer camp alike. Its inclusive environment features racially diverse, queer-friendly campers and all-gender cabins. Anxious and artistic Ash is a sympathetic character who often draws their hopes and fears as black-and-white scenarios in their journal. Their emotion-driven misjudgments and reactions hurt their friends, but Ash comes to understand their mistakes and apologizes. Ash has pale skin and dyed hair; Ivy has brown skin and wavy, two-toned brown hair, and Lucas has dark brown skin and tight black curls. The backmatter explains (and shows with diagrams) some of the theater effects the characters use.

Summer theater camp sets the perfect stage for an angsty, queer, and romantic middle school story.