Q&A: Camp Wanapoke creator & star Alex Brown on the return of the hit improv show

The staff of Camp Wanapoke. Photo by Saima Ahmed.

Following a pair of sold-out shows back in 2015, a group of seasoned Montreal improvisers are teaming up once again to present Camp Wanapoke, a completely unscripted live show set within the confines of the fictional summer camp in 1979.

We caught up with the show’s creator / producer and star Alex Brown to discuss the inspiration behind the show, her favourite camp movies, and how the story evolves each night. Camp Wanapoke also stars Emily Bilton, Martha Graham, David Kaufman, D.J. Mausner, Taylor McMillan, Mark Rostrup and Jaymie Guy Metivier. Camp Wanapoke runs from June 9 – 19 at the Mainline Theatre (3997 St. Laurent) as part of Montreal’s Fringe. Tickets and showtime information are available here.

Brown is also producing The Kicker for Fringe, which follows the producer of an 80’s sitcom dealing with a staff revolt after trying to fire the show’s outspoken star. Tickets and showtimes are here. Both Camp Wanapoke and The Kicker are featured in our list of 7 can’t-miss Fringe shows – check out the full list here.

What drew you all to the summer camp theme?

I went to camp for about 10 summers in a row as both a camper and and a counselor and it was such a huge part of growing up for me, so it’s definitely a bit of me trying to relive my time at camp. There’s also so much fun that can happen in the realm of camp in terms of putting on a show. Romance, rivalries, pranks, all kinds of stuff that can happen when you take a bunch of city kids out of the city and let them loose in the woods. Otherwise there’s a definite nod to movies like Wet Hot American Summer and Meatballs, which are so classic and fun.

Top 5 favourite camp movies?

Wet Hot American Summer because literally every person involved in that movie is the most hilarious/talented/sexy.

Meatballs because Bill Murray.

The Parent Trap, which is not ‘technically’ a camp movie, but there’s a scene where Lindsay Lohan and Lindsay Lohan eat oreos dunked in peanut butter, which was a huge influence on my after-school snacking.

Camp, which is basically the story of a bunch of horny musical theatre kids in the woods which I am not ashamed to admit was very relate-able growing up.

Addams Family Values, because the story Wednesday Addams tells her cabin-mates about all their old noses growing back is the most haunting campfire story of all time.

How much of each show is improvised / based on crowd suggestions?

The show is completely improvised so going into it each night we have no idea what will happen. We get a suggestion from the audience off the top and just go with it. We’ve been practicing a bit of structure with our director Vance Gillis in terms of framework in a narrative sense, just so the story progresses and there are different arcs throughout each show

What can you tell us about your character?

We don’t really have pre-established characters, except we know who will be the protagonists and the antagonists for each show. We’re such a big cast, especially for an improvised show, so we want to make sure everyone has a goal and a desire for each show. Other than that we’ll all be blank slates off the top of the show and our characters will develop throughout. We do have some special guests (Danny Belair, Paul Solomon, James McGee, Jess Fildes) coming in who will have some general ideas of the kind of character they’ll be playing.

Do your characters remain similar throughout the shows? Or do they evolve along with the situations?