Theater camp is so hot right now. From the uproarious movie Theater Camp, to… Well, that’s it. Or, that was it, until Robin Easter released their sweet, funny Upstaged, a queer theater camp graphic novel slash fairy tale that focuses on the folks behind the scenes.
“A lot of queer media in the past has focused on coming out stories and prejudice and how all that affects someone, but queer people don’t stop existing after we come out,” Easter told Comic Book Club over email. “I want to make the stories that I wish I had as a kid: proof that queer joy exists and that there is community out there for anyone who needs it.”
To find out more about the book — which is in stores now! — read on.
Comic Book Club: I know from your bio you were a theater kid, and a camp counselor… How much of this is pulled from personal experience?
Robin Easter: So much. Ash has a lot of my younger self in them, my perfectionism and worries and the way I’m terrible at dealing with crushes. It’s not just Ash though, many of the other characters and the things that happen are inspired by my own experiences and the people I’ve met over time. The cabin inspection scene is a good example—I once had a camper who had hidden huge bags of chocolate and soda under their bed, thinking they could just sneak some snacks without me noticing. Luckily, I found their stash before the squirrels could.
We’ve had a real shift in graphic novels — and media — in recent years to show how younger folks are accepting of other people and their identities; it’s the norm, rather than the exception… What was it like depicting this, and how did it differ (if at all) from your own perspective?
This was a really important aspect of the book to me, having everyone’s identities not be a huge deal. It’s kind of aspirational, in a way. A lot of queer media in the past has focused on coming out stories and prejudice and how all that affects someone, but queer people don’t stop existing after we come out. I want to make the stories that I wish I had as a kid: proof that queer joy exists and that there is community out there for anyone who needs it.
I love the focus on backstage, using a stage manager as your entry to the world. Why was it important to have your main character in this role?
All of my experience in theater comes from backstage, making sets and props or helping design costumes. Everyone knows what happens on stage, but there’s a certain magic in looking behind the curtain. I wanted to be able to highlight all the work that goes on before the show even begins. Being stage manager also puts a lot of pressure directly onto Ash’s shoulders, and they take that pressure very seriously.
You chose Cinderella as the play the camp is doing… I think I know the answer here, but why was that the right show to go with?
I considered a couple of different shows, but I knew from the start that I wanted Ivy and Lucas to be playing a princess and her “prince charming.” A take on Cinderella solidified pretty quickly from there, not only because I felt the themes were relevant but because I became enamored with the mechanics of the transforming dress in other productions of that story. Funnily enough, my former camp announced they were performing Cinderella just a few weeks after I submitted the book’s script.
They’re very different stories and tones, but it’s hard not to read this and not think of Theater Camp… What is it that’s so engaging about theater camps as a setting?
I think theater camps are so fun because they’re this concentrated force of drama and emotion. Theater kids famously tend to be, well, rather theatrical, so throwing a bunch of them in a confined space and giving them only a few weeks to put on a show really amps everything up to eleven. With teenagers especially, the line between drama on stage and off tends to blur very quickly into a tangle of rivalries and relationships that might not happen otherwise.
Very important camp question: favorite food from the cafeteria?
I’m aware this is a very controversial choice, but cottage cheese. I think I had a scoop with just about every meal as a camper. My second choice would have to be classic chicken nuggets.
Getting into spoilers, there are a lot of different possible outcomes, and you ultimately settle on a very fairytale ending here. Were there other possibilities? Or per the Cinderella, was that glass slipper always going to fit?
I knew I wanted a happy ending from the start. Again, there’s the aspect of wanting to depict queer joy, but also I wanted to show that it’s possible to reach that happy ending even if (or when) your plans to get there might fail. That’s a lesson I had a really hard time internalizing as a kid, and even now as an adult it can be easy to forget.
Do you think there are more stories to tell about these characters? Or did you say what you need to say here?
I think I’ve told all of Ash and Ivy’s stories that I care to tell. They still live on in my head, going through the trials of high school and beyond, but I’m happy with where we leave them at the end of this book. If I were to return to this world for anyone, it’d probably be to explore Paige’s story more. I ended up getting very attached to her while working on Upstaged, so I wouldn’t be too surprised if she still had more to say.
Upstaged is in stores now from Little, Brown & Company.
