Community Day Show #2: Snappy Campers

written by the Moon Houston

Do you miss summer camp? Do you miss gathering ‘round the fire and singing songs with lyrics you don’t quite understand? When you finally think to look them up, do you say to yourself “Huh? Who wrote this?” Did you never go to summer camp, but always wished you had? Do you not know what “summer” or “camp” even is?

Well, come along, Snappy Campers! Kami Henderson (all pronouns) and Blake Benson (she / her) performed together in last year’s Joy Who Lived production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and, I quote, “trauma bonded” over their shared love of improv and musical theater. So they made a musical improv show! After they trauma bonded, they did what all busy people in Los Angeles do (met on Zoom) and wondered what else they had in common: they were both raised “very Christian,” love their communities, and have “camp counselor energy.” 

Benson described herself as “a bitch who loves play in all forms” and loves “[facilitating] environments of play.” She’s also a game designer. Creating good vibes is basically her day job. The duo set out to create a show set in an adult summer camp, something with a good heart, for people who didn’t get those experiences as kids; and in this way they realized they created a show that was “accidentally trans.” Isn’t that beautiful?

Benson and Henderson recommend this show for people who:

• have siblings

• don’t have siblings

• loved Ted Lasso season 1

• liked Ted Lasso seasons 2 & 3

• thought Ted Lasso seasons 2 & 3 were just okay

• former summer camp kids turned adults

• really wanted a rock tumbling kit as a kid

  • or even to this day

• love of cool rocks

• love campfire songs but can’t make a smore to save their life

• say “I’m a lover, not a fighter”

• say “I’m a fighter, not a lover’

I mentioned how I would describe my gender to the duo, and Kami said they would describe theirs as a “sturdy cork board.” You can put anything on it, notes, grocery lists, your keys if you have the right hook, art, rubber bands and yarn to pull together your camp conspiracy theory, and you can take stuff down. You can do anything! I felt like that was a great metaphor for summer camp, all things camp energy, adults getting in tune with their inner child, improv musical theater, anything! Isn’t that beautiful!

Snappy Campers will be at the LGBT Center in Los Angeles as a part of Trans Community Day on April 11, 2026, showtime at 2 pm. Tickets available at https://joywholived.com/events/community-day.