June July August (Sinead Daly)

If there are two quintessential childhood experiences I never had it was summer camp and being a girl, thankfully Sinead Daly has given me enough to fake my way through it if ever asked with her play June July August which follows a group of junior counselors at a summer-camp throughout their three months molding young minds.

I would hesitate to call it a children’s play, but it’s definitely well-designed for schools or community theaters due to its large cast (20, which in this day and age is unheard of in professional companies,) light tone, and focus on the sorts of problems that would plague teenage girls.

With such a large cast and lots of time in-between acts most of the changes are based on inference or feeling: while not fully stock characters, we know the types of characters that populate this show: sheltered girl, queen bee, doddy elderly woman, unnerving quiet person, and the play doesn’t do anything to subvert these tropes.

It’s hardly a problem though, as the play whips along quickly and is just funny enough to keep you smiling all the way through. Some tragedy hits at the end of the second act, and the third act deals with that fallout, but like the best of our media that is suitable for young audiences it is populated with enough people for you to find someone to relate to, everyone has something lovable about them even at their worst, and it shows the audience how to grow from even the worst of circumstances.