The Nova Show poster
Presented by Nova Comedy Collective
Hosted by David Thomas
Directed by Michael Trainor
Video by Ryan Dalley
Creator and showrunner: Kayleigh Kane
Featuring: Gwen Coburn, Colleen Donahue, Nick Perron, Kristina Feliciano, John Serpico, Erin Lee, Anthony Zonfrelli, Sumeet Sarin, Hannah Breen, Kylie Rolincik.
Guest performers: drag performer Stabitha Christie, rapping comedy duo Magically Delicious, and standup comedian Will Smalley.
Chill tunes provided by D.J. TJ Reynolds and Todd Brunel on the saxophone
June 14, 2025
The Rockwell
Davis Square
255 Elm Street
Somerville, MA 02144
Online Playbill
Eventbrite Page
Critique by Kitty Drexel
SOMERVILLE, Mass. — June 14 was a busy day. “No Kings” protesters gathered peacefully in downtown Boston while the Pride for the People parade marched from Copley Square to the Common. For some, it was a long day of fighting fascist tyranny while celebrating another year of queer survival. After a rainy Saturday of marching, dancing and rebelling, an evening of libations and laughter watching Nova Comedy Collective’s “Camp Camp” in the warm belly of The Rockwell’s black box theater hit the spot.
The Rockwell has become home to members of the local improv, comedy and standup community after Improv Boston, a People’s Republic of Camberville favorite for comedic relief, ceased its operations in 2023. The Nova Comedy Collective is one of the resident organizations that rose from Improv Boston’s ashes. NCC is here to deliver comedy in its many forms to weekend matinees, early evening and late night crowds (schedule pending) over a cold adult beverage while farting into a folding chair of suspicious stability.
“The Nova Show: Camp Camp” arrives just in time to also celebrate Friday the 13th. It’s an homage to and parody of summer camp movie tropes: optimistic counselors lacking basic survival skills, clueless campers wandering into known danger, murder, foraging animals, ouija boards, and perpetual teen horniness. With moose music for Tarantino, light improv, sketch, science rap, and clothed knife-drag, we eventually discover why iguanas are bisexual but alligators are not. (The first few rows may be at risk of audience participation.)
The tiny-shorts-wearing counselors of Camp Camp welcome the audience attendees as if they are campers. It’s going to be the “best summer of your lives!” they tell us, but you must follow three rules:
- Always have a buddy.
- Always be aware of your surroundings.
- There is a zero tolerance policy for bullying.
And! Simon is missing. Camp Camp hasn’t lost a camper to murder in a year. Did Simon follow the rules? Is he lost to the mysteries of the forest? The only way to find out is to watch the show.
NCC’s “The Nova Show: Camp Camp” is at 9:30 PM on Saturday night. It lacks the finesse of a 7PM family mainstage show. But, if it’s 9:30 PM on a Saturday in June, are you really in the mood for a sophisticated variety hour with nuanced takes on the human experience? Or, do you want to revel in silly jokes about making out with your camp bestie and dive bombing, non-binary hawks? It’s already been a tough four years, and it’s only June of 2025: low stakes Bro humor and silliness over beers it is.
To be fair, standup comedian Will Smalley tells stories that delve into the gay human experience. His jokes have layers and nuance. But, Smalley’s set is immediately followed by a sketch about pitching a tent. This clever sketch also has layers; it incorporates a voice like a 40s instructional movie; the camper makes the tent incorrectly, etc. …And it’s a sketch about pitching a tent in a show titled “Camp Camp.”
Some feedback: Cast members need to wait a little longer for audience applause to die down before coming in with their next lines. The applause of dozens is louder than your unmiked voice. We want to hear the entire joke. Please give the audience a few extra seconds of drunken clapping before saying your next line.
“The Nova Show: Camp Camp” is fun. This is college-level humor that doesn’t try too hard or expect you to think too hard either. It is not campy. I laughed a lot as I drank my $20, 12 oz beverage. If that is what you expect from your sketch comedy experience, you’ll have a wonderful time, too. Right now, being silly and living in the moment is an act of resistance. It’s never too soon or too late to reclaim your joy from the corporate shills who would work you to death to make their billions.
