If you’ve attended summer camp, you may be all too familiar with events that take place in Netflix’s newest musical, A Week Away. Yes, we’re talking about breaking out in dance and hitting high notes, all in fun and pleasure during the good ol’ camp days.
Unlike musicals such as High School Musical and Grease that we are accustomed to, this flick takes place at Camp Aweegaway, a solely Christian camp. In the summer musical, a troubled teen and orphan, the male protagonist, Will, played by Kevin Quinn, attends the camp in hopes of salvation. There, he runs into the camp owner’s daughter, Avery, played by Bailee Madison – oh, and he also has his bunkmate who vouches for him.
What’s a summer musical without some glimmering love and friendship entangled in between the dancing and singing?
The film's music, which is made up of Christian themes, is certainly the standout part of this film. One similarity to the above-mentioned musicals though? The cast, including the actors who play the teenage campers that TheThings interviewed, are not high schoolers.
However, since the Christianity aspect of the joyous musical is what sets it apart from its predecessors, TheThings spoke exclusively with Iain Tucker, Jahbril Cook and Kat Conner Sterling about their religious beliefs.
Speaking Of Their Upbringings
Are you all Christian? If not, how did you research the faith to prepare for the movie?
For Kat Conner Sterling, who plays the role of Presley, getting into character was relatively easy as growing up, her cherished summers were spent at camp as depicted in the film. "I guess it was easy for me because I had that experience," she said, with a glowing grimace.
Kat went on to explain that she was familiar with Christian tunes like "Big House" and "Awesome God" because they routinely played when she spent her summers away. As for the performance of "Big House" in the Netflix film, she exclaimed how ecstatic and proud she was that in the movie they adapted it into a song for teens to reflect the audience. In Kat's words, they made the song "cool." For Kat, it was like reliving her childhood, but this time, doing it as a job - how cool, right?
Iain Tucker, who plays the role of Sean, was raised Christian like his fellow co-star, Kat. As a star that identifies with Christianity, he didn’t fail to mention that the musical themes were ones he was familiar with as well because of his upbringing. Just like Kat, it's the world that he came from.
Speaking of the musical aspect of the camp flick, which focuses on themes of faith, forgiveness and grace, Iain spoke of his youth with fondness, saying, "I grew up listening to a lot of CCM music, so, it was just a kind of cool experience for me." How rad is it that the likes of CCM would vibrate in his household on the regular? That certainly helped him soothe into his role.
The young star, who's appeared in other films with smaller roles, is definitely still intact with his roots. When it was his turn to reply to the above question, he shared a sentiment that's all too familiar when we think of our pasts and the values that were ingrained in our minds as children; a little something called nostalgia. Iain stated, "The nostalgia was very real for me, the experience was cool and the themes were definitely relatable." For this talented fresh face, it was simple to "fall into this role."
As for Jahbril Cook, although he grew up attending church on a regular basis, over the years, he decided to solely identify as spiritual. When asked the question, the multitalented young actor replied, "I definitely grew up going to church, but kind of fell out of it. I definitely will identify as spiritual."
Through the guidance of his religious beliefs, he effortlessly identified with his character George, who's a teen that's a very supportive friend (especially to the male main character, Will). As a film that focuses primarily on acceptance, Jahbril was quickly able to get into character because of his welcoming past. To him, the film included "A good spectrum of characters and religious backgrounds."
The cast all seemed to share the same sentiment of nostalgia when speaking of their beliefs. Their "spirit" is definitely alive and thriving.