Acts and Answered: Rob Kramer

December 9, 5:55 PMDenver Theater ExaminerDeb Flomberg

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Acts and Answered with Rob Kramer

Rob Kramer has worked on just about every stage in town and with every actor and every director in town. He’s a director, an actor, and a teacher. His performances have been reviewed several times in this column, and I’ve always enjoyed watching him on stage. I also recently posted about some personal struggles that he has been going through, and through it all he has remained an optimistic, charismatic, and incredibly talented man. I truly enjoyed this interview, and I hope you will as well. And now – Acts and Answered with Rob Kramer.

Q. What is your favorite theatre to visit as a patron?
A. I have always loved blackbox theatre. I love going to a theatre where you feel part of the experience. Theatres like Miners Alley or Vintage or Evergreen. When you are so close to them, in such a small space, it is so easy to feel emotionally connected to the people on stage.

Q. What makes a good show?
A. What we do is storytelling. If you have a good story and the characters are true and what they play is heartfelt, then it is a good show. That’s what I look for in theatre. I go to so many small theatres, and the difference between them and a really large space is that you can be absolutely real. All of a sudden you have actors not acting, just being and just feeling.
 

All of a sudden you have actors not acting, just being and just feeling."

Q. What makes a bad show?
A. I put it on the director. A good director can save a lot of problems in a show. Even if the script is weak, even if the actors are inexperienced, tech is limited or there are other physical constraints. The director can manage the talent in the show and it won’t be bad.  A good director can make a show at least satisfactory.

Kramer in Spotlight Theatre's 12 Angry Men Photo by Brian Miller

Q. What got you into theatre?
A. I always wanted to be in theatre but I was always an athlete instead. Once, I was cast in The Taming of the Shrew when I was in high school. I didn’t realize that rehearsals would conflict with football practices, so the theatre director kicked me out because I would miss so many rehearsals. 
Fast forward many years and I was teaching in my 30s. I was asked to teach a Shakespeare course and that lead to several classes and workshops. Then, about the 3rd year, someone asked me about my training, and I confessed that I’d never been on stage or had a class in directing or acting, but I’d always wanted to. My students then took it upon themselves to scan my picture from the year book and turn that into a head shot. They made up a fake acting resume and made an appointment for me for an audition. They told me the day before the audition, and I figured I’d go. I got the lead in Murder on the Nile. 
Now, I direct and act a lot, but as I continue to work with so many people I would ask lots of questions and read lots of books. I’m completely self taught, but I am a product of all the actors and directors in this town who have taken me in and taught me. I still feel like I am not a finished product though …I am still learning. 

...I am a product of all the actors and directors in this town who have taken me in and taught me."

 Q.  You were recently diagnosed with Cancer and there has been a lot of outreach from the community. How does that make you feel?
A. I think for all their shortcomings, for all the things that you can say about actors and people that do theatre, they love more completely and more genuinely than any other group of people that I’ve ever met. And it says a lot about the acting community. No one has a lot of money, and they all found it in their heart to reach out and help me. People that hardly know me, that had seen me on stage or just had friends that know me -  even they donated money. 

Q. How did such generosity affect you?
A. The enemy in life isn’t death…it is stopping living before you die. People that stop living and stop growing and stop learning. I never see that with actors. Or any people in the theatre community. It is what makes them incredibly special. I have been so incredibly moved by what people have done for me. I hope that I have many long years to repay them all.

The enemy in life isn’t death…it is stopping living before you die."

Q. What does the average patron not know about theatre?
A. I don’t think they realize the level of self sacrifice that everyone that is involved in a production goes through. People assume we do it for a living – and they don’t realize just how much of our time goes into something like that. It’s an amazing thing if a movie rehearses for two weeks, but they don’t realize that if a play is being produced how much more effort goes into it. And most of the time it is by people that are working full time jobs during the day. And if you think about it, it is a compliment by people if they don’t realize what happens.

Q. How can we get more people excited about live local theatre?
A. I think honestly it's getting them in the door the first time. I think there is so much to be excited about in theatre – it’s just getting them in the first time and giving them an opportunity to have a home. And it’s being a part of the community. That’s what Vintage is trying to do. They are trying to be active and supported by their community. It’s what has kept us going at Miners Alley – to have a community for support. We need to invite people in. You reach out to kids or to seniors. You reach out to the working stiff on the street. You invite them to be an usher or to run box office or build sets. Get the community involved. Then it becomes something that people become a part of.  

 Another key is making every show count. There is an old story about Joe DiMaggio. He was playing a game that was 0 and 3. Then, towards the end of the game he went up to bat, and managed to score a single to make it 1 to 3. He was asked why he bothered to run so fast and work so hard just for a single. And he responded that there were people in the stadium today that have never been to a baseball game and I don’t want them thinking I’m a bum. I think we need to look at theatre like that. We have an obligation as theatre people to put forth our best heart and soul and intellect into each show. To make each and every show our best, because it may be the first show that someone has ever seen. 

Q. Where can we see you next?
A. I am directing Romeo and Juliet for Vintage Theatre. It is going to be set at the California/Mexico border and the two families are business rivals. The whole show revolves around the whole idea about what it is to have money in America and to embrace your heritage.

Q. What is one movie you can recite line for line?
A. The Princess Bride for sure. Oh and I can pretty much do Hamlet line for line too.

Q. What would you tell young actors that want to pursue a future in theatre?

Paul Page, Roger Simon, and Rob Kramer in 12 Angry Men. Photo by C. Smith

Q. Is there anything else you would like to share?
A. I want to tell people that the bravest thing that you can do is try to share yourself with strangers. Teachers do it every day. Actors do it every day. The more we do that the more we become a community and we become part of a society that will be part of ourselves. I encourage people to do that and reach out; weather it is through theatre or other areas, but work hard to make your own life have meaning.  

 ...the bravest thing that you can do is try to share yourself with strangers."