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Julie Kramer

Julie Kramer is a critically-acclaimed director, writer, and activist. She directed her adaptation of Rona Jaffe’s bestseller THE BEST OF EVERYTHING at HERE in New York, which Ben Brantley described as “neither a delirious sendup nor a mordant, finger-wagging deconstruction…refreshingly free of the ‘aren’t we clever’ self consciousness that often accompanies such excursions into the pop-culture past…There is a welcome humility at work here, which in turn creates a feeling of unvarnished transparency”. THE BEST OF EVERYTHING was a New York Times and Time Out “Critics Pick”, and is published by Dramatists Play Service.  It will have an upcoming production at Main Street Theater in Houston in 2023.

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As a director, Julie is known for her rigorous approach to text, deep collaboration with writers, actors and designers, feminist perspective and antic touch.    She recently directed an episode of the webseries GASBAG by Lynn Rosen  Other recent includes THE SCREAM INSIDE by Lynn Rosen (Working Theater); MARY POPPINS (BEST MUSICAL - Houston Theater Awards - TUTS, Houston) and INDECENT (Fordham).  Regional credits include A CHORUS LINE (BEST MUSICAL - Houston Theatre Awards - TUTS, Houston) and MISS BENNETT: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY and OUTSIDE MULLINGAR (Pioneer Theater, Salt Lake City, Utah). New York credits include IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT by Bixby Elliot (The Tank), SANTA DOESN’T COME TO THE HOLIDAY INN by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder (Marathon, Ensemble Studio Theatre), AND…ACTION by Eleanor Burgess (Keen Company), HILLARY: A MODERN GREEK TRAGEDY WITH A (SOMEWHAT) HAPPY ENDING by Wendy Weiner (New Georges), NONE OF THE ABOVE by Jenny Lyn Bader (The Lion), PEARL’S GONE BLUE by Leslie Kramer (Best Musical FringeNYC), ANDREW SECUNDA’S ONE WOMAN SHOW (Upright Citizens Brigade Theater) and several productions at NYU/Strasberg.

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She was a 2018-19 Audrey resident at New Georges in collaboration with playwright Lynn Rosen on the play LEGERDEMAIN (SLEIGHT OF HAND).

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She has developed new work at theaters including The Public, New Dramatists, Dorset Theater Festival, The New York Musical Festival, and Pioneer Theater. She directed three shows for the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival and was a Young Director in Residence at Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Julie is on the faculty of The Tepper Semester/Syracuse University, and is a member of SDC, where she served on the Political Engagement Committee and co-captained the 2020 Election Task Force, organizing members for the Biden, Osoff and Warnock campaigns.  

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She ran Info Sessions with Changing the Conversation Together, training volunteers in deep canvassing to flip the Presidential election in Pennsylvania and knocked on doors for 2018 midterms.  She is also trained in Level 1 Intimacy Direction through IDI.

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Julie grew up in Scranton, PA.  Her parents loved stories, and introduced her to books, movies, and plays.  Her dad Howard Kramer ran Kramer Beef, the business started by his father, and worked in insurance.  Her mother Rita Nivert Kramer was a teacher and ran an all female art gallery.   Her grandparents came to Scranton from Ukraine, Hungary and England.

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She hates to break it to you, but THE OFFICE did not actually film in Scranton.

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Productions (selected credits)
 

The Scream Inside by Lynn Rosen                                                                             

Mary Poppins                                                                                                    Theater Under the Stars, Houston, TX

Indecent by Paula Vogel                                                                                  Fordham, NYC

The Working Theater, NYC

A Chorus Line                                                                                                     Theater Under the Stars, Houston, TX        

Take Ten: 2019 Aspen Play Lab                                                                      Aspen, CO                                                        

Miss Bennett:  Christmas at Pemberley                                                            Pioneer Theater, Salt Lake City, UT             

     by Lauren Gunderson and Margo Melcon 

If On a Winter's Night by Bixby Elliot                                                             The Tank                                                          

Santa Doesn't Come to the Holiday Inn by Elyzabeth Wilder                     Ensemble Studio Theatre                             

And Action by Eleanor Burgess                                                                       The Keen Company, NYC                               

Outside Mullingar by John Patrick Shanley                                                 Pioneer Theatre, Salt Lake City, UT              

I, A Life by Jason Kravits                                                                                  54 Below                                                         

The Best of Everything adaptor and director                                               HERE, NYC                                                       

     The New York Times and Time Out Critics’ Pick                                       New Georges (workshop)                            

   “Top 10 Plays of 2012,” The Huffington Post  

     published by Dramatists Play Service

Pearl’s Gone Blue, music by Gabriel Gordon,                                              FringeNYC                                                      

      book/lyrics by Leslie Kramer

  Overall Excellence Award—Best Production, Musical2011

Mother Load by Amy Wilson                                                                          National Tour                                                 

                                                                                                                           The Sage Theater, NYC                                 

Baby Love by Christen Clifford, choreography Julie Atlas Muz                 Hourglass Group/45 Bleecker, NYC            

                                                                                                                           Uno Festival; Victoria, Canada                     

                                                                                                                           Mesto Zensk; Ljubljana, Slovenia                

Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy with a (Somewhat) Happy Ending            New Georges, NYC                                           

  by Wendy Weiner 

None of the Above by Jenny Lyn Bader                                                          The Lion/Rhoda Herrick, NYC                      

                                                                                                                            New Georges, NYC                                        

Elements of Style by Wendy Weiner                                                               FringeNYC                                                       

Out of Mind by Jenny Lyn Bader                                                                     NYU Practicum/Strasberg, NYC                  

Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gilman                                                                    NYU/Strasberg, NYC                                     

It’s a Hit, music by David Weinstein, lyrics by Melissa Levis,

   book by Beth Saulnier                                                                                  FringeNYC                                                      

The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler                                                            Scranton Cultural Center                             

Judy Speaks, co-creator with Mary Birdsong,                                                HBO/Aspen Comedy Festival, CO               

HBO/Aspen Comedy Festival, CO

   songs by George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, and E.Y. Harburg

17 Guys I Fucked by Christen Clifford                                                             WomenCenterStage/cultureproject          

You Should Have Brought Your Mink by Jenny Lyn Bader                             New Georges/Dawn Powell Festival          

Andrew Secunda’s One Woman Show by Andrew Secunda                             Upright Citizens Brigade, NYC                    

  “Best of 2001—Comedy,” Time Out New York

Searching for the 60s by Wendy Weiner                                                         American Living Room Festival/HERE       

Taught by Sean Conroy                                                                                     HBO/Aspen Comedy Festival, CO              

                                                                                                                             Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, NYC     

A Cookie Full of Arsenic by Amy Wilson                                                           HBO/Aspen Comedy Festival, CO              

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New Play Development (selected credits)
 

That Was Fun by Chad Kaydo                                                                           Take Ten Festival, NYC

The Aviatrix music by Casey O'Neil book/lyrics by Lily Dwoskin                 The Tepper Semester/Syracuse, NYC

Oneida music by Lizzie Hagstadt book/lyrics by Beth Blatt                        The Tank, NYC

The Machine by Matthew Libby                                                                        Pioneer Theatre, Salt Lake City, UT

Legerdemain by Lynn Rosen                                                                             New Georges/Audrey Residency

Pepetual Girl by Wendy Weiner                                                                        Pioneer Theatre, Salt Lake City, UT             

Requiem for August Moon by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder                              Pioneer Theatre, Salt Lake City, UT              

Bernhard by Lynn Rosen                                                                                  New Dramatists, NYC                                    

Slow Food by Wendy MacLeod                                                                       Pioneer Theatre, Salt Lake City, UT

Rachel music by Jared Field, book/lyrics by Jessie Field                              NYMF

True Art by Jessica Provenz                                                                             Pioneer Theatre, Salt Lake City, UT 

Mona Lisa Speaks by Jenny Lyn Bader                                                          Guild Hall, Southhampton

(with Tovah Feldshuh)                                                                                     Theater 167

The Bootlegger and the Rabbi’s Daughter,

   music by John Mercurio, book/lyrics by Tajlei Levis                                The Dorset Theatre Festival, VT

                                                                                                                            New York Musical Festival, NYC

The Unfortunate Squirrel, music by Nicole Hale, Ronnie Reshef,

   Tom Swafford, Frederick Alden Terry and Jana Zielonka

   book/lyrics by Sonya Sobieski                                                                   Emerging Artists NYC

True Art by Jessica Provenz                                                                            The Directors Studio, NYC

Andromeda by Jessica Provenz                                                                      Juilliard, NYC

The Best of Everything adaptor and director                                                New Georges 

Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy with a (Somewhat) Happy Ending

   by Wendy Weiner (workshop)

  recipient, New Georges Special Project Grant                                          The Public Theater, NYC

Nixon’s Daughters by Jacqueline Brogan (workshop)                                  Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, CT

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Additional

Tepper Semester/Syracuse University Faculty, 2016-present​

SDC Political Engagement Committee, 2017-2020

New Georges Associate Artist, 1995-present

Ensemble Studio Theatre Young Directors Residency Program, 2003-2004

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Education

University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, PA

B.A. English Literature,  cum laude, Dean’s List, Distinction in major for honors thesis on theater and political change

Alice Paul Award for production of The Women’s Theatre Festival at Penn

 

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