Julie Kramer
DIRECTOR WRITER EDUCATOR
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.
As a director, Julie is known for her rigorous approach to text, deep collaboration with writers, actors and designers, feminist perspective and antic touch. Upcoming: THE SCREAM INSIDE by Lynn Rosen (Working Theater). Recent directing: MARY POPPINS (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.
She was a 2018-19 Audrey resident at New Georges in collaboration with playwright Lynn Rosen on the play LEGERDEMAIN (SLEIGHT OF HAND).
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.
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.
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.
She hates to break it to you, but THE OFFICE did not actually film in Scranton.
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
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
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
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