Jeff Kramer’s a funny dude.
His time as the humor columnist for the Post-Standard from 2003 to 2011 will show that he can make you laugh with his writing.
Kramer, who turns 50 in April, is trying his hand at a different kind of funny writing with his play Reaching for Marsby, which opens at 8 p.m. Friday at the Oncenter’s BeVard Studio.
“This play is really a labor of love,” Kramer said in a sit-down interview last week.
To understand the play, one must try to figure out Kramer, a slick-witted man who doesn’t take life too seriously. Kramer grew up in Seattle before moving to Southern California to take a columnist job at a newspaper. He and his wife, who’s from the Westvale area of Syracuse, had children and enjoyed the west-coast life, before deciding to come to New York.
“It was really just time for a change,” Kramer said.
So, Kramer and his family packed up and headed to DeWitt, where he landed the job at the Post-Standard. In 2007, he decided he wanted to branch out from journalistic writing to pen a play titled Lowdown Wise, about a reluctant vasectomy patient.
Last year, he left his job as columnist and decided to delve back into play writing.
“Journalism is a very narrative voice,” he said. “It was very good training to move to play writing. It’s similar in the dialogue.”
In his columns, Kramer usually took topics and poked fun at them in a tasteful way. With this play, Kramer says the humor will be a bit different.
“You’re going to have to go to the bathroom before you sit down,” he said. “This play is crazy funny.
“[Marsby] is about a lummoxy American actor who just isn’t very good.”
He didn’t, though, get the part through good acting. Mark Eischen, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound man known in the area as “The Single Guy” on 93Q, plays the role of Gary Blenkinsopp, and he lands the lead role because the person originally wanted was unable to do it. So it fell to Blenkinsopp.
“[He’s an] actor of limited abilities who heads to England on a lark and finds success in spite of himself,” Kramer said. He originally submitted his audition via the internet, and receives as rejection letter, one which he misinterprets. He goes international and puts on a horrible audition, and many things fall into place.
He ends up the lead in an obscure comedy which boasts a “hostile English cast and crew,” Kramer said. The actor who was chosen originally leaves to go to America to do voice-overs.
“[The director and crew] are up against it,” Kramer said. “They end up with this guy who is extremely American and undisciplined, very not British. He does a horrible accent and he does it in inappropriate situations.”
He said one of the best moments in the play is when Blenkinsopp has to don a dress.
“it’s hilarious to see a guy that big in a dress,” he added.
Kramer said the play should elicit many emotions.
“This play has heart,” he said. “It’ll make you laugh, think and it’s beautifully acted. It’s just terrific.”
Kramer spent the better part of three years completing the script, and says he feels good about it, but hopes “it’s not brainless.”
The idea for Marsby came about in Kramer’s time in Spain. He spent a year there teaching English, but lived mainly with British teachers. He said he picked up the way they speak and that “it got into my blood.”
“It’s interesting how Americans are perceived, how important we are, or how irrelevant they are to us” Kramer said. “Think of Mr. Magoo. That’s sort of the way we are.”
Kramer said the characters are easy to relate to. Kris Rusho plays Lisa Stucky; Brendon Cole portrays both Edwin Cheddar and Jasper Scogsbourne; Karis Wiggins is Meredith Twillsbury; Michael O’Neill plays Blane Meek; Peter Moller, a Syracuse University professor, doubles as Richard Spence/Mansfield Cox; Maureen Harrington is Cordelia Waynewright and Orpha Cox while Len Fonte, a retired Nottingham High School teacher, is the director.
Kramer said a lot of the situational humor comes out thanks to some solid directing.
Fonte has directed more than 50 plays in his life, and says this play will stand out to those who aren’t into plays because Kramer does such a good job relating the characters to real life.
“Yeah, some of it is really quirky, but Jeff’s sense of humor really appeals,” he said. “He’s kind of like the guy next door, and that really shows.”
He also spoke about the talented cast.
“It’s a Cracker Jack cast,” he added. “The talent is there, but I’m floored by the dedication of everyone. Because of that, you get a bunch of types of humor. You get verbal, slapstick, but there’s also a very nice sentiment. This guy is goofy, yes, but halfway through he awakens to who he really is, and I think the audience will really like that. It’s an enriching experience.”
The play o pens Friday, and there is another showing on Saturday at 8 p.m. as well as a 4 p.m. showing on Sunday.
For more information on the cast and a complete list of dates and times you can catch the show, please visit www.reachingformarsby.com.
Neil Benjamin Jr. can be reached at [email protected].
