Meet Milo Cramer

Tell us a bit about your background

I got a BA from Bard College and then spent 10 years in Brooklyn self-producing indie theater with my friends. Our kaleidoscopic Chekhov adaptation MINOR CHARACTER: SIX TRANSLATIONS OF UNCLE VANYA AT THE SAME TIME played at The Public Theater's international Under-the-Radar festival in 2019, right before the pandemic shuttered theaters. I was delighted, after that, to come to UCSD (I'd never been to California!) to study theater & screenwriting.

What are you studying/researching?

I've used the incredible mentorship, community, and resources of UCSD to develop my solo show SCHOOL PICTURES, which is premiering Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons this November. SCHOOL PICTURES is a series of musical portraits of struggling teenaged students, which accumulate into a tapestry-like dissection of the broken New York City school system. It was nominated for two Barrymore Awards and was a finalist for the Relentless Award. If you're NYC this Fall - check it out.

Describe your involvement in the UC San Diego community.

I love TAing Intro to Playwriting along with my wonderful cohort. It feels meaningful to promote the arts inside this high-level STEM school. I live in graduate housing am still amazed and grateful everyday for the cacti. I grew up in puritan New England, where people have a different relationship to the body and to joy than they do here in Southern California. I've never been a beach person before but now I am addicted to the beach.

Final Thoughs.

Our school year culminates every Spring in the Wagner New Play Festival, a nationally recognized showcase of new plays by UCSD graduate students - please come! This year it's in May and it really is an awesome festival.