Max Kramer, junior, sits in the packed locker room, with Sam Wright and the rest of the varsity football players. While the song, “Ruin” by Lamb of God pounds in his ears, anticipation for the game’s start builds throughout the team. The turf blurs beneath his feet as he sprints to the field. He quickly peeks at how many supporters are there, blocks out the screams from fans, just trying to stay focused on how hard he is going to hit his opponents. He takes off his helmet to sing the national anthem, the coin is flipped, and the game begins.
Kramer and Wright play for KHS, but not just on the turf – they’re also Chamber choir members, the most elite choir offered, and involved in theater productions.
Unlike the football players on the TV show Glee, Kramer and Wright do not get trashed by flying Slushies. Perhaps, real life teammates are more understanding. Both say conversation with their football friends consists mainly of sports, but with theater friends, sports are never mentioned.
“I have theater friends, and I have football friends,” Kramer said. “My theater friends have no idea what happens on the football field, and my football friends don’t care about theater.”
Kramer considers theater more of a “mental sweat” in comparison to football, which is mainly physical.
“Singing and dancing is a lot easier than running out onto a football field and trying to hit people,” Kramer said.
Wright sees theater as more of a competition than a workout.
“[Theater] is more like competing against your best to see if you can out-do yourself,” Wright said.
The scheduling becomes confusing during the fall plays, according to Kramer and Wright. Last year, when Kramer was on the JV football team, David Blake, a student teacher for Kelly Schnider, became frustrated with the athletic students because they had to skip some rehearsals for practices.
“He did get really irritated because I had to miss four or five rehearsals because [football] was a prior commitment and that is what I chose over it,” Kramer said. “Otherwise, now they don’t really compete. You just cannot tryout for the fall show [if you cannot make most of the rehearsals].”
David Cannon, choir director, understands the students have prior commitments and sometimes need to miss some of his practices for sports.
“I want them to try everything in high school,” Cannon said. “We go to great lengths to get as organized as possible.”
The Festival of Choirs, Nov. 3, was planned six months prior to the show. Seventeen students missed this show, including Wright and Kramer, because of sports-related events or other engagements they had scheduled.
Both Wright and Kramer agree coaches are understanding of them being involved in theater as well as other activities such as athletics.
“As far as coaches go, I have had a lot of coaches who are very supportive of what I do,” Wright said. “I have had coaches ask me when the next show is coming up.”
To them, football is just an activity to do outside of school, while theater is something they plan on pursuing for the rest of their lives.
“There are a lot of crazy people in theater, but that’s what makes them so interesting to be around,” Wright said.
Kramer agrees, but identifies the difference between the two.
“Theater is more like a whole culture, and football is like one aspect of an athletic culture,” Kramer said.
Kramer silently sits in the dressing room with 15 minutes left until the red curtains open to the Keating Theater audience. He steps out of himself and focuses on who his new character is for the show. He steps on to the wooden stage filled with props, takes a glimpse at the audience but can only see redness past the first three rows. The curtains close while applause from the audience echoes throughout the crowded theater, ringing in Kramer’s ears. Whether Kramer is on the field or on the stage, the one thought that stays constant is his passion for doing the things he loves, and being the best while doing it.
