35 Years, 35 Faces: Cameron Gross by / Theatre Bay Area Staff

Who are you? Can you give a little bit of background about how you got to where you are today?

My name is Cameron Gross. For the past five months I have been working at TheatreWorks as the events and donor stewardship assistant. Prior to this position, I was the managing director at Renegade Theatre Experiment (RTE) for five years, and prior to that, was the production manager there for five years. I have stage managed numerous shows at RTE and was introduced to the company in 2003 by Jim Gross, the previous production manager, who asked me to stage manage the company's production of “Eat the Runt” by Avery Crozier.

What is your history with Theatre Bay Area?

Theatre Bay Area has helped me greatly through the Landisman Fellowship and I continue to support them because of the great support they give the community. I particularly love Theatre Bay Area magazine; I think there are great articles and information in there. I have also participated in the regional auditions from both the volunteer side and the adjudicator side, and I think it is so great to get that many people in a general audition.

Cameron is being honored particularly for her association with the Eric Landisman Fellowship for emerging Bay Area designers and technicians. Please tell us about your association with that aspect of Theatre Bay Area.

I received the Eric Landisman Fellowship for my first year as production manager with Renegade Theatre Experiment. I found this to be such a wonderful offering for technicians. It gave me the chance to focus on my first year as production manager for the company and allowed me to finally pursue my passion in theatre. Giving technicians, who have a very transitory existence, the ability to focus on one specific project for solid period of time is a wonderful gift. I am sure many others like me have found the time positive for their future career and personal growth.

Why is theatre important? What do you think your role is keeping it a vital part of civilization? How does Theatre Bay Area help?

Theatre should be important to everyone! Theatre allows a collected group of strangers to experience a moment together that is unique to the specific performance they are seeing. No performance or audience is the same, and when an individual audience gathers to see a production on stage they are sharing in something that is special to them for that one instance. It brings people together. It lets people escape to magical places and it lets them think about their lives in ways they may never have before. I don't know that I have that much influence on our civilization as a whole, but I am constantly encouraging people to see theatre. Mostly I love to get people in the door who do not typically see theatre, but when anyone is willing to give up their Saturday night to see a theatrical production, I think that is great. Theatre Bay Area does a wonderful job in bringing together the theatrical community and letting people know about the different shows and programs that are happening throughout the Bay Area.

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