Sam Kunz: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us tonight. So how long have you been in the acting game?
Drew Gaver: The freshman year of high school is when I started. So that would have been 1996 which makes it years.
Sam Kunz: Where did you go to school and train, or did you?
DG: I graduated with a theater degree from Western Maryland College, now McDaniel College. It changed two years into my degree program. That's when I found my passion, acting.
SK: Do you find acting comes easy, or is it something that must be honed?
DG: I think it’s a little bit of both. You are born with it and it’s something that you learn as a technique. You need the technique to get better. I think you are born able to do it or not. Not saying those that want to act don't have talent. But you gotta have the drive. It's a passion that's inside of you.
SK: What was your last production?
DG: I just finished the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Baltimore Theater Project.
SK: What was your favorite thing about it?
DG: I played Brad. It was a really fun role for me. It was a big transformation for me. Well, I start the show in a suit and I end in a red leather thong. So its a big change. Those that know me, I am not that kind of person. But it's fun to expand your horizons.
SK: Least?
DG: We did midnight shows. I am getting too old to do that. When you work all day, after all, I am a financial coordinator for a Dental Practice, so I do have a day job.
SK: Of all the many shows you have done, what would you say is the one that had the most impact on your life?
DG: Impact on my life? I think in terms of having the best experience and playing something I did very well. Was the "25th annual Putnam country spelling bee" It's something that will remain with me and I hope every actor gets to experience something akin to that.
SK: Is it something you can see happening again?
DG: If I could do that role and that show for the rest of my life, I would. If I were ever presented with that opportunity again I would.
SK: Who would you count as among your contemporaries?
DG: I do a lot of musical theater. I identify with actors who have musical talent. I don't consider myself a singer. I am not trained musically at all. I don't read music. I don't consider myself to be a singer who acts, but an actor who sings. I would say I identify with, Neil Patrick Harris. He has a good acting career. He sings, but that's not what people know him for. So I would like to be known for my acting first and my singing second.
SK: Who would say you would like most to be like in the acting world?
DG: I have forever had a love for Patti Lapone and she has had a career for acting forever, since the 70's. To be known as a legend. I like the fact that not everyone likes her. You love her or you hate her. I admire that, also that she has had just as great acting career as she had in singing.
SK: What do you have coming up, what's next for Drew?
DG: I don't have any set shows right now until spring. I have been doing auditions. So upcoming I do have You're a good man, Charlie Brown, I will be Linus in May.
SK: What do you want Baltimore to know about Drew Gaver. This is your chance to speak to our readers.
DG: I have been very fortunate to be in an area where there is a thriving artistic community where there are lots of opportunities for actors like myself who don't do it professionally. I am very thankful for the opportunities. I would urge the readers to know that there are so many different smaller theatre groups that need your support just as much as the Hippodrome and the Lyric.
