Wadsworth, Ohio
Kramer was born on a sheep farm in Wadsworth, Ohio, US. He graduated salutatorian from Wadsworth High School. At Northwestern University, he earned a BGS in Interdisciplinary Arts: Theatre, Performance Studies and Dance with a Music Theatre Certificate, graduating "Summa cum laude". He then pursued three years of practical graduate studies at the Ecole de Mime Corporel Dramatique (the technique of Étienne Decroux) in London; "commedia dell'arte" with Maestro Antonia Fava in Italy; and finally at London's Circus Space, now the National Centre for Circus Arts.