To countless Atlantans, Chris Kayser was Ebenezer Scrooge. And Jacob Marley and Bob Cratchit. And King Lear, Shylock, Petruchio, Richard II, Thomas Becket, the Marquis de Sade and Roy Cohn.
And he played a horse, in “Strider, the Story of a Horse,” at the Academy Theater in 1985.
For more than 40 years, Kayser was the leading man, comic relief and villain of the Atlanta theater community, playing many roles on many stages, mentoring and working tirelessly behind the scenes.
“He was the king of Atlanta theater,” said his frequent co-star Bethany Lind Mendenhall. “But he either did not know or did not care that he was the king. He never acted like it. He was just so grateful that he got to do what he loved with people that he loved.”
“There’s not a professional actor in Atlanta who is more than one degree of separation from Chris,” said Christopher Moses, co-artistic director of the Alliance Theatre, where Kayser’s 17 consecutive years playing Scrooge defined the role for Atlanta theatergoers.
“He was the heartbeat of every show he was in.”
Jeff Watkins, artistic director of the Atlanta Shakespeare Company, recalled a 2003 show where Kayser was a member of the ensemble in “Salome” by Oscar Wilde. “Chris was in the company. I was starring as Herod and had all these monologues. At the end of the show, my wife says ‘I was watching that Chris Kayser. He didn’t have much to say but I could not take my eyes off him,’” Watkins recalled with a laugh.
Decades ago, few actors were able to stay in Atlanta and make a career in theater. “You looked at him and said, ‘Oh, I can have a life and stay here in Atlanta and not have to go somewhere else.’ He loved this place, so he stayed and invested his art here,” said Atlanta actor Tess Malis Kincaid, who co-starred with Kayser in about 15 productions.
Kayser died Dec. 3 at his home in Decatur from prostate cancer. He was 75.
Christopher John Kayser was born in Atlanta on Nov. 16, 1949, to John and Katherine Kayser. He went to a high school run by a Benedictine monastery in Subiaco, Arkansas, with the intention of becoming a Catholic priest. By his senior year he decided he wanted something different from his life.
Returning to Atlanta, he attended Georgia State University and earned a bachelor’s in French.
In the late 1970s, while working at the Atlanta Athletic Club as a tennis pro, he auditioned with a friend for the long-defunct Barn Dinner Theater in Marietta. He decided he wanted to be an actor.
He never took an acting lesson.
“He thought dance would be a good asset for him as an actor,” said his wife, Terri. “I was his first ballet teacher.”
They married in 1981 and made their home in Decatur. They joined St. Thomas More Catholic Church, and he served on the parish council and as a lector.
Their son, Jacob, was born Dec. 23, 1988, and daughter, Noelle, was born Dec. 23, 1990. The only two times Kayser missed a performance as Scrooge at the Alliance were the nights of his children’s births.
Kayser was a dedicated athlete, who ran the Peachtree Road Race 35 to 40 times. “The only complaint I ever heard him make about the cancer was that it robbed him of his journey to run the most Peachtree Road Races,” Noelle Kayser said. He was also a competitive tennis player; after shoulder surgery, he switched to pickleball and played in tournaments.
When Kayser was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2022, it had already metastasized. Coincidentally, he immediately went into rehearsals for “Everybody,” a drama about facing death, at the Alliance.
“We were aware of his illness,” said Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, co-artistic director of the Alliance, “but he was very intentional about how he was going to live his life. That rehearsal process was an incredibly powerful journey for all of us and such an example to all of us about living your life on purpose. There were days he was tired, but his spirit and his mind were so sharp. He was just living life to its fullest.”
“He was dying while we were doing it,” said Mendenhall, his co-star. “As actors we were all really transformed watching him play that role, knowing that his (death) was coming up.”
Six years ago, Kayser joined the Atlanta Shambala Center in Decatur and became a Buddhist.
“Becoming a Buddhist was a blessing,” said Terri Kayser. “He was able to accept death. He was not afraid; he was not angry. He was very accepting of what was coming. So we lived fully, until he could no longer. "
He stopped medical treatment in the summer of 2024. “People came to the house, and he would light up,” his wife said. “He had a nice coming-to-the-end of his life, with the people who loved him,” including his band of musician friends called the Dianas.
In November, the Suzi Bass Awards, Atlanta’s theater awards, gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award. His son, Jacob, accepted on his behalf.
He is survived by his wife Terri; son Jacob; daughter Noelle Kayser (Brady Tilghman, her husband); sister Mary Sellers (Jeffrey) and brother Joe Kayser (Kathy).
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to the Atlanta Shambala Center, atlanta.shambhala.org.
A celebration of life service will be announced later for early 2025.
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