The Buzz Intro Interview | Thromabone Productions

“I’ve learned that a piece of work, no matter how many times it’s done, is always in flux, always capable of being improved upon, especially after it’s been incubating for years.”

Responder: David Caprita, Producer/Actor Thromabone Productions
Name of Company: Thromabone Productions
Name of Show: Jake & the Angel

Why should people see your show?

I think people enjoy hearing fables, ancient stories done in a modern setting. It’s repeating the tales that have been told in tomes and around campfires for millenia. I think folks who love good storytelling will get a kick out of hearing this tale about the type of guy we hear about in the entertainment world and social media and how he attempts to redeem himself. And as deep and inspiring as it is, with a “message” we can take inspiration from, it’s pretty damn funny too.

What about festivals intrigues you? Any why the Atlanta Fringe?

You can’t help but feed off the energy in a group endeavor like a theatre festival. And Fringe is so inspiring, chaotic, full of variety; it feels good to be surrounded with the excitement and energy that emanates from the participants and attendees with different versions of their perception of truth and our world and society.

What inspired you to create this?

I used to live on a beach in South Florida for a couple years, after taking a break from the chaos of Hollywood for a couple years. I had a typewriter at the foot of my bed in my tiny apartment not far from the Atlantic Ocean. Each morning when i woke up, I would sit up in my bed, plant myself at the foot of it and start typing, half asleep, not knowing what my semiconscious brain was going to sprout. One day, I just started entertaining myself with an absurd version of the Genesis story of Jacob and the Angel and their wrestling match I had read a few nights before. The seed of the story sat in my archives literally for years, until I was inspired to finish it as part of a one act play workshop at the Sanford Meisner Center in Los Angeles where I had returned to after my life on the beach. It developed out of that. And it was honed and worked on again about fifteen years later as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2018. It’s been a work in progress since then and I think is in its final form for the Atlanta premiere.

This year ain’t normal and there’s no sense pretending it is. How has Covid affected what you’re doing for this festival?

The only way Covid has affected me is in a sort of positive way. It’s given me the opportunity to buckle down in my house with my wife and my dog and write, write write. And prepare for performances like this.

What have you learned from working on your show so far?

I’ve learned that a piece of work, no matter how many times it’s done, is always in flux, always capable of being improved upon, especially after it’s been incubating for years after its first inception.

I’ve also learned that you have to have the capability to let go of your former visions or ideas of how it was done before and go with the flow with new actors, new venues, new spaces, a new world different from the world that existed when you first produced it.

There’s a mysterious stranger in the back row of your show, wearing a big ol’ N95 mask and a baseball cap and there’s something weirdly familiar about them, and then they come up afterwards to tell you they loved your show. In your WILDEST DREAMS, who is this mysterious stranger? (Bonus points if your mysterious stranger is an Atlanta celeb.)

I’d say someone like Tyler Perry. I think he would appreciate the humor, the premise and the absurdity of the story and might even see himself playing this man in the entertainment industry – a producer/actor idea man – who’s come to the end of his rope.

I think someone like Tyler would see the potential of expanding this story into a full-blown three act story.

Fringes are the place to really push the boundaries so we gotta ask: are you inviting your family to this show are “Hey, maybe sit this one out you guys…”

My family and friends in the Atlanta area have rarely had the opportunity to see me onstage and hear words and characters I created. So, for better or worse, lol, I’ve definitely encouraged family and friends to check this one out.

We’ve asked this question every year for the past ten years or so but it hits different this year: Will your show change the world?

Yes. That doesn’t mean it has to be a huge international hit (that would be awesome though!) but even in a small way, with the people I hope come to see it, it can get them thinking, inspire them to live a better life and pass that energy on to the people and loved ones they come in contact with.