playbill vip

Director's Statement

After a successful workshop run at the NY Theater Festival Winterfest at the Hudson Guild in Chelsea, here we are: The Hollywood Fringe Festival 2018 at the Hudson Theatres, Theatre Row in Hollywood. 

My daughter, Raffaela, niece Veronica and I began the journey of creating Pizza and Whine after the recent loss of my mother and their grandmother, Millie.

Inspired by Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Lena Dunham and Mindy Kaling, Raffaela came to me with the idea to create a web series that would act as an artistic vehicle for herself as an actor/writer as well as her sister Natasha and cousins Veronica and Emily Rose. 

At our annual Montauk family vacation, Raffaela led her sister and cousins over some Montauk Village Pizza and Montauk Liquors and Wines fare with her idea to create characters and storylines loosely based on their own experiences. The girls enjoyed a beautiful summer creating new memories with quality family time, the beaches of Long Island, family barbecues and excursions into New York City. 

On August 14th, my mom Millie, their grandmother, (pictured above) passed away. 

We returned to Los Angeles in September and Raffaela was to perform in an LA stage production of Doubt but to her disappointment, the production was canceled. 

Over Italian spaghetti and meatballs with my dad, Veronica, and Raffaela, (a lot of Cappricielli power meetings happen over food) Raffaela asked me to produce a Los Angeles production titled Sunday on the Rocks, to submit to the Hollywood Fringe. Familiar with the play and aware of the web series Raffaela was developing, I said "Why don't we write a play based on the web series instead of producing someone else's work?" And from that, Pizza and Whine, written by my daughter, my niece and myself, was conceived. The execution of this endeavor is NOT without the fiscal and emotional support of my dad, Tom D'Agostino, the heart and soul of my mom, and the generosity and love of my sisters JoAnna and Carmela and our family and friends. 

Not bad for a couple of Italian Long Island ladies!

With love and gratitude -- and SALUTE'

Maria Capp(ricielli)