Summer Bohnenkamp is Straz’s chief commerce and marketing officer/executive producer. Her husband, David Jenkins, is Jobsite Theater’s producing artistic director. They’ve been together for 27 years and between them have been involved in so many theatrical productions it would make your head swim. They’ve worked together professionally many times but perhaps never so famously as they did in Jobsite’s 2023 production of Misery. Playing an author (Jenkins) and his captor/fan (Bohnenkamp), the show was a rousing success commercially and critically. They will reprise their roles when Jobsite brings back Misery, Oct. 14 – Nov. 8 in Jaeb Theater. Here’s a look at two of Tampa’s theatrical mainstays.
How did you get started in the business?
SUMMER: Accidentally and reluctantly.
DAVID: I performed “Where O Where Are You Tonight?” from Hee Haw in the first grade pageant.
What’s always in your refrigerator?
SUMMER: Multiple pickled items, cold brew, cheese and probably a rotisserie chicken from Costco.
DAVID: Cheese, pickled/fermented things, cold brew, chili crisp.
What is your worst quality?
SUMMER: Procrastination.
DAVID: Stubbornness. When I was a kid my teacher called me obstinate and I wore that like a badge of honor, telling anyone who would listen.
What music is on your playlist?
SUMMER: Pretty much everything, except jazz and classical.
DAVID: My musical taste is all over the place: but consistently you’ll find ‘80s-‘90s goth industrial, 90s rock. But then I do weird stuff like obsessing over stuff like Atarashii Gakko! and BabyMetal or, currently, Olivia Rodrigo. And then some days it’s old soul/blues/funk.
Read any good books lately?
SUMMER: A book about the infamous Key West legend Robert the Doll (look him up; so creepy).
DAVID: I read so many scripts, so that probably is cheating, but in case it isn’t: John Proctor is the Villain. Regular books, Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Cat person or dog person?
SUMMER: Both. Cats are like me (fickle, kinda moody, will bite); dogs are kinda like really needy friends but I love them mostly in spite of that and sometimes because of that.
DAVID: I will say dog person but the truth is both. I am just MORE a dog person.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
SUMMER: Not to give people unsolicited advice.
DAVID: You’re the only person who gets to decide what kind of day you’re going to have. Also, people are always going to try to tear you down when you’re in charge/in the public eye and you can’t worry about that.
Taylor and Travis. Discuss.
SUMMER: I hope she made him sign a pre-nup.
DAVID: People need to leave them alone. I like them both. I am a minority in the arts being someone who loves football. I am also in the minority of people in the arts who aren’t mad at someone for being filthy rich and famous. I love what she represents in popular culture, what they are as a pairing.
What’s your “guilty pleasure” streaming show?
SUMMER: I don’t feel the least bit guilty about any of the horrible shows I watch.
DAVID: Jeez, I watch so much bad TV. A lot of food/cooking stuff. David Chang/Chris Ying podcasts. History Channel documentaries. “How stuff gets made” things.
In the movie version of your life, who would play you?
SUMMER: Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn in a Suicide Squad version of me.
DAVID: Once upon a time I’d have said Jack Black. Maybe it is still Jack Black, but he really needs a shave and haircut.
Who or what inspires you?
SUMMER: Water, sand, mountains, astronauts, people who do Ironman competitions. Also, David. It is unbelievable how much he can accomplish in one day. Sadly, in 27 years absolutely none of that has rubbed off on me.
DAVID: My wife inspires me to be both better at my job and a better human. Honestly, not a suck-up answer. She was the first person who came to mind.
What do you consider your greatest successes – personally and professionally?
SUMMER: Personally, I find I have been most successful at vacationing and adopting unwanted critters (in 27 years, we’ve had 11 cats, 11 dogs, one snake, one iguana, two birds and two guinea pigs). Professionally, I guess I’ve made some pretty cool shows.
DAVID: Well, I guess speaking of her, managing to keep this relationship alive for 27 or so years. Professionally, I am crazy proud of what Jobsite has done these past three summers between Rocky Horror, Puffs and American Idiot. I also got a really good review as an actor once in The Wall Street Journal. That felt like a big deal.
If you hadn’t chosen a career in the theater, what other career path do you think you’d have followed?
SUMMER: I’d be an epidemiologist or virologist. After seeing And the Band Played On I decided I wanted to find the cure for AIDS.
DAVID: Probably the military: My dad’s side of the family are Marines and my mom’s is in the Navy. I did not want that in any way, but it’s likely that would have been what happened.