Get Tickets for Rep Stage's 'Fully Committed' Before they are All Booked Up

Time magazine named "Fully Committed" one the best plays of 2000. You can understand why after you see Columbia's  Rep Stage production which opened on Feb. 3, 2006.  This one-person tour de force performance stars the theatre's new Producer and Artistic Director, Michael Stebbins and is one you will never forget.

Playwright Becky Mode is a former actress, waitress, and coat check person, who has written for HBO, CBS, Disney, Nickelodeon, Columbia pictures, and ABC. This her first play.

"Fully Committed" follows a day in the life of Sam Peliczowski, an out-of work actor who mans the red-hot reservation line at Manhattan's number-one restaurant.  Seated on three sides of the theater's stage, playgoers first encounter a basement office with two desks, three phones and an intercom. The space is littered with a small Christmas tree, Christmas lights, a dart board (which does in fact get used successfully), extra salt and pepper shakers, vases, a fan, and most importantly, a rolo-dex filled with the names of the best and brightest in the New York scene. There's a pin-up from the New York Daily News celebrating a Yankees' championship. The play occurs on December 3, 1998.

As the house lights dim with Christmas music in the background, Sam descends the basement steps into the den where he must deal with all the crazies attempting to secure reservations at the swanky and expensive restaurant upstairs. All the other characters appear via phone calls to the reservation line, the intercom from the restaurant upstairs, and the "HOT" phone with a strob light that connects the restaurant's chef.

Stebbins playing all 30-plus characters in the play gives a marvelous portrayal of his lonely and recently widowed dad from South Bend,  the snooty Maitre D', Naomi Cambpell's assistant, Bryce, and the temperamental chef who makes Sam NEVER say the restaurant is "all booked up" but instead is "fully committed".

Bryce wants to make sure to rememeber that Campbell needs a vegan menu for her party, calls back for a the right table, and calls a third time inquiring about the lighting. "How close is table 17 to the lighting sconce?", he inquires. Sam looks exasperated.

There's the 84 year old AARP member who was questioning why she had to pay full price for everything.

Even the famous Mr. and Mrs. Zagat show up unexpectedly for lunch.

Each theatergoer I'm sure will have his/her own favorite characters. They are all incredible. Stebbins has the most fun utilizing his mid-western accent (he received his theater training at the University of Wisonsin-Milwaukee).  He sounds like William H. Macy in "Fargo". But he's equally successful with all the myriad women he portrays.

Sam is a frustrated actor and a funny bit concerns an audition at Lincoln Center. It turns out a patron  has an "in" with Bernie Gersten, head of Lincoln Center.  The play speaks in reality when Sam says "After years and years of training and it all comes down to connections."

The production is directed by Susan Kramer, Producer and Artistic Director fo the Howard Community College Student and Alumni Arts program. She must have had a ball directing Stebbins.  Completing the design team are Daniel Ettinger -set design, Jay Herzog- lighting, Michael Wood-costumes, Jen Hoopes -props and Cambra Overend- stage management.

After about an hour into the production,  Stebbins is shvitzing. You can the sweat in his face, shirt, and soaked hair. He has the energy of the Energizer bunny. He gives it all he has. All his characterizations are fully realized, considering that we are seeing, through him, both sides of a phone call or intercom conversation. After a while, you get accustomed to the style and the ryhthm of the show and at times you forget he is ALONE on stage.

Mark Setlock originated the role of Sam in the Off-Broadway production in 1999. He helped create the characters with the author, based on his own experiences of working the phones in a restaurant. Other well-known actors such as Jessie L. Martin (Rent) and Bronson Pinchot have undertaken the role of Sam.  I recently saw Evan Sandler tackle the part at the Ford's Theater in Washington, DC. But, Michael Stebbins, you take no back seat to anyone.

Caution to theater goers, it's a maze to find this theater. Get there at least thirty minutes in advance of the start time to make sure you find it. The Box office is one building, then you must traverse another building, down the steps to find the Theatre Outback. But the trip will be well worth it.

"Fully Committed" continues until Feb. 26. Call 410-772-4900 for tickets or online at www.howardcc.edu/repstage.  A post-show discussion will follow the Friday, February 10 performance. Howard Community College is located at 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, MD 21044.

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