cast announcement - FULLY COMMITTED - Fountain Hills Theater

Fountain Hills Theater is delighted to announce that the fabulous one-man tour de force, Fully Committed opening Jan 3 will star Patrick Walsh, Associate Artistic Director of Southwest Shakespeare Company as Sam.

Currently serving as the Associate Artistic Director for the Southwest Shakespeare Company and Director of Arts Education for Mesa Public Schools, Patrick Walsh holds an MFA from the University of Arizona in Theatre Direction and a BA in Theatre Education from Arizona State University. Patrick’s directing credits include, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Frankenstein, Hysteria, Sense and Sensibility, Or, Romeo and Juliet (Southwest Shakespeare Company), Enemy of the People, The Intelligent Jenny Chow (Mesa Community College), Fool for Love, The Elephant Man (University of Arizona), Pippin, Greater Tuna, Crimes of the Heart, Talk Radio, The Tempest, Taming of the Shrew, and A Mid Summer’s Night Dream. Acting credits include, A Mid Summer Night’s Dream, Greater Tuna, A Chorus line, Romeo and Juliet, Lunch Hour, Talk Radio, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Dames at Sea, My One and Only, Godspell, The Shadow Box, and Photograph 51. Patrick has also served as scenic designer, technical director and props designer for a number of Metro Phoenix theatre companies as well as a production company member for the Utah Shakespearean Festival for 11 seasons. Patrick recently received the Best Professional Directing recognition from the Broadway world Regional Awards for Southwest Shakespeare Companies production of Romeo and Juliet and an Arizoni nomination for Mesa Community Colleges production of The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow.

In this devastatingly funny comedy, Sam, a struggling actor who earns a living taking reservations for one of Manhattan’s high-end food temples – once known as restaurants – answering with not one or two but three different phones, gives voice to more than 40 characters, among them the harried but even-tempered central character, Sam. Coercion, threats, bribes, histrionics – a cast of desperate callers will stop at nothing in their zeal to land a prime reservation, or the right table. While juggling scheming socialites, name-dropping wannabes, fickle celebrities and egomaniacal bosses, can Sam manage to look out for himself?

Sam, an aspiring New York actor, who shares a basement cranny with the building’s plumbing system, is working the phone bank on his own today. Down here, in the bowels of the building, Sam goes mano a mano with all those whining, belligerent, and otherwise insufferable patrons demanding royal treatment. And when the house phones ring, he also has to deal with the narcissistic chef, the prima donna maitre d’, and other self-important superiors quick to take advantage of his good nature.
In between the reservation calls -like Gwyneth Paltrow, who orders a “locally-sourced, no-fat, no-salt, no-dairy, no-sugar, no-chicken, no-meat, no-fish, no-soy, no-rice, no-foam, no- corn tasting menu” for 15 people - the phone lines also light up with news that Sam’s best frenemy has a callback for a role at Lincoln Center.  To rub it in, his agent tells him he just doesn’t have the cojones for the roles he’s been going up for. And then there’s poor old Dad, recently widowed, who calls from Ohio hoping against hope that Sam will make it to his empty home for Christmas.

All these roles – 40 of them are played by one incredibly versatile actor.

Fully Committed is produced by Meghan Ramos and directed Peter J. Hill
Fully Committed stars Patrick Walsh as Sam.
 
CLICK HERE for more information on this production, which runs Jan 3 - 19, 2020.