One Actor, 38 Roles and Endless Laughter

In the high-stakes world of fine dining, chaos is always on the menu.

Set in the pressure cooker of a restaurant’s reservations office, the Florida Repertory Theatre’s production of “Fully Committed” by Becky Mode and Mark Setlock showcases the talents of actor Kraig Swartz. Swartz tackles the challenge of playing 38 different roles in the show, including imperious socialites, quirky chefs, desperate patrons and the battered reservationist tasked with juggling their outrageous demands. When it comes to serving up drama, this hysterical comedy dishes out laughs as quickly as the calls come in and proves that one person is more than fully committed.

“This place is in the basement of a New York restaurant that is the most popular restaurant of the moment in New York, and it’s really popular,” said Swartz. “It’s impossible to get a table at this restaurant. Of course, everybody’s calling to get a table. Sam Peliczowski is this struggling actor who is working as a reservation taker at the restaurant, and he’s got to juggle the insane demands of these people, both powerful and not famous, from all over the country — all over the world, really — plus the demands of everybody who works at the restaurant. And I play everybody.”

This production marks Swartz’s third performance at the Florida Rep and the 13th time he has performed in “Fully Committed.” Swartz boasts an impressive resume of off-Broadway and regional theater credits. He received Barrymore Awards in Philadelphia for Best Featured Actor for his portrayal of Mason Marzak in “Take Me Out” and Best Actor in “Fully Committed.”

“The first time I did (‘Fully Committed’) was 20 years ago. I’ve done it all over the country, and I haven’t done it in a while, but I’m really happy to be having another crack at it. It is really different every time,” he said. “Of course, every director is different, and every venue is different. Every space is different. The venue at Florida Rep is a really small, tight, intimate space and it’s perfect for the show.”

Director Gus Kaikkonen’s credits include the Mint Theater production of “Hindle Wakes,” which was nominated by both the 2018 Drama Desk Awards and the Off Broadway Alliance. The production will be streaming online for the next few months.

Kaikkonen and Swartz have worked together many times, and when he accompanied Swartz to see “Fully Committed” in 2020, he thought immediately that Swartz could pull off the challenging demands of the show.

“I’ve been working in theater for a long time, and I have worked with Kraig many times,” explained Kaikkonen. “Actually, we went to see ‘Fully Committed’ in its initial run in New York together, and I turned to him even before the play was over and said, ‘This is a perfect vehicle for you,’ and he agreed. I think it’s a really, really fine piece of writing. It’s based on Becky Mode and Mark Setlock’s actual experiences working in very high-end restaurants. They managed to put it together in such a way that it’s very, very funny and, I think, really moving, as well. It’s about an underdog guy who manages to use the opportunities that come up in a very low-end job to score what he needs in his own life, and that’s a feel-good story for a lot of us.”

Swartz must shift effortlessly between each character, often in fast-paced, heated conversations, and find ways to convey each personality to the audience without missing a beat.

“He’s a really transformative actor, and he does almost 40 characters without any change of costume, change of attitude and voice. In order for the audience to follow the play, you have to know (which character is speaking) because they don’t introduce themselves. It requires a great deal of skill, and it’s a real challenge, this show. And he’s up to it,” Kaikkonen said of Swartz’s performance.

“It’s really hard. You’re literally carrying on both ends of a conversation, and sometimes that conversation is very heated and very fast,” described Swartz. “Then it’s really just a shift of body, a shift of focus, and it takes the audience a little while to figure out the rules of the game. And that’s part of the fun for the audience is watching these transformations happen in a split second in front of them.”

Transitioning between so many characters requires tremendous skill and collaboration between director and actor. For Swartz and Kaikkonen, finding distinctive physical traits and determining the backstories and motivations of each character are integral in conveying which character is speaking at any given time in the show.

“Gus and I, it’s a terrific, collaborative relationship,” Swartz said. “I think good directors and good actors know that when you’re putting together a piece like this, it really is a collaboration. There’s a lot of give and take between the actor and the director.”

Swartz and Kaikkonen developed each character individually to find meaning, motivations and what is at stake in order to convey the distinct personalities in the show.

“Each one of them has to be a real person with real, specific needs and a way of approaching this interaction, a way of approaching their lives,” described Swartz. “I had this uncle once, and he did this thing where he always kept his hand inside his jacket like he had a gun in there. What if (the character) is like that? What if he really does have a gun? Sometimes that’s my idea. Sometimes that’s Gus’s idea; sometimes (the) stage manager might come up with a good idea or one of the technicians.”

“We would pick a specific person and try it out and see if that specific person worked with these lines. And then if it didn’t work, we’d pick another person,” Kaikkonen said. “Usually, it was somebody that we both knew, or at least one of us. It wouldn’t do any good for me to have known the person. It had to be somebody Greg knew, but I was very involved in saying, ‘No, I think it’s more like this guy who directed you in that play or this playwright who wrote the play that you worked with.’ I can’t give him this performance. He’s got to recreate this performance eight times a week from himself, so it’s got to come out of him.”

Because “Fully Committed” includes hundreds of technical cues, the technical staff, stage manager and assistant stage manager are integral to the production and have been rehearsing with Swartz and Kaikkonen from the beginning.

“There are the restaurant phones, there is the desk phone, there is the cell phone, there is the intercom, and these things are constantly ringing and buzzing through the whole show, and the timing of those have to be rehearsed,” explained Kaikkonen. “Kraig is completely dependent on the technicians who are running the sound cues in order to make the show work because you can’t block over to the phone — he can’t get up unless it’s ringing.”

Even years of experience in live theater can’t erase the risk of forgetting lines or missing transitions. Swartz said the experience can be terrifying because the action relies entirely on his memory and characterizations.

“Every night I’ve ever done this play, I’m backstage relaxing and getting ready, and there’s always a little voice going, ‘Can you remember all this?’ I’m pretty good at learning lines, but this show will kill you,” said Swartz. “In a normal play, half the time or more, it’s someone else’s turn. It’s never anybody else’s turn. The problem is you don’t have any time to figure it out because you’re carrying on both ends of the conversation. The first one I did, we actually put a cheat sheet on the reservation desk that the audience can’t see. What I learned was that when you have gone up and you’re in a state of panic, you can’t read. I mean, that didn’t help me at all.”

Swartz explained that usually, some association he has made or created to refresh his memory will bring him back into the moment and remind him of where he is in the show.

“There was one time that I went up—I had just been talking to Carolann Rosenstein

Fishburn, and as soon as that call’s over, I’ve got to buzz up to the hostess stand and ask if somebody will come down to the desk for a second because I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” recalled Swartz. “But I got finished with Carolann Rosenstein-Fishburn, and I could not remember what was supposed to happen next because the phone didn’t ring. I’d forgotten that it’s me at that moment that presses the intercom button to talk to upstairs. There was this horrible moment where I thought, ‘I may have to stop this show,’ and then I suddenly realized, ‘Fish live in water. Water makes me want to pee. I know where I am.

“I’ve only worked with a potential prompter once, and I actually never used the prompter in that situation. But I think, like Dumbo and the magic feather, it was great knowing she was there.”

At its core, “Fully Committed” not only delivers comedy and versatility — it also celebrates the determination and resilience of the underdog.

“In addition to being a very funny comedy, it’s also a beautifully constructed play,” Swartz concluded. “It’s not just a parade of voices. It’s about somebody who seemingly has no agency in his life. Over the course of the play, Sam realizes that he does have agency of a sort, and he does have something that people want. He learns how to go from being the most downtrodden person on the planet to being somebody with a decent amount of power who’s able to get what he wants. I think it’s fun for the audience to say, ‘Oh my god — the little guy is doing well.”

Audiences hungry for a full course of laughter will enjoy Swartz’s versatility and the fast-paced, witty humor of “Fully Committed” at the Florida Rep. ¦

In the KNOW

“Fully Committed”

· Where: Artstage Studio Theatre at Florida Repertory Theatre, 2268 Bay Street, Fort Myers

· When: Now through Jan. 12

· Tickets: Tickets start at $47

· More info: floridarep.org and 239-332-4488