The regional premiere of a recent off- Broadway hit is among this week's new stage offerings.
"FULLY COMMITTED," by Becky Mode, will be staged from Wednesday through Jan. 4 by the Tooth & Nail Theatre Company in the Studio Theatre of the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway (300 South). The play was selected by Time Magazine as one of the 10 best plays of 2000.
Mark Anthony Taylor, seen recently in the same company's production of "Crave," is featured in the one-man show as Sam Peliczowski, a struggling actor stuck with fielding a trendy New York restaurant's red-hot reservation line, taking calls from a barrage of desperate potential customers who stop at nothing to finagle a prime reservation. Taylor also plays all 40 of the eccentric characters on the other end of the telephone line.
Director Roger Benington, Tooth & Nail's artistic director, calls the role a manic tour de force of phone-juggling and dialect-switching. The folks calling in to make reservations resort to everything from coercion to threats and bribes in order to get into the restaurant.
Taylor graduated from the University of Utah Actor Training Program, playing several roles on the Babcock stage. A graduate of the University of Delaware's professional theater-training program, he is a regular company member with the Boise-based Idaho Shakespeare Festival.
"Fully Committed" will have 17 performances, including one on New Year's Eve. The theater company has teamed up with Panini Restaurant, located in the nearby Wells Fargo Center, for a holiday dinner-theater package — $40 per person, including a three-course prix fixe dinner, admission to the play and parking in the Wells Fargo complex at 300 South and Main. (Tickets to the play alone are $22 each.)
Performances are 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday of this week and Dec. 22-23 and 26-31 and Jan. 2-3, with matinees at 3 p.m. on Dec. 21 and 28 and Jan. 3-4. For all reservations, including the dinner-theater "VIP Package," call ArtTix at 355-2787 or in person at any ArtTix outlet.
THE MARK STUDIO, 3188 S. 400 East, will present one performance of Frank Gerrish's new production of "The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)" on Thursday at 8 p.m. Directed by Gerrish, the cast includes Scott Hanks, Joel Riet and John Lawrence. Admission is a $5-per-person donation.
HUNT MYSTERIES has scheduled a special holiday performance of its comedy murder-mystery, "The Phantom Killer," on Wednesday in the Embassy Suites Hotel, 600 S. West Temple. Doors open at 7 p.m.. and tickets are $38 per person for the buffet dinner and interactive mystery. The cast, directed by Jesse Greathouse, includes Jen Petersen, Levi Larsen, Brittney Nielson, Eric Fillerup, Jennifer Tanner and Greathouse. Advance reservations are required. Call 569-1482 or purchase tickets online at the www.huntmysteries.com Web site.
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com