FULLY COMMITTED
by Becky Mode
directed by Farren Timoteo
This devastatingly funny one-act 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. Coercion, threats, bribes, histrionics – he hears it all! A cast of desperate callers will stop at nothing in their quest to land a prime reservation or the right table. Amid the barrage, Sam also juggles calls about his own life and career.
“Immensely entertaining… a richly comic affirmation of everything I’ve ever heard, or suspected, about the bad behaviour that good food can inspire.”
– The New York Times
Andrew MacDonald-Smith
STARRING
Director - Farren Timoteo
Production Manager - Tiana McLean
Stage Manager - Lore Green
Set Designer - Chantel Fortin
Lighting Designer - Skye Grinde
CREATIVE TEAM
ON THE VARSCONA STAGE
June 5 - 21, 2026
Preview: June 4, 2026
All Performances take place at VARSCONA THEATRE - Learn how to get to the theatre here
Evening performances start at 7:30 PM
Sunday Matinees start at 2 PM
Varscona Theatre lobby opens 45 minutes before the start of the performance
RUN TIME
90 Minutes, no intermission
Based on characters created by Becky Mode and Mark Setlock
FULLY COMMITTED was originally developed at the Adirondack Theatre Festival,
Glens Falls, New York, in June 1998 (Martha Banta, Artistic Director; David Turner, Producing Director). FULLY COMMITTED received its World Premiere on September 1999 at the Vineyard Theatre, New York City. Produced on Broadway by Barbara Whitman and Patrick Catullo, Marcia Goldberg, Tom Casserly, Aaron Glick, and David Binder.
SPECIAL EXPERIENCES
Discover Teatro’s special ticket offers and themed evenings - from discounted previews to Pay-What-You-Can Tuesdays, dinner packages, and more!
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Thursday, June 4th, 2026 at 7:30 PM. ALL tickets cost $25 each (our lowest ticket price!)
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A PWYC performance means you choose the ticket price! We recommend $20 per ticket, but we happily accept less or more!
Fully Committed PWYC Performances are:
Tuesday, June 9th at 7:30 PM
Tuesday, June 16th at 7:30 PM
Please Note: PWYC tickets are available at the door only.Our Box Office opens at 6:45 PM and we accept cash, debit, and credit.
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On the 1st Wednesday of every run, be treated to complimentary wine and cheese at intermission (or post show if there is no intermission)! Generously hosted by our Board of Directors with wine provided by Dwayne Bayda with Marc Anthony Wines and Cheese and crackers provided by CKS Legal Technology Law.
Wine and Cheese Night for Fully Committed is:
Wednesday, June 10th
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Teatro is inviting you on a date . . . with BOXER Kitchen and Bar!
Make your evening of sparkling entertainment complete with a delicious pre-show dinner or charcuterie, courtesy of our neighbours at BOXER KITCHEN AND BAR.
We have two packages:
Dinner Package: One Teatro ticket + your choice of starter & main (5:30 PM seating) - $67
Charcuterie Package: Two Teatro tickets + wine & chef’s charcuterie (6:30 PM seating) - $98See the package dinner menu here
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Step into the spotlight with The Teatro Drama Club - a free night of theatre just for junior high and high school students!
Each event includes a fun pre-show workshop, snacks, and a post-show chat with the cast, all built around a Teatro play at the Varscona Theatre. Led by our Club Facilitator, Mel Bahniuk, Drama Club nights are your all-access pass to the magic, mischief, and creativity of live theatre!
Teatro Drama Club performance is our matinee performance on Sunday, June 7th.
Learn more and sign-up here
CREATIVE TEAM
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Andrew MacDonald-Smith (Sam ) Andrew was Teatro’s Artistic Director from 2023 through 2025, after previously serving as Co-Artistic Director with Belinda Cornish from 2020 to 2023. He made his company debut in the original production of The Salon of the Talking Turk in 2005, and his other credits include Witness to a Conga, Vidalia, Fever Land, A Grand Time in the Rapids, and The Odd Couple, and he was Jack Vail in the 2012 and 2024 productions of Pith. He’s appeared at the Citadel Theatre in The Play that Goes Wrong, Disney’s Frozen, Crazy for You, Jersey Boys, Shakespeare in Love, 9 to 5, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Mary Poppins, and One Man Two Guvnors, winning Sterling Awards for his performances in the latter two. Andrew has also appeared with The Mayfield Dinner Theatre and Shadow Theatre. In 2023, Edmonton Opera presented him in the cabaret show Andrew MacDonald-Smith: My First Hundred Years, which he created in collaboration with Stewart Lemoine and pianist Frances Armstrong. This spring he directed a production of Into the Woods for Grant MacEwan University Theatre Arts, and he’ll be back with Teatro in July to play Julius Cochrane in Cocktail’s at Pam’s.
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Farren Timoteo (Director) Farren is in his first season as Artistic Director of Teatro Live! He first appeared with the company in 2005 in A Momentary Lapse, and his subsequent Teatro credits include acting in A Rocky Night for His Nibs, Mother of the Year, The Scent of Compulsion, Marvelous Pilgrims, A Grand Time in the Rapids, and Listen Listen, and directing the original productions of Everybody Goes to Mitzi’s and The Infinite Shiver, both of which he also co-authored. For the past two decades, he was Artistic Director of Alberta Musical Theatre (formerly Alberta Opera) the company which tours original musicals to schools throughout the province. His acting credits include Jersey Boys, The Three Musketeers, The Fiancee, Peter and the Starcatcher, and Monty Python’s Spamalot (Citadel Theatre), As You Like It and Shakespeare in Love (Citadel/Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre), The Light in the Piazza (Theatre Calgary), and Forever Plaid and Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story(Mayfield Dinner Theatre). He has toured his award-winning solo show Made in Italy across Canada since 2016, with recent appearances in Vancouver, Toronto. and Calgary. Farren’s work as an actor has earned him multiple Sterling Awards, as well as Vancouver’s Jessie Richardson Award, and Calgary’s Betty Mitchell and Theatre Critics Awards. This summer, Farren can be seen in the Citadel Theatre’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
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Chantel Fortin (Set Designer) Chantel made her Teatro debut with Cocktails at Pam’s in 2016 and her subsequent set designs for the company include I Meant What I Said, The 39 Steps, On the Banks of the Nut, The Noon Witch, Private Lives, The Oculist’s Holiday, Deathtrap, Shockers Delight!, and Witness to a Conga, the last of which earned her a Sterling nomination. She also designed the sets for Teatro’s 2021 streaming project Lost Lemoine: Parts One and Two. She’s a freelance scenic artist and prop master who’s been working in film and theatre in Edmonton for the past two decades. She’s also done scenic painting and prop work for Workshop West, The Citadel, and Edmonton Opera. In other media, she was the production designer for the Government of Alberta’s Mr. Covidhead commercials, and she did the art direction for music videos by singer Roya Yazdanmehr. She also served as production designer for feature length films produced locally by Northern Gateway Films under the Hallmark banner, and for Dept. 9’s most recent feature Souls Road.
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Lore Green (Stage Manager) Lore made her Teatro debut with last season’s On the Banks of the Nut and is thrilled to be back working with such a fantastic team! Selected credits include: A Christmas Carol, West Side Story, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Sense & Sensibility, Hadestown, Silver Arrow, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Clue, Jersey Boys, Rubaboo, The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Wizard of Oz (Citadel Theatre); The Play That Goes Wrong (Citadel Theatre/Theatre Calgary/RMTC); Disney’s Frozen (Citadel/Grand Theatre); The Play That Goes Wrong, The Wars, Mamma Mia and Titanic (Grand Theatre); First Métis Man of Odesa, and Takwahiminana (Punctuate! Theatre). Enjoy the show and have a wobblypop for Julien!
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Skye Grinde (Lighting Designer) Skye Grinde is a theatre designer with experience in set, lighting, costume, and projected media design, who debuted with Teatro Live on last season’s The Odd Couple. Skye also explores the world of fine art regularly in their work; they are passionate about creating work that is accessible for both audiences and artists. This includes sewing for all sizes and abilities. When Skye is not designing, you can find them at home, doing their best to recreate the painting Ophelia by Alexandre Cabanel. Select credits include: The Play that Goes Wrong (Keyano Theatre), Cycle (Thou Art Here Theatre), Honk! The Musical (Storybook Theater), and The Space Between the Stars (Westbury Theater).
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Tiana McLean (Production Manager) After doing Scenic Construction/Carpentry on numerous Teatro shows in recent seasons, Tiana is now the company’s first official Production Manager, and as of last season, she is the Varscona Theatre’s Director of Production. A graduate of Grant MacEwan University’s Theatre Production program, Tiana has spent the last two decades working in Edmonton Theatre, where extreme weather, fire, illnesses, broken scenery, aggressive prop handling, and squirrels have taught her much about problem solving and remaining calm in a crisis. Past credits include working as Production Manager for Freewill Shakespeare Festival, Head of Lighting and Carpentry for Theatre Network, and Technical Director for Alberta Musical Theatre (formerly Alberta Opera). Her favourite show experiences include doing scenic construction for AMTC’s Pinocchio and Northern Light Theatre’s Monstress, and building the tricky/scary sets for The Woman in Black both at Theatre Network and Teatro Live!
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Becky Mode is a New York-based playwright and television writer/producer. Her first play, Fully Committed, opened at the Vineyard Theatre in 1999 and ran Off-Broadway for a year and a half at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Time magazine named it one of the ten best plays of 2000, and since then it has been produced throughout the United States, with extended commercial runs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, London and Paris. The play has traveled to Finland, Japan, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, Sweden, Estonia and Poland. In 2016, Fully Committed had a limited run on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater, starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson and directed by Jason Moore. More recently, she has abundant television credits as a creator and executive producer for projects on Hulu, Apple, Netflix, and HBO among others. Before becoming a writer, Becky worked as an actor. She went to graduate school at the American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard. She also spent many years waitressing, coat checking and taking phone reservations at some of New York's finest restaurants. But you might have guessed that.
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Bernardo is an Albertan actor, musician, and sound designer who made his Teatro Live debut last season as Roy in The Odd Couple. His select credits include: A Midsummer Night's Dream: The 70's Musical (Citadel Theatre); Network (Citadel Theatre/ Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre); The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Vertigo Theatre); With Bells on (Lunchbox Theatre); Little Women, Forgiveness (Theatre Calgary).
A Teatro Live! Recipe: Popcorn Shooters
Dedicated readers of this newsletter will know that we like to include a recipe relating to our current show in every issue, and with a show that’s all about a quest for food, you’d think there’d be some obvious contenders. There’s a challenge though in that the exclusive unnamed eatery in Fully Committed is run by a chef who is a practitioner of Molecular Gastronomy, a highly scientific and often deconstructionist approach to cooking that pretty much screams “Don’t try this at home.” We’re talking Tubular Egg Yolks with Deep Fried Hollandaise Squares and a side Sherified Juice Droplets. Nevertheless, we did a little research and have found a couple of relatively plausible undertakings for an enterprising home cook.