*** It had been a while since I last visited The Den Theatre. The venue hosts a wide variety of entertainments, from stand-up comedy to live theatre—and with five performance spaces inside one building, there is almost always something happening.
Unfortunately, a theatre that attracts such large weekend crowds offers no dedicated parking, and the surrounding Wicker Park area has very few paid parking lots. Because of that, I often avoid going.
Tonight, I decided to leave extra early, and after about a 20-minute search I finally found a street spot—for $7.00. I’m glad I did, because the play Fully Committed was being performed in their smaller Theatre 2A.
Fully Committed, written by Becky Mode, is a fast-paced comedy set in New York City in the basement reservation office of a Michelin-star restaurant during the busy Christmas season. The office is staffed by a single reservationist, Sam, who must juggle an endless barrage of phone calls.

Sam is played by the talented Mike Newquist—a Chicago native, actor, improviser, and cartoonist. In this one-man show, more than 25 different characters emerge, all voiced by Newquist as he answers multiple ringing phones, walkie-talkies, and the infamous red phone used by the demanding head chef.
The restaurant in the story is known for its molecular fusion cuisine—a style of cooking that blends culinary arts with science, using techniques such as spherification, liquid nitrogen, and foams to deconstruct and reinvent flavors into a multi-sensory experience. In other words, from my personal experience: perfectly good food transformed into something bland, unusual, and outrageously overpriced, often starting around $200 per person.

During the 90-minute performance, Sam must deal with A-list celebrities, wealthy and entitled New Yorkers, and countless desperate diners trying to secure a coveted reservation. Meanwhile, he is also struggling with the emotional reality of not being able to visit his widowed father during his first Christmas without his wife.

Special recognition should go to dialect and vocal coach Bethany Hart, who clearly helped Newquist give each character a unique voice and personality. At times he handles five to eight calls within a single minute, rapidly switching between accents and personalities with remarkable precision.
Stage manager Shane Hogan transformed the tiny stage into a convincing replica of a cramped New York basement office—right down to the peeling plaster paint on the walls. Under the direction of Derek Bertelson, the production flows smoothly and with perfect timing.

” Fully Committed ” will continue thru March 28th with performances:

Fridays:7:30pm