Jaclyn Young on “Fully Committed”

Read Time: 5 Minutes

This past November, actress Jaclyn Young starred in NextStop’s production of “Fully Committed”, a hilarious one-actor comedic play which required Ms. Young to portray 40 distinct characters over the course of 90 minutes. The result was a technical and virtuosic feat (and a smashing success!) which spotlighted Ms. Young’s unbridled energy and boundless talent. We were lucky to catch up with Ms. Young to ask the question on everyone’s mind .... how on earth did she prepare for this role?

How did you first hear about “Fully Committed”?

I actually saw the revival on Broadway in the summer of 2016! We had gone up for the weekend to see Hamilton, and were able to sneak in a couple other shows while we were there. Jesse Tyler Ferguson played the role of Sam, and he was mind-blowing! I remember being fascinated by how quickly he could change his voice, body language, and facial expressions to show each character. I saw the closing performance, and I was sad that I couldn’t tell everyone I knew to go and see the show.

What attracted you to this role?

Some of my favorite roles are the ones where I get to create more than one character. More often, that kind of opportunity comes around in Musical Theatre, especially when you are part of the ensemble. To get the chance to challenge myself to create (and sustain!) so many roles at once in a comedy was just too intriguing to pass up. I just kept thinking, “Could I really create and keep track of 40 characters all at once? I guess let’s find out!”

How did you relate to the character and the general message of this play?

Oh my goodness, where to begin? In Fully Committed, Sam has a million plates spinning at once, and she does it all pretty well. It is the nature of a job like that. But even the best of us have days where a gust of wind threatens to send all those plates smashing to the ground. As a working parent and an educator, I feel this so much. Some days everything

just works, and other days it all crashes down around you. I think one of my favorite takeaways from this show was Sam’s slow-developing self-empowerment. Sometimes you can say no to that little project that will put you over the edge. Sometimes you can ask for help when you are over-extended. And sometimes you can sign up to bring the napkins for the class party instead of baking cookies from scratch. One of the best pieces of advice that I got when I became a parent was, “Put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others.” It takes Sam almost 90 minutes, but she is well on her way to that lesson in the end. I’m still learning.

What did you do to prepare for this role?

Memorize, memorize, panic a little, memorize some more, and remember to breathe! Our rehearsal process for this show was very short... It was 6 weeks between when I was asked to do the show and opening night. That meant a lot of multi-tasking in order to get to a place of confidence that I could really live in the characters and not just recite the lines. I had some really tough moments about halfway through the process where it seemed like learning the whole show was an impossible task. And then, it just all slowly clicked into place. Once we got through that first rehearsal without the script in my hand, it started to become a lot more fun.

What were some of the biggest challenges of rehearsing and/or performing this play? How did you handle those?

By far the biggest challenge was not having a scene partner to rehearse with. One of the great joys of acting is reacting... taking those moments in between your lines to react to how you feel about the other characters in your scene. But when you are the one playing both sides of the conversation, it leaves no time to react to yourself! The show is so fast-paced, there isn’t much time to breathe, let alone luxuriate in reactions. We found ways for Sam to react on the lines instead of in between the moments.

The other huge challenge was how much of the show was driven by sound cues! It is hard to run lines by yourself when you don’t know if you are being interrupted by one of 3 different phone rings, an intercom buzzer, or a hang-up. I recorded myself during a rehearsal with sound cues, and listened to that recording on a loop while I talked to myself. Our Stage Manager, Sam Rollin, was truly amazing. Sam’s timing and ability to read my mind if things started to go off track was the thing that made me feel most confident on stage. (That, and the dozens of sticky notes I had on the set to remind me who I was supposed to be in different moments.)

Did you have a favorite character out of the 40 characters you had to portray?

My favorite characters wound up being the ones I loosely based on people in my life. I have always been a physical storyteller, and so I lovingly borrowed some characteristics from some of my favorite people in my world... A friend’s laughter here, a family member’s vocal cadence there. I would think about them every night on stage, even though the characters in the show usually had nothing in common with the people I based their mannerisms on.

Each night I would have a different favorite based on how the audience reacted, but some of my top favorites were the Dad, the Chef, the Midwestern Secretary, and Jean-Claude.

How do you juggle the many roles you play in your own life (wife, mother, actress, educator)?

Oh, it is definitely a struggle! It is impossible to give 100% of yourself to everything all the time. But all of those things make me who I am, so I find ways to honor each of them. I try to give myself boundaries when I am in each role so that I can focus on which hat I am wearing at the time, but it isn’t always that easy. I can’t tell you the number of times I have had my children at a rehearsal or performance... especially when they were babies. (You haven’t truly lived until you have changed a diaper and nursed a baby while wearing a corset.) I have friends that say “You are Wonder Woman!” but that makes it seem like doing all these things is selfless, which it most certainly is not. I do them all because I love them, and I like to think I am better in each of my roles because of the others. It all intertwines, and yes, it can be exhausting. But I wouldn’t do it all if I didn’t love it, and we are lucky to be a family that loves and supports all those different pieces!

Thank you to all of our patrons! This show was made possible by YOU!