Most first-time directors would start small. Perhaps with a one-act performed one-night only in a venue that seats 20. Not Alan Fox. By day a successful executive recruiter for non-profits including the national Red Cross, Fox chose John C. Picardi’s full-length World War II-era tragicomedy The Sweepers for his directorial debut.

It wasn’t enough to simply rent out 62-seat Broadway Theatre for six performances November 6 through 15. Instead, Fox decided there should be more entertainment for the crowd. He convinced local Italian restaurants to do a sampling of hors d’oeuvres during intermission and plans to have costumed/in-character actors show audience members to their seats while music by Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and Duke Ellington plays.

“As long as you have the courage and money to rent the theater, anyone can do it,” Fox said. “It was a jump beyond what I thought I’d do.”

Though Fox has been a theatergoer for many years, it took a personal tragedy for the Santa Cruz resident to go behind the scenes. His partner of 24 years was diagnosed with colon cancer and died.

“I really didn’t have a lot of challenges. Nothing bad ever happened to me, then all of a sudden, so young,” Fox said. “I came back from England and realized that I didn’t want to have the exact same life less the person most important in it.”

He began to take classes at Cabrillo College with the intention of funding a documentary. Then the stock market took a nosedive in 2008 and producing an expensive film became a little less appealing. A directing class led Fox to do a 10-minute play as part of the College’s showcase. It turned out well, so he thought to tackle a one-act. Instead, he read The Sweepers — the story of three Italian-American wives and mothers in a close-knit Italian neighborhood at the end of World War II — and decided to take the leap into producing and directing.

“Part of the reason it meant a lot to me is that my mother grew up in a similar neighborhood in New York where half the people were Italian and she was Jewish,” Fox said of the five-actor play. “When I was reading, it sounded like my mother described it.”

Picardi’s play follows the three best friends as they deal with the ways in which the war has changed their lives, as the son of one of the women prepares to wed. The three main characters are played by locals Helene Jara, Elaine Sabatino and Michelle Schulman.

“Ninety percent of doing the play is finding the right people,” said Fox, who uses the same philosophy when matching people with companies.

Fox cast the show through a combination of friend suggestions and auditions. Surrounding himself with the right people, he said, has been key to the show coming together.

“I think the end product is going to be very good,” he said. “We’ll see on opening night.”

The Sweepers. 8 p.m. November 6, 7, 13 & 14; 2:30 p.m. November 8 & 15. Broadway Theatre, 526 Broadway, Santa Cruz. $15-$17. Brown Paper Tickets, (800) 838-3006.