Clockwise from left: Close friends Darcie (Kristine Frøseth), Tessa (Alyah Chanelle Scott), Lizzy (Havana Rose Liu) and Jacqueline (Kathryn Gallagher) hold hands and “pray for everyone’s love and happiness and success” to kick off their study session.
All Nighter is the third play by Natalie Margolin that follows college-age female friends during one night, and like her earlier works—The Party Hop, created for an all-star Zoom production during the pandemic, and The Power of Punctuation, staged Off-Broadway in 2016—it showcases the mores and conversational styles of a certain generation of women. All Nighter also showcases excellent performances by five young actresses who have already garnered acclaim.
Jacqueline and Lizzy are bonded by unfortunate experiences during their freshman year.
Their characters—Darcie, Tessa, Lizzy, Jacqueline and Wilma—are days away from college graduation in 2014 and pulling their last all-nighter in “the Ballroom,” as the communal study space on their small-town campus is called.
Darcie is played by Kristine Frøseth, a lead on streaming series Looking for Alaska and The Buccaneers; Tessa, by Alyah Chanelle Scott, who made Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list last year (her production company, Runyonland, is one of All Nighter’s many producers, along with Live Nation and Ben Platt). Havana Rose Liu, costar of the Gen-Z cult film Bottoms, portrays Lizzy; Jacqueline is played by Kathryn Gallagher, a Tony nominee for Jagged Little Pill; and Wilma is Julia Lester, scene-stealer from the recent revivals of Into the Woods and I Can Get It for You Wholesale.
Lester steals scenes here as well, bursting into the study session in a melodramatic rage and later leading the group in a stress-busting sing- and dance-along to “Wrecking Ball.” Yet this flamboyant role—Wilma wears a kooky combo of fur-collared jacket, denim cutoffs, pink patterned tights and cowboy boots, while the others are in jeans and sweats—may be more comic relief than narrative necessity. The other four women have lived together since sophomore year; Wilma’s not one of the housemates, just a frenemy, and what she does to push the plot along could be done by another character.
The other women are more interesting because they have realistic personalities, rather than a bunch of quirks. Under Jaki Bradley’s direction, the entire cast is very believable in both their emotions and interpersonal behavior. Liu and Frøseth, as the two most troubled of the friends, shine brightest, with Liu’s portrayal of Lizzy, still processing trauma from her freshman year and dealing with “visual processing issues,” particularly touching and genuine.
“Under Jaki Bradley’s direction, the entire cast is very believable in both their emotions and interpersonal behavior. ”
Not much actually happens for most of All Nighter’s 100 minutes. The women unload their books and snacks. They gripe about not getting the Ballroom table they wanted. They pop Adderall. They wander off to hang one-on-one. Their study time is conveyed in occasional choreographed sequences that mimic a video on fast-forward: In a speeded-up manner, the actors go through the motions of writing, reading, turning pages and typing.
Mostly, the friends chatter—about a lot of stuff besides schoolwork: the local grocery store, the classmates who snagged their favorite table, the ghost they think lives in their house, the suspicious charges on Tessa’s credit card. There’s a pattern to how the characters converse, one that’s marked by a tendency, even with the most trivial topic, not only to state one’s thoughts but also to repeatedly acknowledge others’ feelings and try to smooth over any differences. It’s a highly self-aware and performative consideration of others, tinged with a passive-aggressive undercurrent.
Here, for example, is just part of an exchange between Lizzy and Darcie, who has said she was “slightly annoyed” her roommates ate pasta she had made for herself:
“Oh my god! I’m so sorry.”
“It’s totally fine. I just wanted the pasta to last throughout the week.”
“I am so sorry. I feel horrible!”
“Truly, it’s so okay. I feel embarrassed even bringing it up.”
“I’m glad you did. I’m so sorry!”
“It’s so okay. I just needed to put it out there.”
Jacqueline and Wilma (Julia Lester, right) participate in a cathartic dance party that erupts during the all-nighter. Photographs by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.
Then Tessa shows up, and the apologies re-commence.
Margolin seems more invested in how the women talk and relate to one another than in the details of their lives. The words sorry and literally appear more than 30 times each in the script. There are only fleeting references to majors, parents, post-college plans—yet Darcie’s mention of making a pizza leads to a back-and-forth with Lizzy that goes back and forth more than 20 times. While this makes All Nighter a decent character and sociological study, it can frustrate audience members waiting for a plot to build.
All Nighter doesn’t reach a satisfying conclusion, either. Rather than addressing all four roommates’ grievances and secrets, the climax centers on a revelation about just one of them—and it suggests she has serious mental health issues far beyond the typical college tribulations that have been the subject of discussion all evening.
All Nighter runs through May 18 at Robert W. Wilson Theater Space (511 W. 52nd St.). Performances are at 7 p.m. weeknights except Tuesday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 6 p.m. Sunday; for tickets and more information, visit allnighterplay.com.
Playwright: Natalie Margolin
Director: Jaki Bradley
Sets: Wilson Chin
Costumes: Michelle J. Li
Lighting: Ben Stanton
Sound: M.L. Dogg
