In 95 minutes, “All Nighter” doesn’t just tell the story of one night. Natalie Margolin’s off-Broadway, one-act play chronicles graduating college housemates’ final study session as it descends into a confrontational tell-all, reflecting on their past four years as friends.
With graduation around the corner, housemates Liz (Havana Rose Liu), Tessa (Alyah Chanelle Scott), Jacqueline (Kathryn Gallagher) and Darcie (Kristine Froseth), as well as fellow graduating student Wilma (Julia Lester), are pulling one last cram session in their regular study spot, the Johnson Ballroom. From the moment they elbow their way onto stage and into the student lounge through glass-panelled doors, things begin to go wrong. Their preferred table is taken, evocative campus characters constantly interrupt and things keep going missing. As the night drags on and the scene’s tension is exacerbated by characters’ lies, the women soon begin to reevaluate their relationships with each other.
The limited cast of five is confined to one study room, and the play is undoubtedly character-driven. Many of the actors are well-versed in documenting the strains and wonder of adolescent angst. Froseth starred in the adaptation of John Green’s coming-of-age novel “Looking for Alaska,” Liu is best known for her role in punchy high school comedy “Bottoms,” Scott is fresh off of the Max sitcom series “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and Lester was a series regular on Disney’s “High School Musical” reboot. Despite the varying age ranges and tones of each of the actors’ previous works, each brings a tried-and-true sense of youthful optimism to their roles that makes their characters’ antics engaging. Scott especially stands out as Tessa, a prim and put-together student who spends much of the night contesting fraudulent credit card charges and grappling with a guilt-ridden secret: that she kissed Jacqueline’s situationship at a party the night before. Her demeanor is the most reserved, but her impeccable comedic timing strikes an air of naturalism and feeling of balance even in some of the show’s less dynamic moments.
The show begins with and maintains emphatic sincerity throughout — a level of camp suited for a college drama set in the mid-2010s. Oftentimes, this works: Lester is a highlight of the show as the eccentric Wilma, an art student who comes and goes from the student lounge throughout the evening. Despite being the most outwardly absurd of the girls — a key moment of laughter sees Lester slide gingerly into a full split on stage in defiance of an off-stage character across the room — she is also the most logical. Her blunt, often on-the-nose observations about the other women, such as Darcie’s aggression and Liz’s dodginess, are not only comedic, but also drive the group toward an undeniable reckoning.
The women first treat each other with excitement and sweetness, a product of their love for one another and a representation of their chemistry. But the play shines most when the mood shifts in time for the climax, when betrayal gives way to panic and mistrust. The realization that dancing around their problems as friends has weakened their relationships becomes apparent. The stage’s confined setting makes the girls’ college lives feel structured and contained, but as the evening draws on, it begins to feel suffocating as revelations occur.
Jacqueline consistently refers to their lives postgrad as “the real world,” a daunting prospect that feels separate from the fluorescent lighting and Katy Perry songs that define their university world. Those elements influence some of the play’s earlier optimism — girls superficially planning final dinners and outings before they hit the road postgrad — in a way that feels separate from the future they fear. Although accusations provoke intrigue throughout, the show would have benefited from dropping the niceties a bit earlier in the plot and allowing this fraying trust to truly infiltrate the group’s dynamics. The scorned, back-and-forth dialogue of betrayal near the show’s close is what gives it fangs and makes it memorable. Critical aspects of the show, like Jacqueline and Liz’s strained friendship or Tessa’s worries around coming out, could have taken more of the show’s already short run time, rather than the spontaneous dance break or antics around switching tables.
The frenetic romp of a show is at its best when it grows tense and sincere. The revelations between the students serve as a commentary on the potential to fully understand what we lose when we trade honesty for niceties. Not a single assignment was completed during “All Nighter,” but we can all surely learn from it.
“All Nighter” will run at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space through May 18.
Contact Eleanor Jacobs at [email protected].
