Review: Julia Lester, Kathryn Gallagher, and Solid Cast Make All Nighter Worth Staying Up For

During my college years, nothing appealed to me less than pulling an “all nighter” of studying (all-night parties were a different story). But I had a good time at Natalie Margolin’s All Nighter at the Newman Mills Theater. Though the play doesn’t push its characters as far as it could, the talented cast generates a strong blend of humor and social commentary.

In 2014, a group of seniors gather at their tiny liberal arts college to do one last “all nighter” before finishing finals and graduating. These friends rent a house together, so domestic squabbles are in the air. Darcie (Kristine Frøseth) is upset because the other girls ate the pasta she was saving for the week. Tessa (Alyah Chanelle Scott) and Jacquline (Kathryn Gallagher) debate what foods go best with hummus. Lizzy (Havana Rose Liu) is supplying the Adderall for the night and is distressed because she’s missing two pills. Fueled by stimulants and snacks, the women get to work, until bigger sources of conflict come to light.

Initially, Margolin’s characters seem like stereotypes of anxiety-ridden, sheltered millennials—apologizing endlessly with over-the-top affirmations of each other’s feelings, with vocabulary clearly picked up from their therapists. But the actors craft highly specific performances, and Margolin’s use of therapy-speak becomes more pointed, illustrating how weaponizing psychology can force cohesion under the guise of “connecting.” The worst thing for these women to be is self-un-aware, as when Lizzy backtracks after Jacquline accuses her of “doing that thing where you feel the need to villainize one of us.” It’s a wickedly funny and smart throughline that highlights Margolin’s sharp observations of group psychology.

Wilma (Julia Lester) stands out as the attention-seeking, loudmouthed goofball who is both uniquely herself and an instantly recognizable teenage girl. She is equal parts abrasive and hilariously unhinged—the kind of friend a clique keeps around so that the members can join in her antics while still feeling superior. Wilma’s an outsider, even if some of the women have genuine affection for her, and her status allows her to poke at the other girls in ways that the rest of the group doesn’t. Several beats hinge on Wilma’s meddling that ultimately pushes the characters into uncomfortable spots.

But even with Wilma to spur things on, the play doesn’t cut deep enough. Lizzy tries to get the group to acknowledge that they’ve harmed each other with their psychology-speak, but she too easily gives up and falls back in line. That reinforces the point of the play, but those wounds could have been torn open sooner. Similarly, the end of the play relies on twists that have deep implications that are hinted at but not explored. There’s years of rot under the surface of this friend group, but the characters only skim off the top before coming back together. Because the characters hold back instead of going all out, the stakes never grow beyond the college campus.

Director Jaki Bradley, however, does build multi-layered relationships between the characters, and Wilson Chin’s scenic design effectively gives enough details to the “interior” to make it feel like a bland multi-purpose space. Michelle J. Li’s costumes work well to locate us in time and place, and the pitch-black “exterior” (lighting by Ben Stanton) nicely mirrors the characters’ existential dread. Though lows weren’t as deep as they could have gone, the highs are enough to carry us through All Nighter. The humor, cultural critique, and performances make it a hangout worth attending.