Yahoo Lifestyle Backstage With the ‘All Nighter’ Cast on Opening Night
The setting of new off-Broadway play “All Nighter” will be very familiar to many audiences: a university library during finals week. Much of the five-woman cast leading the production are equally recognizable, featuring emerging stars from popular TV series, films and stage productions.
“From what I remember of college, it’s a bit like orientation, where everything is so crazy,” says Kathryn Gallagher, describing the fast and easy bond that developed among the costars. “It’s overwhelming and you’re meeting people, and you’re learning the rules of the game.”
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The play, written by Natalie Margolin, celebrated its opening night on Sunday after two weeks of preview performances. The cast began rehearsals in January, during which the women built quick bonds that would translate to their onstage friendships. “ We all just sort of immediately had chemistry,” says Gallagher. “Everyone immediately was like: oh, so you guys have been best friends your whole life.”
While the process of getting “All Nighter” to the stage resembled the early days of college, the story is rooted in another hallmark of the undergrad experience: finals week of senior year. The play takes place in the library as a group of friends and roommates meet up to pull their last all-nighter to finish papers and cram for final exams. It’s a particularly eventful night for the group, as long-simmering secrets and resentments emerge.
“It is such a specific period of time where you are about to enter the world; you’re about to graduate college, and you have this almost false sense of hyper confidence,” says Alyah Chanelle Scott, who stars in the Max series “The Sex Lives of College Girls.” “And underneath it, there’s this undercurrent of panic and dread, absolute fear that you don’t know what your life is going to hold. And it leads to thought processes that aren’t totally there, and you’re just going through life, and not asking questions — and then, you know, the play unfolds and things happen.”
Julia Lester, who provides much of the play’s comedic relief through her character with a penchant for drama, first read the script during a one-day table read in fall 2023 with Gallagher and Havana Rose Liu. The off-Broadway staging at MCC Theater’s Newman Mills Theater is directed by Jaki Bradley and produced by a team that includes Ben Platt, Adam Mersel and Rachel Sussman.
“It’s my favorite kind of show: women talking, women going through real life experiences. It’s authentic, it’s honest, it’s raw,” says Lester, who was nominated for a Tony in 2022 for her role in the musical “Into the Woods.” ”It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to be in a play, let alone a play of five women directed by a woman, written by a woman,” she adds. “We have each other’s back so hardcore for this show, and I think that this show really works when we trust each other. And we were able to build that trust, literally, from Day One — which I think was what really spearheaded finding a full production for this show, because of our really immediate chemistry we have with each other.”
“All Nighter” also marks Gallagher’s first major play, after leading Broadway musical “Jagged Little Pill.” For Liu and Kristine Froseth, it marks the actress’ first time acting onstage.
“This is the best group of people to ever do a first play with,” says Liu, who grew up dancing and starred in “Bottoms” and recent Sundance film “Lurker.” Liu, who met Gallagher and Lester during the readings, already knew Scott from working together on-set for a screen project, and had been introduced to Froseth during an event hosted by Chanel. “I had all of these gentle tethers to these people in a way that I really respected them, but didn’t know them very well yet,” says Liu. “It sort of felt serendipitous…that we’ve known each other for a long time, even though we’ve just met.”
”We kind of just immediately became a sisterhood. We have playlists together, we have a group chat, we’re constantly crying and laughing and holding each other,” says Froseth, who stars in the Apple TV+ series “The Buccaneers.” “Before each show, we always tap in and we say, ‘I have your back,'” she adds. “ These girls have really taught me to not be afraid.”
That onstage courage extended to the show’s costumes, which reflect the sartorial trends of 2014.
“ Get ready for skinny jeans,” says Froseth.
Launch Gallery: Getting Ready with the Cast of "All Nighter" for Their Opening Night Party
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