No Roger Williams student is a stranger to an all-nighter. Tests and homework eventually pile up, but they typically avoid those sleepless nights whenever possible. But what if a student pulls an all-nighter willingly—not for exams, but to act?
Imagine a theater filled with students’ hurried voices, the hammering of sets being assembled, and a barrage of various songs sung by a range of actors. This isn’t a regular night of cramming; students have traded their books for scripts. For 24 hours straight, they’re worked tirelessly to bring Stephen Murray’s Pom Pom Zombies to the stage. This is Roger Williams University’s first-ever Insomnia Musical production.
In theater shows, audiences take perfection for granted. Weeks upon weeks, actors and crew work to rehearse, perform, and perfect every aspect of their shows. This is the rhythm RWU’s Stage Company is familiar with. One month, they’re putting on Shakespeare; the next, it’s Sophocles. But for StageCo’s latest show, they’ve put their usual practices aside and challenged themselves in a brand-new way.
For RWU’s first Insomnia Musical, students have tasked themselves with learning an entire show in only 24 hours. Starting at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night, the cast and crew jumped right into auditions, rehearsals, and set construction to put on an entire show by the next evening. With only two one-hour breaks allotted throughout the night, it was a marathon of reciting, choreography, and creative camaraderie.
Pom Pom Zombies, written by Stephen Murray, is as zany as it sounds. The musical follows a group of teenagers saving their beloved beach from zombies after food is contaminated with nuclear waste—a plot as crazy as the performance itself. With a campy storyline and silly characters, Pom Pom Zombies was the perfect choice for a production that thrives on the absurd.
The show’s director, sophomore Hannah Driscoll-Carignan, shared her personal connection to the musical in the production’s playbill. “Growing up, I was a part of an after-school theater program in my hometown of Keene, New Hampshire. One of the first musicals I remember doing there was a show called Pom Pom Zombies,” she explained. It “was an immediate classic in 8 year old me’s brain. Because our cast loved the show, we ended up doing it years later and it was still just as fun to be a part of as the first time.”
When Driscoll-Caringan got to Roger Williams and heard StageCo was producing an Insomnia Musical, she “KNEW that Pom Pom Zombies would be the perfect show.” She goes on to wish the audience “enjoy it as much as we do.” This nostalgia and love for the show inspired the cast, who gave it their all in those 24 hours. Bringing Pom Pom Zombies to life in a way that honors its eccentric roots.
The 24-hour preparation was exhausting, to say the least. A sleep-deprived crew member summed it up in one word: “Chaotic.” Due to the production’s time limit, the crew had to problem-solve. When the team didn’t have the nuclear waste prop, they grabbed a water bottle instead. Costumes also became an exercise in quick thinking—classic 60s beachwear was substituted for modern Malibu Beach t-shirts. These small, spontaneous adjustments brought extra humor to the performance. The director’s opening address to the audience made it clear their production wasn’t aiming for Broadway perfection, but for authentic, raw entertainment.
The result was a wonderfully whacky performance where sleep-deprived actors embraced the imperfection. The exhaustion only helped the comedy; at many points, actors had to fight against the urge to laugh at their lines. The show became as much about surviving the night as it was the musical’s narrative of surviving zombies.
Forgotten lyrics and fumbled lines added to the charm. When actors couldn’t recite exact words to a song they filled in the blanks with a humorous “bleh bleh bleh,” much to the audience’s delight. Another scene featured the musical’s nerd trio stumbling over their words, which felt perfectly in character.
Physical comedy came into play too. Rather than transporting a “dead body” across the stage, the actor simply scrambled across, barely hidden by the cast’s attempt to maintain the illusion. And with makeup that consisted of quickly drawn green marks to represent zombie decay, the cast didn’t exactly mask their exhaustion, but it contributed to the overall experience.
In another scene, as a character forgets to sing their lines, the other actors shout “Sing about it first!” These moments, while unplanned, showcase the cast’s ability to improvise as the show progresses. The longer the play went on, the more it became a test of improv skills, with the audience bursting into laughter at every slip-up and misstep.
StageCo’s first-ever Insomnia Musical was a complete hit, opening to a full house. Not because of its perfection, but because of the sheer joy it brought to the stage. In a surprise appearance, the creator Stephen Murray attended the performance and called it “terrific,” wishing the cast and crew “some well-deserved sleep.” StageCo’s Pom Pom Zombies provided a wildly exciting, humorous, and fun time. Keep an eye out, as you won’t want to miss the next insomnia production. In the meantime, grab a ticket to the variety of shows StageCo premieres every month; you won’t be disappointed.
