If you’re one of the 128,000 workers laid off in recent months, count your blessings. At least if your job environment was anything like the Northeast office in The Receptionist. Now playing Off-Broadway, Adam Bock’s comedy hints at the everyday humor of The Office with an eerie dystopian undercurrent of Severance.
Second Stage’s revival, starring Katie Finneran in the central role of receptionist Beverly Wilkins, spends much of its intermissionless 80 minutes in the granular details of early aughts office life, from faxing and filing to requisite coffee-making and paper shredding. But unlike Annie Baker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Flick, which turned a mundane, run-down movie theater into a magnetic commentary on authentic connection, The Receptionist rambles until its final moments.
When she’s not at her desk, she’s stealing the show
Two-time Tony winner Finneran charms her way through front office duties. Gossip-fueled phone calls give way to family drama, including her husband’s pricey impulse purchase (the couple collects teacups). When co-worker Lorraine (Mallori Johnson) arrives, the topic shifts to the previous night out and where their boss, Mr. Raymond (Nael Nacer), might be. His delay becomes increasingly worrisome when Martin Dart (Will Pullen) arrives from the central office.
Dart implies that Raymond botched an internal investigation. Of what? Who knows. But it’s clear that independent thinking isn’t part of the company’s core values. “We need to find out what people are going to do before they do it,” Beverly suggests, but her cryptic warning is too little too late, and before we know it, employees are vanishing quicker than Meta pivots.
Self-described as “a jet-black comedy about bureaucracy and complicity,” The Receptionist benefits from Finneran’s attention to detail as she leans into Beverly’s type-A mannerisms and multitasking. Is it enough to propel the play beyond its own waiting room? Barely, but with Finneran behind the desk, you won’t mind the hold.
It wants better content.
Is ‘The Receptionist’ worth seeing?
Katie Finneran answers every call, but The Receptionist still leaves you on hold a beat too long.
- Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 W 42nd St, New York City
- Notable performers: Katie Finneran, Mallori Johnson, Nael Nacer, Will Pullen
- Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission
- Performances through May 24, 2026
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