Hillary Fisher and Naomi Latta Photo by Kevin Berne

||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :|| tells the story of four high-school girls–Clementine (Gianna DiGregorio Rivera), Fax (Hillary Fisher), Margot (Naomi Latta) and Rile (Yeena Sung)–navigating adolescence, friendships, and anxiety, while simultaneously inhabiting a world of creativity and possibilities.

The show begins in a rather odd, chance-inducing way: 12 audience volunteers are asked to come onstage and–one by one–place a numbered sticker on a piano key (within a specific tonal range) and then play the note. At the conclusion of this, Rile sits at the piano and strikes each key in turn, as the other performers sing the notes. They then exit and return to begin their interactions, which start out a little passive aggressive, as when one says to another "Your makeup looks pretty. Like, not totally overdone."

The first sign of nascent conflict begins when Margot struggles to put her backpack in a locker, but can't seem to manage to make it fit. When Fax offers to help–she being the most grounded and verbal of the teens–Margot brushes aside her offers with a curt "words are not my vibe." Soon enough, though, the four girls begin to align themselves in dyads and triads, exploring their relationships to each other and to the music each is making. (Fax is primarily an operatic vocalist, Margot a drummer/percussionist, Rile a pianist, and Clementine a multi-instrumentalist focusing primarily on woodwinds.)

Though there is no evident throughline, other than the girls discovering their relationships to each other and to the music they play, under the sure-handed direction of ACT's Artistic Director Pam McKinnon, the play nonetheless rockets along from scene to scene, culminating in a climactic but unclaimed bit of random violence that separates the girls from their families while simultaneously drawing them together physically and separating them emotionally.

The program is a chance for these four very different young women to explore their creativity away from the judgements of boys. "We have feelings," Fax says. "Guys do, too. Just not as deep." Fax also states the obvious appeal of the program for her and her new-found friends: "It's not about competition or popularity. It's about music."

In between their explorations with each other, there is plenty of music to be heard in ||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :||. Early on, there is a performance of an aria in which Rile, accompanying Fax, makes a small error on the piano, but turns it into an excuse to riff on the form of the music that upsets Fax, who believes nothing should be changed from what was rehearsed. But as Rile says, and Fax repeats later, "If you can't be good with whatever happens on stage, you shouldn't be up there."

Soon enough, Margot and Rile manage to coax Fax out of her rigid approach to music, bit by bit and step by step. Margot chooses to wordlessly communicate with Fax via her rhythmic explorations on a box she uses as a stool in the cafeteria. "Sonic layering," she says, once Fax has opened up a bit, "is just meaning through sound." Later, Margot and Rile and Fax begin a multi-minute improvised performance with Fax exploring the tone row the audience volunteers had set at the top of the show, improvising words as Margot plays the drums as if they will save her life (and they just might) and Rile pours her emotions into lush keyboard melodies.

There are conflicts among the girls, which reach a peak when a drunk Rile comes to a local taco stand (where Fax has fallen back on her recovery from bulimia) to confront Margot with a wild-eyed ranting of "suck my dick!" Yet ultimately, the girls' shared love of sound brings them back together, with level-headed Fax stating, "why are you taking this so seriously? Like, we aren't 30 or something." But the nature of the girls' quasi-permanent relationships is perhaps stated most beautifully–and tragically–when Rile states a hard, challenging truth: "We are all blood–but no one is family."

The cast is stunningly skilled, both as musicians and actors. Fisher's Fax is remarkably grounded, highly verbal, yet clearly skating on the edge of losing herself, either to music or to food. Latta plays Margot with a diffidence and coolness that can suddenly break forth in gorgeous, complex, powerful rhythms. She expresses her anger and frustration via drumming that is simultaneously beautiful and frightening. Sung gives Rile a sense of commitment that seems clear from her keyboard artistry, but also manages to inhabit the soul of a drunk, angry teen with incredible verisimilitude. Finally, Rivera's Clementine, who spends more of the show offstage than her castmates, brings a solid core of pure joy in music that is all the more powerful for being held at bay for so long.

There is far more depth and beauty here than I am able to portray in these few hundred words. Perhaps the play could benefit from losing 10-15 minutes of its running time, but it's such a spectacular exploration of young women finding connection through something they all love–in very different ways–that was simply magically transporting, that I would find it hard to choose which 10-15 minutes I would cut.

||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :|| runs through April 19, 2026, at American Conservatory Theater, Strand Theater, 1127 Market Street, San Francisco CA. Shows are Tuesdays-Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, Wednesdays at 2:00pm, and Sundays at 1:00pm. The show on Tuesday, March 24 is at 6:30pm. There are matinees Saturday March 28 and Saturday April 4 at 2:00pm. Tickets range from $25-$130. For tickets and information, please visit www.act-sf.org.