Eureka Day
At Theater J
Eureka Day is a play written by Jonathan Spector and directed by the Artistic Director of Theater J, Hayley Finn.
Theater J shares the following information about the play before you go. “The Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California, is a bastion of progressive ideals: representation, acceptance, and social justice. In weekly meetings Eureka Day’s five board members, the parent of a new student is added to the Board each year as someone else goes off. They develop and update policy to preserve this culture of inclusivity, reaching decisions only by consensus. But when a mumps outbreak threatens the Eureka community, facts become subjective and every solution divisive, leaving the school’s leadership to confront the central question of our time: How do you build consensus when no one can agree on truth?”
My take on Eureka Day is it’s a little like listening in on a dysfunctional family’s holiday dinner, but with great actors playing all the family members. While the basic issue is whether or not you believe in the efficacy of vaccines, the discussion manages to throw in everything including the kitchen sink, or in this case, fixing the bathrooms in the school to make them gender neutral. There is racism, sexism, a little bit of secret fooling around by a married guy; all debated around the table, or in this case, just circling the chairs. They do actually bring in some desserts and even debate the plates they are served on.
While the entire cast is great, for me the two standouts were Jonathan Feuer as Eli, and Susan Rome as Suzanne. Also great in his own way, was Eric Hissom as Don.
One of the funniest scenes is when they hold a community zoom meeting online. What occurred is what open zoom meetings often see, the comments section goes totally off the topic. In the case of the Eureka Day school open meeting, the parents end up attacking each other totally off the topic, and the attacks get both funny and nasty, with some vile language. We know this because the comments are projected on the set backdrop and received the loudest laughs from the audience. Kudos for this to the Projection Designer, Kelly Colburn.
The set was a school room but managed to turn one section into a hospital room for one scene, very nicely done by Scenic Designer, Misha Kachman.
It all adds up to keeping your attention for one hour and forty minutes, with no intermission. But I can say confidently, after speaking with many people after the show, the overwhelming audience response was that Eureka Day is an interesting and fun time in the theater. It made you think. Maybe think of some of the debates you have had with friends and family. It made me think maybe some of the debates we have are useless, as you won’t change people’s minds on some things.
This school board operates on consensus, and when they can’t come to any, I won’t spoil the ending for you, on how they move forward.
I urge you to find out for yourself by going to see Eureka Day. It is an enjoyable night at the theater. Tickets are available online, and it will run through April 5th.