‘Eureka Day’: Anti-vax chaos at Berkeley school

‘EUREKA DAY’: Thomas Middleditch, Amber Gray, Bill Irwin, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

EUREKA DAY
By Jonathan Spector
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
Through January 19, 2025
Manhattan Theatre Club
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 W 47th Street
https://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/shows/24-25-season/eureka-day/

By Scott Harrah

The American culture wars and the divisive anti-vaccine movement collide at a private school in Berkeley, California in Jonathan’s Spector’s provocative Eureka Day. The show was originally produced in 2018. It has played in different venues across the country as well in London at the Old Vic. Eureka Day is an often hilarious but politically charged dark comedy about “woke” politics, social justice and the anti-vaccine movement that is both topical and uncomfortable to watch in these tense times in America.

The show starts out with a group of parents on the executive committee at Eureka Day, a progressive private school. The group sits around discussing “politically correct” terminology such as “transracial adoptee” and “all gender bathrooms.” It’s the type of “inclusive” chatter that sends conservative TV media hosts into a frenzy.

Anti-vaccine vitriol

There’s a sudden twist when group leader Don (Bill Irwin) reads aloud a letter from a local health official warning of an outbreak of mumps. A Eureka Day student has been confirmed as having the disease. Suddenly, chaos ensues when everyone discusses the public health doctor’s demand that any child who has not received the MMR vaccine must not be allowed to attend school unless he or she has been vaccinated.

Suzanne (Jessica Hecht) is especially opposed to mandating vaccines at school. While Suzanne on the surface appears to be a stereotypical affluent Bay Area liberal, she is actually a control freak. She immediately tears into others on the committee that disagree with her, including Carina (Amber Gray) and full-time dad Eli (Thomas Middleditch). Suddenly, their bubble of “social justice” and left-wing coastal elitism becomes as nasty and polarizing as anything on right-wing TV news programs.

An online livestream discussion about the mumps outbreak is one of the highlights of Eureka Day. As Don and group leaders discuss mumps and its symptoms, the online chat comments—projected onto a screen behind the cast—veer into madness, with parents ranting about alternative medicine, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and some calling others “Nazis.” It’s hilarious and disturbing but so true to life. What’s so illuminating and shocking is how these upper-middle-class, well-educated parents of Eureka students are just as vile and nauseating as any thread of online trolls.

A prophetic play

Jonathan Spector’s play, first produced nearly seven years ago in 2018, was remarkably prescient, considering it was originally mounted two years before the COVID-19 pandemic. While it’s not exactly a perfect story, it is amazing how much of Mr. Spector’s play was an omen of things to come in 2020. He brilliantly captures all the conflicts that arise from misinformation, individual choice and the greater responsibility of community leaders protecting the public when a disease starts spreading rapidly.

Director Anna D. Shapiro does a nice job of helping the cast shine amongst all the pandemonium. Bill Irwin is brilliant as Don, the head of the school who loves to quote the poet Rumi incessantly. Jessica Hecht is wonderful as the annoying, entitled Suzanne. Amber Gray as Carina is a great foil for Suzanne, and her scenes with Ms. Hecht are incredibly tense and riveting. Thomas Middleditch as Eli, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz as Meiko and Eboni Flowers as Winter are all equally powerful in their respective roles.

Eureka Day is hardly holiday fare. It rings with contemporary veracity about the ugly divisions in America and is not a play for anyone anxious about historical revisionists and science deniers who might wreak havoc in this country in the near future.

Published December 16, 2024
Reviewed at press preview performance on December 14, 2024

‘EUREKA DAY’: Bill Irwin & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘EUREKA DAY’: Amber Gray, Bill Irwin & Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘EUREKA DAY’: Thomas Middleditch. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘EUREKA DAY’: Amber Gray & Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.