“Eureka Day”: Liberalism, taken to comic extremes

Let me say from the outset: There is nothing wrong with taking the feelings of other people into account when making decisions, especially if those others are members of groups that have been historically marginalized. And there is nothing wrong with reaching decisions by consensus if done in a spirit of cooperation. But in Eureka Day, the new play by Jonathan Spector at Broadway’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, it seems that consensus is a key to gridlock and inclusivity is a competitive sport.

Eureka Day takes place at the private Eureka Day School in Berkeley, CA during the 2018-2019 school year. The school’s five-member executive committee discusses the wording on a drop-down list to determine the ethnic makeup of the student body. While the list seems comprehensive, the committee members debate about the appropriateness of adding “Other” to the list. The committee members’ roles are quickly established: Don (Bill Irwin), the soft-spoken conciliator; Carina (Amber Gray), the newest member, feeling her way while dealing with well-meaning white people; Suzanne (Jessica Hecht), the velvet-coated steamroller, assured in the rightness of her opinions and convictions while mis-representing others; Eli (Thomas Middleditch), offering tentative suggestions for mild change; and Meiko (Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz), quietly knitting away and keeping to herself.

Trouble soon arises when a student attending Eureka Day is confirmed as having mumps. The local board of health has sent a notification to the school stating children without a record of immunity to mumps will be excluded from school until the county determines no risk to exposure remains. It also recommends parents consider getting  their children inoculated against mumps. On the face of it, it seems a neutral enough document. But Suzanne, a confirmed anti-vaxxer, thinks that by not including information against vaccination it gives the impression the school endorses the board of health’s suggestion. She concludes they shouldn’t send the letter out without offering “other perspectives”, as a matter of school policy — which can only be changed by consensus. But when some of the executive committee’s children contract the disease, frustration festers within the group.

The cast, under the direction of Anna D. Shapiro, is uniformly excellent, both in portraying their individual characters and in creating a group, most of whose members you feel have fallen into familiar behavior patterns. The action takes place in the expansive schoolroom set designed by Todd Rosenthal, with Jen Schriever’s lighting subtly portraying the passage of time. Projection designer David Bengali enhances the comedic nature of the play by creating a hilariously disastrous Zoom meeting held by the executive committee over the mumps issue, projecting increasingly heated comments from school parents on a rear screen.

Eureka Day is that rare creature: a play that is a gleeful parody of liberal stereotypes which also puts a spotlight on the national zeitgeist where the extreme self-justification that comes with entrenched beliefs outweighs common purpose and mutual respect. The Manhattan Theatre Club has gifted us with this remarkable production. I highly recommend going to watch the pretzel-like mental and moral contortions of the executive committee of Eureka Day!

Eureka Day is presented by the Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street in New York, through Feb. 2, 2025. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to manhattantheatreclub.com