“Eureka Day” takes place in 2018 at a progressive private school in Berkeley, California. There are just five characters on stage: the school’s principal and the four members of the executive committee. The play opens in the middle of a committee meeting as the members are carefully discussing the potential ramifications of adding a word to a pull-down menu on the school’s website.
The discussion is full of social justice lingo as the characters carefully “make space” for each other while still managing to talk over each other. Soon we learn that there’s a mumps outbreak at the school. Several students have caught the disease, possibly from a committee member’s child – and this school doesn’t require its students to be vaccinated.
In 2026, it’s a setup that sounds like it’s probably a metaphor about the COVID-19 pandemic. But the play was written and first performed over a year before the pandemic began.
In interviews, playwright Jonathan Spector says he didn’t intend for the play to come off as political or didactic. He was more interested in exploring a community that agrees on almost everything, until something comes along that they can’t agree on. This is a school that governs on a consensus model, and they’ll gladly spend time exploring an issue for hours in order to reach that consensus. But they do not agree on childhood vaccines.
“Eureka Day” may deal with serious issues, but at its heart, this is a satirical comedy. One of the show-stopping moments comes during a scene where the school has convened a virtual meeting – a novelty in 2018, but something we’re all too familiar with now. The meeting includes a text chat where the school community can weigh in. While the five characters on stage are talking about a proposed vaccine requirement, the audience sees the parental discussion projected behind the actors. And it gets wild in the chat.
One parent is a pediatrician and shares some sensible medical advice about using Tylenol to reduce a child’s fever. Other parents start recommending things like ginger and turmeric and, for some reason, raisins. Someone else accuses the doctor of being a shill for “big pharma.” It quickly descends into name-calling as the executive committee tries to hold things together. The dialogue between the actors and the chat on the screen behind them comes together in a comedic polyphony, culminating in a single emoji that gets the biggest laugh out of the audience.
The play is anchored by the performances of its skilled five-person cast. Even in moments that could feel excruciating – like the opening scene with the website menu debate – they keep the humor at the forefront. Benjamin Grills brings an intensely chill vibe to his portrayal of Eli, the tech bro turned stay-at-home dad. You can tell he’s trying to break his habit of dominating conversations, but he’s a tall man and just looms over everyone.
I first saw Deb Martin on stage in 2024 at The Gamm for their production of “Twelfth Night.” She completely stole the show with an over-the-top gender-swapped Malvolio. Here she plays Suzanne, a board member who is deeply invested in the school’s mission. Martin is the standout performer again in “Eureka Day,” as a wealthy Berkeleyite who flows into any space she enters and owns that room. She’s full of confidence until her assumptions are dashed.
There are many great little touches in the writing. When agreeing with each other, the characters say things like “no, no, yeah.” Or they make a big pronouncement and get up to the most important word and then just don’t say that word. This all contributes to the dialogue feeling very natural and contemporary because that’s how people talk.
While the story is very timely, specific and relevant to this particular moment, the theme of how communities can move past disagreement is timeless. I was laughing throughout the play and I’ll be thinking about it for days to come.
“Eureka Day” is on now through Feb. 1 at the Gamm Theatre in Warwick.
