Review: In ‘Eureka Day,’ Holding Space for Those You Hate

Just in time, Broadway is experiencing a major revival of laughter, and the best part is, it comes in various forms.https://wordpress.com/

For sharp, biting humor, don’t miss Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard in “Death Becomes Her.” If you’re in the mood for uncontrollable chuckles, Cole Escola delivers as the legendary cabaret star Mary Todd Lincoln in “Oh, Mary!” And for those who enjoy family chaos and explosive drama, “Cult of Love” will surely leave you gasping.

But the funniest character on Broadway right now isn’t even a human — or at least not exactly. The biggest laughs in Jonathan Spector’s “Eureka Day,” which premiered Monday at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, come courtesy of a yellow thumbs-up emoji.

This emoji appears in a livestreamed meeting of parents and board members at Eureka Day, an elite private school in Berkeley, California. As Don, the principal, tries to navigate a brewing crisis using every buzzword at his disposal, the conversation in the chat spirals out of control. His attempt to “unpack” issues calmly results in a flood of personal attacks, crude language, and childish insults. By the end of the scene, which is the third of the play’s brisk seven, the thumb emoji feels like it’s expressing something entirely different.

Spector’s darkly comedic critique of educational “wokeism” brings us to this point with meticulous precision. A Manhattan Theater Club production, directed by Anna D. Shapiro, opens in 2018 with a scene that serves as a sort of theatrical appetizer. The lights come up on the school’s well-appointed library, featuring a prominent social justice section, as Don (Bill Irwin) leads the board in a discussion about whether to add “transracial adoptee” to the long list of ethnic identities on the prospective parent application.

The debate is characterized by polite, often incomprehensible, language. Meiko (Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz) insists “the term itself is not offensive,” while Suzanne (Jessica Hecht) argues it could be offensive “when you contextualize it that way.” Eli (Thomas Middleditch) believes omitting the term would amount to erasure, considering that “our Core Operating Principle here is that everyone should Feel Seen by this community.”

Suzanne counters, “There’s no benefit in Feeling Seen if you’re simultaneously Being Othered, right?”

Only Carina (Amber Gray), a new parent, speaks plainly. She argues that the term shouldn’t be added because adoption isn’t an ethnicity, but she’s quickly interrupted by Eli, who mansplains his way through the conversation.

Eli, a former tech entrepreneur, has mastered the latest buzzwords but still craves dominance in discussions. Carina, a Black parent, is presumed by the mostly white board members to need financial aid. Meiko is a single mother having an affair with Eli, who is married. Suzanne, one of the school’s founding parents, exudes a subtle yet palpable sense of privilege, and Don recites Rumi aloud—enough said.

At first, the satire feels broad. The characters, each holding space for their own pet causes, leave little room for anyone else’s perspective, making the dialogue feel more like a rambling lecture. When Don gently informs Carina that “we make every effort to use Gender Neutral Pronouns when referring to a student,” the scene seems to drag on.

But the play soon finds its rhythm. In an emergency meeting days later, an outbreak of mumps at the school exposes surprising rifts among the board members, who mask their shock at one another’s views with convoluted language. Meanwhile, the chat during a livestreamed meeting about vaccine mandates turns into a harsh inner monologue, exposing the board’s intolerance despite their professed commitment to open-mindedness.

Spector’s satire takes a clever turn as it shifts from a broad critique of wokeism to a more nuanced exploration of human motivation. While initially mocking the characters, “Eureka Day” challenges us to understand why people hold the beliefs they do and suggests that, despite their differences, they can still work toward common goals. The school’s students, it is said, are easy to spot at soccer games because “they’re the ones who cheer when the other team scores.” In short, the play invites us to acknowledge the humanity of those with whom we disagree.

While this feels especially timely, the play was written in 2018, first performed at the Aurora Theater Company in Berkeley and later Off-Broadway in 2019. Recent events, however, have given the play new relevance, prompting Spector to incorporate updates reflecting current realities. By moving the timeline forward by a year, he emphasizes the public health ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic and delivers a knockout closing line.

Although the original intimate downtown production, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, ended on a quieter note, Shapiro’s Broadway version is grander in scale, featuring a larger, brighter library set (designed by Todd Rosenthal) and costumes (by Clint Ramos) that reflect the characters’ social dynamics. The bassoon-heavy interstitial music (by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen) adds a whimsical touch. The cast strikes a balance between broad humor and deeper emotion, with Irwin’s portrayal of fatuousness particularly strong, and Hecht delivering a masterclass in steely cluelessness. Amber Gray, in a somewhat underwritten role, adds sharp wit to the mix.

But whether you can fully embrace the characters’ good intentions, given their overwhelming focus on appearance over substance, is a more complicated matter. The school’s decision to stage “Peter Pan” in outer space to avoid “extremely problematic portrayals of Native Peoples” and “a host of Colonialist Issues” is a perfect example of how their ideals lead to absurd outcomes.

This biting satire skewers both sides of the debate, providing a sharp critique of both wokeism and obtuseness. However, it also leaves us with an unsettling question: If every point of view is valid, does anyone’s perspective hold any real weight?