Review: Timely ‘Eureka Day’ at Pasadena Playhouse
- Anita W. Harris
- Sep 21
- 4 min read
At once pointed and funny, Jonathan Spector’s 2018 “Eureka Day”—winning a Tony Award in 2025 for best revival— reflects our nation’s fraught relationship with childhood vaccines through the lens of an earnest five-member school council. Dynamically directed by Teddy Bergman at Pasadena Playhouse with excellent actors, the play hilariously sends up righteousness while exploring the potential consequences of vaccinating a child—and the dire results of refusing.
Most of the play takes place in the library of Eureka Day school in a Bay Area enclave where a committee of four parents—including one “new” parent to ensure representation of all perspectives—meet regularly with the principal over artisanal scones to discuss policy. From the get-go, their conversation is infused with the kind of politically correct, enlightened inclusiveness that has become the norm in polite company.
Except it clearly masks a power dynamic allowing Suzanne (a formidable Mia Barron), a white woman and one of the school’s founders, to interrupt or to cringeworthily even speak for Meiko (Camille Chen) and new member Carina (Cherise Boothe)—both women of color—while white male Eli (Nate Corddry) expounds freely and principal Don (Rick Holmes, well cast) does his granola best to keep the peace and find consensus, ending each meeting with an indecipherable Rumi poem.
Though most of the play consists of conversations among these five very different characters, the production never feels staid. Instead, the actors move fluidly about the stage and speak naturally as well, Spector’s dialogue replete with sentences that stop and restart, or remain unfinished when the final word(s) could be only one thing, or perhaps anything — just as many of us normally speak.
The set is also well integrated with the story, folk music playing at relatively high volume between scenes (sound design by John Nobori), accompanied by dim lighting (designed by Elizabeth Harper) that satirically backlights “social justice” on one end of the library’s shelves and “fiction” on the other (scenic design by Wilson Chin). And frequent outfit changes add to the sense of dynamism, with costumes (designed by Denitsa Bliznakova) aligning well with each character.
Soon, an outbreak of mumps at the school precipitates a crisis within the group, slowly revealing each member’s position on vaccination. Unable to reach consensus even though actively listening to each other, they decide to host a virtual parental town hall to share information about the outbreak and invite comment on what to do.
The meeting is brilliantly depicted through projection above the stage (designed by David Bengali) streaming the attendee parents’ chat comments in bubbles with emojis as they argue amongst themselves while the five committee members in the library scramble to focus their attention — leaving even peace-loving Don at his wit’s end — as we the audience laugh in painful recognition at the trajectory of the chat, which hysterically devolves from respectful disagreement to Nazi accusations and name-calling.
But amid the humor, we also get the seriousness of diseases like mumps when Eli’s son is hospitalized in grave condition. And we get the equally serious potential consequence of vaccinating a child when Suzanne tells Carina what happened to her firstborn after vaccination — the only time a character remains still on stage, adding gravitas to her story.
In this way, the play emotionally explores perspectives around childhood vaccinations while keeping us thoroughly engaged through the characters’ amusingly sharp interactions. Can they find consensus on this issue? Budgetary and parental concerns eventually lead them to a conclusion, though as with any charged matter, not everyone buys into it.
While it’s intriguing that vaccine concerns are now reaching a head and possible turning point under the current federal administration, that’s not the main reason “why” you should see this play. “Eureka Day” is incisive, witty and entertaining, featuring an excellent, well-directed cast. It’s also a look at how sharing perspectives to achieve a common goal can help foster understanding, even if complete consensus may never be reached.
“Eureka Day” continues through Oct. 5 at Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena, with shows Wednesdays at 8 p.m., Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. For tickets and information, call the box office at 626-356-7529 or visit PasadenaPlayhouse.org. Run time is 1 hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.
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