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Playwright Jonathan Spector’s one act play “Eureka Day” is contemporary, given that the main topic of the play centers on whether a parent’s child needs to be vaccinated. On the surface, there seems to be no humor with this topic.
However, “Eureka Day” provides lots of laughs but also lots of drama at GableStage in Coral Gables, running now through June 14. Set in a private progressive inclusive school in Berkeley, California, the story involves the school board members and its principal coming to terms with an outbreak of the mumps in the school year. The challenge of the school is that it has to arrive at a consensus about whether all students attending the school have to be vaccinated.
The issue of vaccination is not really humorous, but the concept of having the five member school board and principal come to a consensus is where the laughter comes in. The principal Don (played by actor Mark H. Dold) tries his best to look for the common goals of the board to achieve consensus, but ultimately fails.
The laughs come about from the banter between Suzanne (Jeni Hacker), Carina (Rita Cole), Meiko (Jordyn Moore), Eli (Ryan Didato) and Don all whom, although well-intentioned to achieve consensus, begin to have a battle based on their strong viewpoints.
Without giving away any of the funny lines by the actors, the humor comes from the battle of over the top political correctness and ethnic sensitivity, especially regarding remarks about Carina, a Black American and Meiko, an Asian American.
Perhaps the most hilarious scene comes from the school board members witnessing the social media livestream exchange between parents who voiced their opinions on the right to vaccinate that also include remarks on science, being a Republican, being a Democrat, being a Nazi, being absurd, aggressive, controlling, an anarchist, among many more comments.
While the board memes look horrified at the behavior of the parents on social media, the audience laughed heartily at the many interactions on social media. The interplay, all coming at such a fast pace, created a lot of farcical moments.
GableStage Projection Designer Steven Covey, Lighting Designer Tony Galaska, Scenic Designer Frank J. Olivia and other behind the stage personnel are to be congratulated, especially for setting up the livestream social media scene.
Following the social media scene, the play became more dramatic, especially as Suzanne shared a very personal anecdote on why she is against vaccination with Corina. The tone of the play became more tense following the Corina-Suzanne interaction as the board members failed time after time to achieve consensus following more discussions.
By failing to come to consensus, a series of surprising events surrounding the future of the school and the fate of one of the board members took place, giving an unexpected but very thoughtful ending to the play.
“Eureka Day” gives much for the audience to think about. The play won a 2025 Tony Award for Spector following its run on Broadway that season.
Credits go to all the actors in the GableStage production as well as director Stuart Meltzer of Zoetic Stage who was simultaneously directing both “Eureka Day” and “Moses” at Zoetic Stage simultaneously.
Playwright Jonathan Spector’s one act play “Eureka Day”, is running now through Sunday, June 14 at GableStage, 1200 Anastasia Ave. in Coral Gables. Tickets range from $50-$95, with discounted and free tickets to seniors, students and teachers at selected performances. GableStage has many talks with audiences about “Eureka Day” before and after selected performances. For specific dates, show times and more information, call 305-445-1119 or go to gablestage.org
