Theater Review: Seattle Rep’s Very Timely “Eureka Day”

Review: Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector. Produced by Seattle Rep. Directed by Matthew Leavitt. Scenic Design by Sara C. Walsh. Costume Design by Chelsea Cook. Lighting Design by Robert J. Aguilar. Sound Design by Evan Mosher. Projection Design by L.B. Morris. With Jonathan Slavin, Sara Hennessy, Nemuna Ceesay, Ashley Song, Quinn Mattfeld, Marena Kleinpeter. Onstage at Seattle Rep from September 24 to November 15, 2026. Tickets at https://www.seattlerep.org/plays/202627-season/eureka-day

I can’t even imagine what it must be like to be a child, parent, or educator in this day and age. It’s so very different from when I was in school hundreds of years ago in the cholera filled days of the 1900s. And, of course, I’ve only been a child; I managed to avoid the horrors of parenthood and professional teacher. The very current play, EUREKA DAY now onstage at Seattle Rep’s Leo K. theater explores the world of modern day education through the lens of parents and an educator and quite frankly, it’s all a bit terrifying to me.

Also, hysterically funny.

Eureka Day the play is set at Eureka Day, the private progressive school in Berkeley, California circa 2018 and centers on the school’s Executive Board headed by headmaster Don with four rotating parents as board members. The play opens with the board meeting in the school’s very posh library with gorgeous views of San Francisco Bay. Eureka Day is a very well funded private institution with a very liberal and well off base in support. These people are rich, stylish, idealistic, a bit pompous, and “woke” to the nth degree. They have intense debates over such minor things as what kinds of refreshments are appropriate at board meetings. And, since the board has agreed that all issues must be made by total consensus, it can lead to intense discussions over how to run the school.

Somehow they’ve managed to make it all work over time, largely due to the board usually conceding to the will of Suzanne, an older board member and one of the original parents at the school who manages to be “nice” but really only as long as you agree with what she says. She’s joined by single mom Meiko who is having a secret affair with Eli, a wealthy tech dude with a supposedly understanding wife. Then there’s the new board member Carina, who is African American partnered with a wife, and new to the Bay Area and the school. Carina is a bit overwhelmed by the overly hipstery vibe of the rest of the board and suspicious of some of their attitudes and assumptions about her and her family.

The board seems to be mostly unified and functions well with day to day running of the school but things get complicated when an outbreak of mumps happens and it quickly becomes apparent that there are differing opinions in the school and on the board about health issues, science, and specifically the vaccination of children. When one of the board parents has a child taken to hospital, emotions become volatile with sides forming both pro and con about vaccination and quarantining.

Eureka Day was a mixed bag for me in its opening moments…it seemed a bit precious and a tad heavy handed with the satire about “woke-ism” and several of the characters seemed like caricatures but as the plot progressed, the characters continued to grow into interesting and complicated real people, largely due to playwright Jonathan Spector’s clever script. The play originally plays up the humor and the ridiculousness of both the characters and how they interact but as we learn more about them and what motivates them, they grow into substantial and fascinating people. Spector does a great job of balancing over the top comedic moments with others of great sadness. You’ll leave the theater not necessarily agreeing with various character’s point of view, but you will have empathy for what they’ve gone through.

It’s all in all a top notch production of Spector’s play at Seattle Rep; it’s superbly staged by Matthew Leavitt who can handle some hysterically funny moments in the show as well as the devastatingly poignant ones. He’s aided by an excellent cast headed by Sara Hennessy as the bossy board elder Suzanne; you may or may not agree with her stance but her reasons for that stance will break your heart. It’s a moving and emotionally charged performance.

On the other side of the vaccine fence, you have Nemuna Ceesay as the more introspective and skeptical newcomer Carina who in some ways has the harder job of playing a lot of subtext. Carina isn’t a loud, confrontational type but she carries great power and resolve and Ms Ceesay is just great in this role.

More in the middle of the battle you have Meiko and Eli and both are very well played by Ashley Song and Quinn Mattfeld, respectively. And, Jonathan Slavin is great as the mostly eternally upbeat headmaster who eventually loses his cool.

The show is also aided by gorgeous design work including Sara C. Walsh’s lush school library set and very handsome (and expensive looking) costumes by Chelsea Cook…these are RICH Bay Area people who have a big clothing budget and they all look amazing in Cook’s costumes.

Then there’s the projection design by L.B. Morse which was perfectly executed. There’s a scene in the play where the board is holding a all parent meeting to discuss the mumps epidemic crisis with the other parents participating via Group Chat. Obviously, playwright Spector wrote the over the top, on the nose, HYSTERICALLY FUNNY dialogue we see projected onstage but Mr. Morse did a great job of execution. No one is paying attention to what the actors onstage are saying because the audience is too busy ROFLing over the hilarious comments and arguments being projected. The play is worth seeing for this very funny scene alone. Anyone who has ever been in a group chat has run across a “Leslie Kaufman” or two…

Eureka Day is a terrifically smart satire about modern life and it’s very much worth your time and money to check it out. Oh, and it also has one of the most astute and funny final lines in contemporary theater. It’s A+ entertainment.