EUREKA DAY – A Seriously Funny Heartfelt Play Navigating through Differences of Opinion  

Bonnie DeShong

Broadway In Chicago has brought TimeLine Theatre Company’s Chicago premiere production of the 2025 Tony Award®-winner for Best Revival of a Play, EUREKA DAY, written by Jonathan Spector and directed by Lili-Anne Brown to the Broadway Playhouse.

Eureka Day School is a small progressive private school in Berkeley, California. The school is run by five eclectic school board members who agree on policies only by consensus. The Parent Board has gone out of its way to make sure that every ethnic, sexual identity, race, religion, and everyone and anyone else is accepted. 

The characters are very well written and portrayed. Aurora Adachi-Winter plays the role of single mother Meiko. She is constantly knitting and trying to complete a sentence without being interrupted. Jürgen Hooper is Eli, a man with many ideas that are all over the place, a very wealthy tech guy, who is in an open marriage and having an affair with Meiko. Rebekah Ward is Suzanne. She is the Parent Board President and has been for many, many years. She is the all-natural parent who only uses organic food, natural products, and does not believe in scientific or prescription forms of medication.  The role of Don is played by PJ Powers. He is hilarious as the member of the group who tries very hard to maintain peace using deep breathing and reading sonnets to calm the group.  Gabrielle Lott-Rogers is Carina. This is her child’s first year at Eureka Day. She is a Black, Trans female who checks a lot of the diversity inclusion boxes.

Gabrielle grew up in Hyde Park and went to both Kenwood and the University of Chicago Lab School before starting her career as an actress of stage and film. I had the honor of sitting down with her for a conversation about the play. I asked her to explain the premise of the show. She explained, “It is a play by Jonathan Specter, and it is focused around a progressive private school in Berkeley, California. There are five parent board members who are part of the executive board, and I am the newest member, who is trans. I have just been transplanted into the Berkeley community from Baltimore. So, I have a bit more of an edge than someone who lives in Berkeley, California. And I am acclimating to how they do things at this new school, for which my son seems to be thriving. So, I want to be involved, but I’m learning that every place is not the same, and how they view things. The premise is that while I have just arrived, there is a mumps outbreak. And what is fascinating about this play is that it was actually written in 2018.”

Gabrielle went on to say, “So, the conversation about vaccinations, immunizations, should we not? Is it good? Does it cause other issues very much on the table in 2018? And so now post-pandemic, it’s very, very, very, very much part of the conversation about how we should proceed moving forward.”

For this play to be written and take place in 2018, the audience could relate as it brought back strong memories of the COVID outbreak. The controversies, the hilarious Zoom calls, the fear.

During the ninety minutes the show runs, I laughed loudly, felt the emotions of the characters, and thoroughly enjoyed the evening. It’s fast-paced and has several levels.

I give EUREKA DAY 4 out of 5 Winks of the EYE.

Until next time, keep your EYE to the SKY