Vaccination Wars | "Eureka Day" @ Pasadena Playhouse

[cahwyguy]

If you’ve been reading the news the last week, you know childhood vaccines—and the childhood vaccine schedule—is back in the news.  RFK Jr.’s new panel has pushed back the age for the MMRV (MMR + Chickenpox); they punted the vote on the Hep B vaccine for newborns, and they added medical consultation (but did not require an ℞). I mention this all because it demonstrates the timeliness of the play that we saw last night at the Pasadena Playhouse: “Eureka Day”, which is about a war in a day school over vaccines.

The setting: Berkeley California, in 2018-2019. Both the setting and the year are important. The setting is important because of the nature of Berkeley, home of the campus of UC Berkeley, and an extremely progressive city. The year is important because, well, it is just before COVID-19 enters the conversation.

The action takes place in a private day school, and focuses on the Executive Board of the school, which operates by consensus. We see this established in the opening scene, where they are debating the order and selection of options for the entrance application regarding racial characteristics. They want to be respectful and do not want to offend anyone.  If one was Conservative, you would think this is a parody of the “woke” school boards of Berkeley; if you’ve known folks from Berkeley, you know this is just how Berkeley folks are.

Then a child in the school gets sick. Then two. Then more. Mumps. For those unfamiliar with the disease, it is very contagious, and can result in loss of hearing, sterility, and even death. Serious stuff. A letter is about to go out to all parents from the Berkeley Public Health department, advising them the school is quarantined and temporarily closed, and that students should not return unless they have already had and recovered from mumps, or have had the MMR vaccine. Naturally, the “crunchy” board calls an emergency meeting to address the letter. As you might expect from Berkeley, there are those that support science, those that support “natural” cures and body purity (i.e., anti-vax), and those undecided. The board doesn’t get anywhere, and so they decide to call a community meeting (which is a live-stream because of the quarantine).

This is where things go hilariously off the rails. The “background” chat during that meeting is one of the funniest things I have seen. From there, battle lines are drawn between the board members who are strongly anti-vax, and the board members that are strongly in favor of requiring vaccines before the school can reopen. But, remember, in order to change policies, a consensus is required. I’m not going to spoil it from this point, but suffice it to say that this is one of the funniest shows we’ve seen in a while—but funny in a very different way from the recent “Shucked”. This isn’t flat out jokes: it is situational and personal dynamic humor. I also think it is something that folks on either side of the vaccine question will find funny. Overall, I think the show reaches the correct endpoint, but for a while I wasn’t sure and the path was bumpy along the way.

Performances were outstanding, especially Camille Chen as Meiko (and my wife did confirm she was actually knitting and making progress on her scarf, although clearly a novice); Rick Holmes as Dond, Cherise Boothe as Carina, and Mia Barron as Suzanne. In particular, watch Boothe’s facial expressions as Carina throughout the show.

“Eureka Day” won a Tony this year for Best Revival of a Play, and it was reported last week that “Eureka Day” was the third most produced play of the 25-26 theatre season. Charles McNulty, in his LA Times review, notes: “The play, which is having its Los Angeles premiere at Pasadena Playhouse, seems like it could have been commissioned to skewer this destructive, benighted and completely mortifying anti-science moment. But Spector wrote the work before the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed our political demons and made stupid great again.” I don’t fully agree with McNulty’s characterization of the performance (but I often disagree with him), but I did like that paragraph.

In short: This play is timely. This play is funny. And the ending is perfect. Go see it.

“Eureka Day” continues at the Pasadena Playhouse through October 5. You can get tickets through the Playhouse Website.

Credits

Eureka Day. Written by Jonathan Spector. Directed by Teddy Bergman.

Cast: Mia Barron Suzanne; Cherise Boothe Carina; Camille Chen Meiko; Nate Corddry Eli; Rick Holmes Don; Kailyn Leilani Winter.

Production and Creative: Teddy Bergman Director; Wilson Chen Scenic Design; Denitsa Bliznakova Costume Design; Elizabeth Harper Lighting Design; John Nobori Sound Design; David Bengali Projection Design; Ryan Bernard Tymensky CSA Casting; David S. Franklin Production Stage Manager; Brad Enlow Technical Director / Production Supervisor; Davidson & Choy Publicity Press Representative; Lisa Toudic Asst. Stage Manager; Jenny Slattery Assoc. Producer.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, and 5-Star Theatricals. We’re looking for the right intimate theatre to subscribe at — it hasn’t been the same since Rep East died (it’s now The Main, and although it does a lot of theatre, it doesn’t have seasons or a resident company), and post-COVID, most 99-seaters aren’t back to doing seasons (or seasons we like). I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming ♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

• September: ♦ One Man, Two Guvnors at A Noise Within. Possible productions: Just Another Day at the Odyssey (simply so I can go up to Dan Lauria afterwards and ask if he’ll ever bring back Meeting of Minds, which stopped when he went off to do Lombardi many years ago); Real Women Have Curves at Kentwood Players.
• October: ♣ Fly Me to the Moon at The Soraya; ♦ Hairspray at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ ha ha ha ha ha ha at Pasadena Playhouse
• November: ♦ Jaja’s African Hair Braiding at CTG/Taper; ♦ Paranormal Activity at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Suffs at BIH/Pantages;
• December: ◊ ACSAC Conference; ♣ Nochebuena: A Christmas Spectacular at The Soraya; ♦ Stereophonic at BIH/Pantages;

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Vaccination Wars | "Eureka Day" @ Pasadena Playhouse by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.