How does Ari Roth, Mosaic Theater's artistic director, land these riveting, modern tales before anyone else?
Eureka Day is the progressives gone overboard. A mirror from the left looking at (laughing at) themselves. (Conservatives will adore it!)
It's hilarious. It's provoking, and it's another big hit at Mosaic.
Two men and three women make up the "executive committee" of a liberal private high school in Berkeley, California (where else?).
Never mind that public schools need all the attention and attendance they can get from wealthy liberal parents. (Think, the Clintons, the Obamas, and Sidwell Friends School; thank you very much, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter who sent their daughter, Amy, to public school when they occupied the White House.)
After all, these are our children for whom we should do the very best and who cares about anyone else? Ours simply must attend Eureka Day! Enough liberal thinking!
A new parent (Erica Chamblee) is the outlier at Eureka Day School who sits on the outside of the group watching the circus, waiting, an audience of one, representing us, the viewers.
Two others in the group, Eli (Elan Zafir) and Meiko (Regina Aquino) are having an affair, of course. Where would any contemporary sensible production be without this de rigueur practice?
Dancing Don (Sam Lunay) moves with the best of them, trying to keep everything and everybody in line, to reach "consensus" and maybe, everything won't be so bad.
Suzanne (Lise Bruneau) is the antagonist with a correction for everything: Please, they are not Egyptians; they are enslaved persons.
Please! Here we use only gender-neutral or non-binary pronouns. Get with the program!
The script includes discussion about vaccinations. To vaccinate or not? Close the school?
Eureka has its serious moments, too, but, thankfully, not as many as the humorous ones. (I just came to laugh, after all. Vaccinations? What vaccinations? This is billed as a comedy.)
The music between scenes is divine. The first act ends too quickly and the second finishes much too fast for it all to be over, meaning I wanted it to go on and on.
The acting is superb, and the mannerisms drawn by Director Serge Seiden with such swooping and bending and looks, like those loved by audiences the world over.
Mar Cox and Thomas Nagata, the assistant stage manager, are also in the cast.
Creative team members include Andrew Cohen, set; Brittany Shemuga, lights;Brandee Mathies, costumes; David Lamont Wilson, sound; Deborah C. Thomas, properties; Shirley Serotsky, dramaturg; Claudia Rosales Waters, intimacy consultant; and Aril E. Carter, stage manager
What: Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector
When: Now through January 5, 2020, Monday, Dec. 30, and Thursday- Saturday at 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees, 3 p.m.
Where: Mosaic Theater Company, Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, Washington, D.C. 20002
Getting there: Riding public transportation from Union Station on the streetcar is easy and free, if you can find the streetcar behind Union Station where signage to the streetcar is poor. Valet and parking options are available.
Tickets start at $20. (Use discount code "2020" to get 20% off.)
Language: Adult
Duration: About two hours with one 15-minute intermission.
Post-show discussions: Dec. 30, Jan. 2, and Jan. 4.
Open-captioned performances: Jan. 3 and Jan. 4 (Call for time on Jan. 4.)
For more information: Please call the box office (202-399-7993, ext. 2) or email boxoffice@atlasarts.org.
patricialesli@gmail.com
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