Island City Stage’s ‘Eureka Day’ Proves the Only Thing More Contagious Than Mumps Is a Strong Opinion.

August 22nd, 2026

Jonathan Spector’s Tony Award-winning Eureka Day at Island City Stage is a wickedly funny reminder that there are few things more dangerous than a room full of well-intentioned people who are absolutely certain they are the reasonable ones!

Set inside an ultra-progressive Berkeley private school and directed by Andy Rogow, the play begins with a mumps outbreak and quickly becomes something much more contagious: an epidemic of opinions.

The Eureka Day School prides itself on inclusivity, empathy and consensus. Every voice matters. Every perspective deserves consideration. Every decision should, ideally, leave everyone feeling heard. Then comes an outbreak of the mumps. Suddenly, the Board of Directors has to decide what to do about vaccinations, personal freedom, public health and the children caught in the middle. What follows is not so much a meeting as a spectacular demonstration of how quickly civilized discourse can descend into chaos when nobody wants to be the person who says, “Enough. This is what we have to do.”

Spector’s great comic achievement is that he doesn’t make these people easy targets. They are not cartoon villains. For the most part, they are thoughtful, caring, educated people genuinely trying to do the right thing. And that is precisely what makes Eureka Day so funny and so unsettling. The characters’ good intentions become the very thing that gets them into trouble.

Rogow keeps the production moving at an appealing pace, allowing the comedy to emerge from character rather than forcing it. The result is a play that can be laugh-out-loud hilarious one moment and surprisingly poignant the next.

And then there is Zoom. One of the production’s standout sequences brilliantly captures the peculiar insanity of online communication. As the Board conducts its meeting overhead, audience members watch the increasingly frantic parent comments appear on screen. What begins as relatively harmless side chatter gradually mutates into increasingly personal—and increasingly off-color—attacks. It is painfully accurate and infinitely funny.

Anyone who has ever watched a perfectly civilized online discussion turn into a digital food fight will recognize the phenomenon immediately. Spector understands that the modern meeting has developed its own dramatic language: the carefully worded public statement, the private message, the passive-aggressive aside and the comment someone probably should have thought twice about posting. The cast handles this tonal tightrope with considerable skill.

Brandon Campbell’s Eli and Jen Chia’s Meiko bring both humor and genuine angst to the proceedings, while Ted DeChatelet finds plenty of comic and dramatic texture in Don. Rita Cole gives Carina just enough edge to make her a fascinating challenge to the committee’s established order. She doesn’t merely disrupt the consensus; she makes us wonder whether the consensus was ever as solid as everyone imagined. But the production’s emotional center is Maribeth Graham as Suzanne. Suzanne is alternately compelling, frustrating, sympathetic and problematic, sometimes within the same conversation. Graham understands that the character doesn’t need to be “likable” to be interesting. Instead, she makes Suzanne recognizable as a person attempting to navigate competing responsibilities while desperately wanting to believe that there is a solution in which everybody wins. Graham gives the character enough vulnerability beneath the certainty to make her journey matter. Her performance becomes the glue holding the production together, anchoring the increasingly absurd proceedings in something recognizably human.

Island City Stage also gets points for extending the joke beyond the stage. Audience members are greeted with purple school lunch bags filled with wonderfully appropriate school snacks, including PB&J Crustables, baby carrots, string cheese, pretzels and Twinkies. It is a small touch, but exactly the right one. Besides, nothing says “serious discussion about public health policy” quite like eating a Twinkie.

The play’s real strength, however, is its refusal to provide easy answers. Eureka Day isn’t simply a satire of progressive parents, nor is it an argument about vaccination disguised as a comedy. In an age when meetings happen on screens, disagreements become identity battles and everyone seems to have a platform, Eureka Day feels remarkably current. The play asks whether consensus is always possible—and whether the pursuit of consensus can sometimes prevent people from making the necessary decision.

Come for the laughs. Stay for the uncomfortable recognition that you may occasionally see a little bit of yourself in these people. Perhaps, on the way home, resist the temptation to start a group chat about it.

Island City Stage’s Eureka Day runs August 20 through September 13, 2026, at 2304 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors. The approximately two-hour production includes one 15-minute intermission. Tickets are $45 for Thursday, Friday and Saturday matinees and $50 for Saturday and Sunday performances. Mimosa Sunday on August 30 is $62 and is sponsored by Marc Martarana & Don. Women’s Night on September 4 is $45 and is sponsored by P.J. Hitchins. For tickets and information, call 954-928-9800 or email boxoffice@islandcitystage.org.