Chaos, comedy, and consensus abound on the set of “Eureka Day,” which opened at Riverside Theatre on Oct. 24, and runs through Nov. 9.
Written in 2018 by Jonathan Spector, “Eureka Day” centers around the fictional private elementary school of the same name. After a mumps outbreak, the school’s PTA must figure out how to deal with the situation. However, the PTA does not vote on issues; it participates in collective decision-making.
Riverside’s Director of Education and Outreach, Kathleen Johnson, directed the play.
“What we get to see is a PTA full of people who are so engaged and interested in making sure everyone feels heard, everyone feels seen, almost to the point of absurdity,” Johnson said.
The play opens with a Parent Executive Meeting for the 2018-2019 school year, where four parents, Eli, Meiko, Suzanne, and Carina, the new parent, along with Don, the head of the school, discuss adding a new inclusive selection on the already-inclusive admissions form for “trans-racial adoptees.”
Don explains to Carina how they vote on a consensus, leading to sometimes very long meetings. Don ends the meeting with a poem by 13th-century Persian poet Rumi, stating that is how he always likes to end the first meeting of the year.
Actor Joshua Fryvecind, who plays Don, spoke about his character and what drew him to want to play the character.
“It just became more interesting to me to be this kind of person who’s very conflicted in himself,” Fryvecind said. “He wants to be the leader, that’s why he’s the head of the school, but at the same time, the school runs on consensus, and he gets himself to want to be a part of a team.”
Actress Robyn Calhoun plays the character of Suzanne, a very involved mother on the PTA. When the mumps outbreak happens, she’s the voice advocating for the PTA to stick to their collective decision-making.
“We’re both moms, and we both adore our children,” Calhoun said. “Some of her values of making everything fair so everybody gets a fair say, are great.”
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From the moment the PTA reads the letter about the mumps outbreak, Suzanne suggests that they modify the letter to include links to resources that tell families they don’t have to vaccinate their children if they wish not to. As Suzanne’s views on vaccines come to light, the parents in the PTA take sides.
When each parent takes a side in the argument, Don tries to find a compromise by hosting a community-activated conference, a Zoom meeting that quickly dissolves into chaos and arguing.
While the cast attempted to talk to the community via Zoom, audience members could see the comments in the Zoom chat on a projector screen. Eventually, the cast’s serious talking points were drowned out by the loud laughter from the audience as they read the comments.
“If you’ve ever been in any type of Zoom call, all the back-and-forth was hilarious,” attendee Bethany Cobb said.
Cobb was surprised at how funny the play was and its relevance to current topics surrounding immunization, specifically in regard to immunizations in schools.
Johnson looked forward to audience takeaways.
“I hope [the audience] push themselves to do what the characters in the play are forced to do, which is, ‘I’m going to sit with and hear viewpoints that are different than mine, and realize that I can hold and maintain my perspective,’” Johnson said.