Los Angeles Times
- Recommended
"...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."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...The play begins with a picture of composure. Five parents sit at a polished library table in a progressive private school in Berkeley. They lean forward, nodding with exquisite concern, and speak in the gentle cadences of inclusivity. Words like "shared narrative" and "holding space" float through the room with the benign weight of mantras. It looks like harmony. It feels like virtue. And it is begging to be punctured."
LA Splash
- Highly Recommended
"...Skillfully helmed by Teddy Bergman, who knows how to build up tension and laughter at the same time, EUREKA DAY goes on a merry, head-spinning ride through the maze of personalities and convictions in the room as tempers begin to flare. The ensemble cast is a very talented group who leave the audience laughing and uncomfortable in equal parts - especially for laughing - as the Eureka Board joust and juggle their way through an unavoidable controversy which exposes the warts each participant tries to hide. And don't forget about Winter (Kailyn Leilani), who makes a brief but telling appearance."
Stage Scene LA
- Highly Recommended
"...Vaccination advocates and their opponents find themselves at each other's throats to hysterically funny and deadly accurate effect in Jonathan Spector's Tony-winning comedy Eureka Day, Pasadena Playhouse's Broadway-caliber 2025-2026 season opener."
LA Theatrix
- Recommended
"...While it’s intriguing that vaccine concerns are now reaching a head and possible turning point under the current federal administration, that’s not the main reason “why” you should see this play. “Eureka Day” is incisive, witty and entertaining, featuring an excellent, well-directed cast. It’s also a look at how sharing perspectives to achieve a common goal can help foster understanding, even if complete consensus may never be reached."
ArtsBeatLA
- Highly Recommended
"...Directed by Teddy Bergman’s direction is sharp and focused, eliciting solid performances from everyone. The actors give uniformly good and credible performances, eliciting plenty of laughs with some well-timed delivery and reactions."
Stage Raw
- Recommended
"...Jonathan Spector's nervy comedy, ostensibly about the vaccines debate (originally set in 2017 but updated to 2018, as Covid was expanding, thereby accommodating the play's satirical punchline), was first produced at Berkeley's Aurora Theatre, before transferring to Broadway via NYC's Manhattan Theatre Club. It's now on a return bounce to California in director Teddy Bergman's scintillating production."
Ticket Holders LA
- Highly Recommended
"...Spector's play is a delightful indictment of the absurdity of modernday manners and wokeness vs. political correctness, but Eureka Day must be a difficult challenge to stage since the actors spend most of the runtime seated in a line across the front of the stage on plastic stackable patio-style chairs. Staging it must be a nearly impossible feat and unfortunately, the contribution of director Teddy Bergman is the production's only Achilles' heel."
Broadway World
- Highly Recommended
"...That lovely melodious "ka-boom!" you may be hearing down the 210 freeway emanates from the collision of strong wills, good intentions and a progressive ideology of five very conflicted characters. Jonathan Spector's EUREKA DAY - in its L.A-area premiere at The Pasadena Playhouse - would almost certainly benefit from multiple viewings and should be no less enjoyable with each visitation. Director Teddy Bergman's production is that riveting. Timely, too. As even-handed as this investigation into a school vaccination policy proves to be, EURKEA DAY is a play that would addle Robert F. Kennedy Jr and all of his brain worms."
