Provocative, laugh-out-loud funny ‘Eureka Day’ gets a superb regional premiere

“Eureka Day” — 4 stars

If you need a good laugh (and who doesn’t?) head to the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place for TimeLine Theatre and Broadway in Chicago’s hugely entertaining Chicago premiere of “Eureka Day,” Jonathan Spector’s deliciously provocative social satire that skewers affluent progressives while also granting them grace.

An unusual and delicate thing that, and Spector accomplishes it with goodwill and good humor. I can’t recall a production that elicited from an audience belly laughs so loud, so unrelenting they drowned out nearly all the dialogue in the scene. Just as the playwright intended.

A comedic high point, it unfolds as an uproariously funny video conference during which the board members of a progressive, private school in Berkeley, California, discuss with parents the mumps outbreak sparked by an unvaccinated student that forced the school to close temporarily.

This virtual meeting commences in the school’s cheery, inclusive library (the set is by Collette Pollard), where board members — well-meaning, well-to-do liberals played by Aurora Adachi-Winter, Jürgen Hooper, Gabrielle Lott-Rogers, PJ Powers and Rebekah Ward — huddle around a laptop. Projected on a screen above them is the livestream page whose live chat feed shows parents’ comments.

Cleverly crafted by Spector and impeccably timed by director Lili-Anne Brown, the scene (brilliantly played by this razor-sharp cast) juxtaposes board members’ attempts to come to a consensus on vaccine policy with parents’ increasingly vitriolic — albeit funny — comments that range from irrelevant to misinformed to combative.

According to Spector, “the scene is built to allow many of the lines to be lost.” Mission accomplished, to hilarious effect.

The play, which is set during the 2018-2019 school year, premiered in 2018 at Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre company, meaning it predates the COVID-19 pandemic (although the last line suggests Spector did some post-pandemic tweaking). The global emergency underscores “Eureka Day,” which examines vaccine skepticism and immunization policies (among many public health measures recently upended).

But there’s much more to it. Besides sending up “wokeism” — references to “holding space” and “feeling seen”; agency, intentionality, erasure and maintaining an “open heart” abound — the play skewers those virtue-signaling liberals who advance illiberal positions. People who, while they recognize their privilege, wield it anyway (and condescendingly) to get what they want.

Ultimately, it’s the impossibility of building consensus, even among seemingly like-minded people, that underscores the incisive “Eureka Day,” whose dialogue reflects Spector’s keen sense of liberal vernacular, compassion for his characters and recognition of their humanity.

As Don (Powers, terrific), the beleaguered head of the school, insists “No One Here Is A Villain.”

“Everyone here is operating on the best of intentions,” he says.

Indeed. Tech bro Eli (Hooper), who cashed out to be a stay-at-home dad, made generous donations to the school. Founding parent Suzanne (Ward) provided students lunch for a year following an unfortunate cashew lasagna-related incident.

They’re earnest and insightful, but they’re flawed. They mansplain, condescend and assume — respectfully, of course. The exception is newcomer Carina (a subtle, deeply aware Lott-Rogers), who speaks frankly and brings to the committee a real-world pragmatism.

Case in point, her response to the group’s “ALL POV = VALID” position, she states “everyone’s point of view is not equally valid like All of the Time.”

Carina’s observation impacts Adachi-Winter’s nicely limned Meiko, the mother of an unvaccinated child, whose thinking evolves over the course of the play.

“We have so much (expletive) hubris,” she exclaims. “I get so many things wrong, and I don’t know … we could be getting things wrong.”

If consensus is the objective, her admission is a step in the right direction.

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Location: Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, timelinetheatre.com, BroadwayInChicago.com

Showtimes: 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 22. Also, 1 p.m. Jan. 28, Feb. 4 and 11. No evening performances Feb. 1, 8 and 15

Tickets: $30-$90

Running time: About 100 minutes, no intermission

Parking: In the lot adjacent to the theater

Rating: For adults, contains mature subject matter and language