Eureka Day (c) Jeremy Daniel
Broadway: Eureka Day
Presented by Manhattan Theatre Club at the Friedman Theatre
Herd immunity is the only concept both sides of the growing war brewing at Eureka Day School, a private, inclusive elementary school in Berkeley California, can agree on. It’s 2018 and a small group of children have come down with the mumps, and at a school that doesn’t require disclosure of vaccination, it soon becomes obvious which families have partaken and which haven’t. Herd immunity is the goal, but the argument is by which means: Will immunization be achieved by vaccinations as Carina (Amber Grey), the newest member of the Eureka Day School board, is advocating in the name of well-documented science or will it be through natural infection as Suzanne (Jessica Hecht), the elder statesman, argues, bypassing the CDC and Big Pharma altogether. In Jonathan Spektor’s hysterical and balanced(-ish) play, wonderfully realized by Anna D. Shapiro, the lines are not drawn clearly in the sand as the theme of inclusion is always on the top of mind of the board, including the school’s head, Don (Bill Irwin, using his natural clown flexibility to fun effect here) and two other parents, Meiko and Eli, each of whom have children with mumps. The acting ensemble is exceptional, with the always reliable Hecht particularly impressive playing the most understanding person ever until her values are challenged. But the funniest sequence does not involve the actors at all: In a virtual meeting held by the school board about the outbreak and quarantine (sound familiar), the scene is overshadowed by a vicious and too-on-the-nose group chat by the parents, projected on the stage. Bravo to the actors who have to continue to hold a serious discussion as the audience guffaws over the farce in the chat. It is amazing that Spektor’s play is so enjoyable as it is essentially that excruciating family dinner we all try to avoid where politics is inevitably brought up. Eureka Day is the latest of these plays about the America divide, after The Minutes (showing the MAGA extreme) and The Thanksgiving Play (showing the “woke” one). Spektor’s offering is more clever, giving voice to the dichotomy found in its audience (Broadway = rich, white; New York = diverse, liberal) with an ending that may seem like a band-aid over a hole in a leaky dam, but welcome to the U.S.A.
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A Guide for the Homesick (c) Russ Rowland
Theater: A Guide for the Homesick
At DR2
In A Guide for the Homesick, Ken Urban’s engrossing two-hander play, two lonely men find each other at a hotel bar near the Amsterdam Airport. The hotel room belongs to Teddy (McKinley Belcher III), a man on a bachelor’s trip with a friend who’s about to get married and has suddenly left. His guest is Jeremy (Uly Schlesinger), a nurse returning from a year doing volunteer work in Uganda. Both are feeling particularly vulnerable when their paths cross, but neither are willing, at least at first, to be open about it. For Teddy, questions arise: Why did Teddy’s friend Ed leave so suddenly? Was he getting cold feet about his upcoming nuptial to Margo? Did Teddy make a pass at Ed? Is Ed hiding something deeper he can’t face? As for Jeremy: Why is he so skittish about going home? Why did he miss his flight to Boston? And what happened to his friendship with a patient named Nicholas, a gay man in Africa where AIDS is ragingly prevalent (it is 2011)? But the biggest question is why both men, who seem to be heading towards a harmless sexual hook-up, seem more lonely than horny? Both men have secrets and regrets that are slowly revealed in flashbacks with Belcher playing the Ugandan Nicholas and Schlesinger playing Teddy’s troubled mate Ed. Both actors do a good job distinguishing each character, with Lawrence Moten’s hotel room set able to jump in time and location when the script calls for it. Director Shira Milikowsky keeps the action moving along, although Urban’s play falls into the two-actor play trap of “Why don’t they just leave the uncomfortable situation?” Belcher has the juicer roles with his Nicholas being the most sympathetic and tragic, but Schlesinger, exuding a young Daniel Radcliffe vibe, gives Jeremy a complexity of essentially a walking wound. This is an affecting story of two lost souls reaching out for one last chance with the kindness of strangers.
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Pen Pals (c) Russ Rowland
Theater: Pen Pals
At Theatre at St. Clement's
It seems after the success of A.R. Gurney's Love Letters, the 1989 play in which two actors sit at tables reading love letters they have written to each other, that more playwrights would have jumped on the bandwagon of such a simple concept. Actors (especially celebrities) would only need minimal rehearsal time, and it would fit into their schedules between projects, in a production with a rotating cast. On Broadway, the performers included big names like Christopher Reeve, Julie Harris, Christopher Walken. This celebrity angle of tag-team actors has made a resurgence on Broadway with the current All In: Comedy About Love by Simon Rich with four actors swapping roles from week to week (with names like John Mulaney, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Annaleigh Ashford). While that show is more about telling stories, to get a true epistolary experience, head to the Theatre at St. Clement's Off-Broadway with Michael Griffo’s Pen Pals, a stripped-down production with unfussy direction by SuzAnne Barabas, with minimal set and costume but maximum talent in its first cast of Nancy McKeon (most remembered as Jo on The Facts of Life making her New York City stage debut) and Johanna Day (a Tony nominee for Proof and Sweat). The pals start penning in 1955 when Bernie (McKeon) and her New Jersey elementary class is assigned to start this yearlong connection by mail with Mags (Day) in Sheffield, England. This section feels the most pure with Griffo capturing the giddy enthusiasm of two newly-teenaged girls learning about another culture but also expecting to receiving a letter in the mail (slightly more exciting than getting a text, Gen Z-ers). As the play proceeds and our friends keep in touch past the school project, the individual dramas (of girl rivalries and boy crushes) are intermingled with historical touchstones (like Rock Hudson, the Beatles) before adulthood rears its ugly head with schools, illnesses, love affairs, disappointments and the occasional argument between the two (Bernie is more conservative to the carefree Mags) with the occasional radio silence (old-timey ghosting) before the missives start up again. Judging from the laughs or recognition and the sniffling of sadness for some revelations, Griffo’s play seems to hit a nerve with the mostly older audience, especially the emotionally charged ending that leaves the audience on a high. As per usual with these plays, McKeon and Day have finished their first stint with Pen Pals, but they are returning the week of Feb 5th if you are excited about this pairing. Nia Vardalos and Gail Winar is set to take over for the week of January 2 (the most up-to-date schedule can be found here).
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