Eureka Day

In This Program

• From the Artistic Director
• About the Show
• For Our Patrons
• Cast
• Creative Team
• From Doomscroll to Internet Troll: When Society Goes From IRL to Terminally Online
• Print Edition
• More About Seattle Rep

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Seattle Rep and our production of Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector. This 2025 Tony Award winner has quickly become one of the most-produced plays in the country following its acclaimed Broadway run.

Set mostly during a series of parent-led Executive Committee meetings at a progressive private elementary school, Eureka Day explores some fundamental questions about how we live together: What do we owe one another? How do we solve problems and make decisions when individual convictions collide with the needs of a community? And what happens when consensus is no longer possible?

The members of the Eureka Day School Executive Committee proudly hold inclusion, respect for one another, and consensus as deeply shared values. They don’t even vote. They must all agree to move forward. But when a public health crisis affecting their children forces them to make urgent and consequential decisions, those values are put to the test. For Seattle audiences, there may be something particularly recognizable about all this. There is a name for our local tradition of extensive deliberation and consensus-building: the “Seattle process,” a phrase still invoked regularly in our civic life.

Importantly, while the circumstances of the story may feel uncomfortably familiar after the early 2020s, Eureka Day is not a pandemic play. It premiered in 2018. Now, six years after 2020, the play gives us an opportunity to look back at ourselves in that extraordinary moment, recognize some of our behavior, and laugh. Have we changed? Are we any better at listening to one another, navigating disagreement, or balancing individual conviction with collective responsibility? Did we figure out Zoom meetings, at the very least?

The stakes for these characters are high, which makes Spector’s use of comedy all the more effective. His purpose is not mockery. In a note accompanying the play, he cautions against playing these Eureka Day School leaders as caricatures. They are charming, intelligent people, deeply committed to living thoughtful and intentional lives. He asks instead for what he calls the “humor of recognition.” We see ourselves in them: in Don’s determination to keep everyone comfortable, Suzanne’s fierce convictions, Carina’s questioning of assumptions, Meiko’s effort to navigate competing loyalties, and Eli’s well-intentioned certainty.

We laugh because we recognize ourselves in their contradictions, good intentions, and frustrations. That act of recognition has always been at the center of the theater experience: seeing something true about ourselves played out on stage, and leaving with something to reflect on. Eureka Day doesn’t offer easy answers. Instead, it asks something more fundamental: when a challenge arrives, how do we face it together?

Tonight, our goal is simpler: to share an evening of theater together. I do believe I can speak for all of us at Seattle Rep when I say that we hope you enjoy the play, and that it sparks conversation in the lobby and beyond.

Until next time,

Dámaso Rodríguez
Artistic Director

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Dámaso Rodríguez
MANAGING DIRECTOR Jeffrey Herrmann

by
Jonathan Spector

Directed by
Matthew Leavitt

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Understudies never substitute for the listed performers unless a specific announcement is made at the time of the appearance.

Originally commissioned and produced by Aurora Theatre Company – Berkeley, CA (Tom Ross, Artistic Director; Julie Saltzman Kellner, Managing Director)

Eureka Day is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Dramatists Play Service.
www.concordtheatricals.com

2026/27 Season Sponsors

Leslie Lackey
Terri Olson Miller & Tom Miller

Producing Partner

Darrel Cowan

Production Sponsor

Bruce G. Cochener Foundation

Institutional Season Sponsor

Additional support for English Open Captioned performances is generously provided by Cheri & Lou Perazzoli

September 24 – November 15, 2026 | Leo K. Theater

Thank You to our Institutional Season Sponsor

4Culture is proud to support Seattle Rep and its efforts to put theater at the heart of public life. Seattle Rep collaborates with extraordinary artists both on stage and behind the scenes to create productions and programs that reflect and elevate the diverse cultures, perspectives, and life experiences of our region.

As King County’s cultural funding agency, 4Culture works to make our region vibrant, ensuring that cultural and science experiences are essential and accessible to all. Seattle Rep shares our commitment to making theater accessible to the people of our region, with numerous free/discount ticket opportunities and accessibility initiatives.

On behalf of 4Culture and the people of King County, we thank Seattle Rep for being an essential part of our region’s arts and culture landscape.

We welcome you to take pictures of the set before and after the show.

Share Your Photos 

#EurekaDaySREP
@seattlerep

Photography, recording, and use of cell phones are strictly prohibited during the performance. 

Mission 

Seattle Rep collaborates with extraordinary artists to create productions and programs that reflect and elevate the diverse cultures, perspectives, and life experiences of our region. 

Vision 

Theater at the heart of public life.  

Values 

Artistic Vitality
Sustainability
Generous and Inclusive Practices 

Code of Conduct 

Seattle Rep is committed to being a racially, culturally, and socially just organization. We promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in all aspects of the work we do, and uphold a safe environment wherein all people are welcome to our space and are treated with respect and dignity.

It is our expectation that all patrons and those affiliated with Seattle Rep will align with this code of conduct and we reserve the right to relocate or remove any person from our theater who disregards this expectation.

Land Acknowledgment 

Seattle Rep acknowledges that we are on the traditional land of the Coast Salish people. We honor with gratitude the land itself and its innumerable stewards, past and present. We recognize Washington’s tribal nations, all of the Tribal signatories of the Treaty of Point Elliott, and the urban Native communities who continue to live and thrive in this space. This acknowledgment does not take the place of authentic relationships with Indigenous communities, but serves as a first step in honoring the land we are on and the people and cultures it has nurtured.

Learn more about how Seattle Rep is working to support and build relationships with Native communities.

Emergencies 

In an evacuation, wait for an announcement for further instructions. Ushers will be available for assistance. Familiarize yourself with the exit route nearest your seat.   

Accessibility 

Seattle Rep is committed to accessibility for all and will work with patrons to accommodate requests. We offer a variety of options to help make our performances accessible.

ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCES: We offer select English and Spanish Open Captioned, Audio Described, ASL-Interpreted, Sensory-Friendly, and mask-required  performances. Find dates here or contact the Box Office for more information.

HEARING LOOP: Seattle Rep is equipped with hearing loops that transmit sound directly to t-coil enabled hearing devices. There are also receivers and headphones available to borrow at Coat Check. Look for the Hearing Loop signs which indicate coverage at performances, ticket windows, concierge, and concessions.  

WHEELCHAIR SPACES, WIDER SEATS (BAGLEY), TRANSFER SEATS, AND ADDITIONAL SEATING OPTIONS: Please see an Usher or House Manager to see what accessible seating options are available for your performance.  

SENSORY GUIDES & KITS: Scene-by-scene guides of the sensory impact of this show and kits containing headphones, fidgets, sunglasses, and communication cards are available at Coat Check.  

LARGE PRINT & BRAILLE PROGRAMS: Available at Coat Check. 

ALL GENDER RESTROOMS are located on the second floor of the Leo K. Theater and a single-stall restroom is located near the Bagley Wright Theater restrooms on the first floor.  

WELLNESS ROOM is located near the Bagley Wright Theater restrooms on the first floor.  

Contact Us 

BOX OFFICE 
Call 206.443.2222
Text 206.565.2996 

ADMINISTRATIVE
206.443.2210 

Nemuna Ceesay

Carina

Nemuna Ceesay (she/her) is an actor based in NYC. Select theater: Here There Are Blueberries (New York Theatre Workshop, National Tour), Loving and Loving (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Straight Line Crazy (The Shed), Patience (Second Stage), Three Sisters (Two River Theater), The Christians and Tartuffe (PlayMakers Repertory Company), Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2015 and 2016. Select TV: “Bull,” “Broad City,” “Younger,” “FBI,” “Prodigal Son.” M.F.A. in Acting from American Conservatory Theater. nemunaceesay.com, @nemuna.ceesay

Amelia Rose Estrada

u/s Winter

Amelia Rose Estrada (she/they) is excited to be making her Seattle Rep debut as the assistant director of Eureka Day and Winter understudy. Previous projects include Something Blue (director) at Sapphest NYC, Oedipus El Rey and Don’t Eat the Mangos (assistant director) at Huntington Theatre Company, Love is Love is Love (co-choreographer) at the Kennedy Center, and Como Las Hortensias (director/choreographer) at SPACE Gallery. Amelia has performed at Jacob’s Pillow, Dance Place (DC), and the Kimmel Center, among others. aremoves.com

Sara Hennessy

Suzanne

Sara (she/her) is a two-time LA Drama Critics Circle Award winner and an LA Weekly Theatre Award nominee. She was last seen at Seattle Rep in The Skin of Our Teeth as Sabina. Sara was a co-founder and co-artistic director of the acclaimed Furious Theatre Company in LA. She has worked at Artists Rep in Portland, the Pasadena Playhouse, A Noise Within, Boston Court Pasadena, and performed improv at the iO Theatre in Chicago. Favorite shows include Blithe Spirit and Magellanica. She is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild. sarahennessy.com

Marena Kleinpeter

Winter, u/s Carina

Marena Kleinpeter is living her dream in her Seattle Rep debut after being an audience member for nearly ten years! She is an actor and storyteller originally from Las Vegas and this past spring received her M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Washington. Select credits: Walden (ArtsWest); Wizard of Oz (Seattle Children’s Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (u/s, Taproot Theatre Company); Vanity Fair, Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Winter’s Tale, and The Seagull (UW); Romeo & Juliet (Utah Shakespeare Festival). Love and thanks to family and friends! Blessed and grateful. Acts 12:27

Quinn Mattfeld

Eli

Eureka Day is Quinn’s Seattle Rep debut and homecoming as a Washington native. Broadway: Yepikodov in The Cherry Orchard, ensemble in Pal Joey, and Mr. Wormwood in the first national tour of Matilda (OTC). Regional: Ten seasons at Utah Shakespeare Festival (Hamlet and other roles), Blithe Spirit at Guthrie Theater, three seasons as actor/faculty at Pacific Conservatory Theatre. TV: “The Blacklist: Redemption.” Host of the heavy metal/comedy podcast ...And Vol. 4 All (@av4apod on socials) and Shakespeare podcast Why Do They Talk Like That? Love to Betsy, August, Ramona, Ryan, and Mom. @qbermunch

Jonathan Slavin

Don

(he/she/they) Theater: The Sisters Rosensweig (Barrymore Theatre), Cyrano de Bergerac (Pasadena Playhouse), The Best of Schools (Ubu Rep), Six Degrees of Separation (Dallas Theatre Center), Sukkot (59E59), Kid Gloves (Skylight Theatre), Homefront (Victory Theatre), Le Switch (The Broadwater), Freud on Cocaine (The Whitefire), The Boomerang Effect (The Odyssey). TV: “Sugar,” “Santa Clarita Diet,” “St. Denis,” “Dr. Ken,” “Better Off Ted,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Grace and Frankie,” “Speechless,” “Andy Richter Controls the Universe,” “Friends,” “My Name is Earl.” Proudly vegan and very queer.

Ashley Song

Meiko

Ashley Song is an actor, producer, and co-founder of Desert Island Studios. She was last seen at Seattle Rep in The Play That Goes Wrong! Singer/multi-instrumentalist credits include SpongeBob the Musical (Portland Playhouse) and Lizard Boy (Portland Center Stage). Favorite roles include Holmes in Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (a role she learned in three days) at Portland Center Stage. Feature credits: WHODUNNIT, His Monster. Producing credits: Mother of Color, Are We Cool. B.F.A. NYU. ashley-song.com, @ashleysongofficial, @desertislandstudiospdx

Jonathan Spector

Playwright

Jonathan Spector is a Tony Award-winning playwright based in Oakland, California, whose work has been produced on and off-Broadway, regionally, and internationally. Plays include Eureka Day (Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, Dorian Awards), This Much I Know (Edgerton, Glickman, BATCC Awards), Birthright (New York Times Critic’s Pick), Best Available, and Good. Better. Best. Bested. Jonathan was a writer/producer on the upcoming Netflix series The Retrievals, is an Associate Artist with The Civilians, and proudly serves on the Dramatist Guild Council.

Matthew Leavitt

Director

Matthew Leavitt is an acclaimed director, playwright, and librettist, as well as the co-artistic director of The 6th Act Theatre Company. Select directing credits include his Stage Raw Award-winning production of Outside Mullingar, Hamlet (winner of “Best Director of a Play” Stage Scene LA Award), Twelfth Night, and Taming of the Shrew. Playwriting credits include Sukkot (59E59, Off-Broadway) and The $5 Shakespeare Company (LA Times Critics Choice), as well as the librettos for two new operas at LA Opera, Orpheus and Wreck of the Miranda.

Sara C Walsh

Scenic Designer

Select regional: The Rent Party, Laughs in Spanish, Sanctuary City (Seattle Rep); The Magician’s Daughter (Geva Theatre); JORDAN (Northern Stage). Off-Broadway: Gentleman Caller (Abingdon Theatre Company), The Tempest (Classic Stage Company), A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of Great Lakes (WP Theatre, New Georges), Hasan Minhaj’s Homecoming King. Sara also creates immersive performances with her company Wolf 359, including Memory Room 302 and temping (seen at Lincoln Center, The Wild Project, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival). saracwalsh.com

Chelsea Cook

Costume Designer

Chelsea Cook is a freelance costume designer, educator, and business owner. Her work has been seen at Seattle Opera, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Kentucky Opera, Village Theatre, Tacoma Opera, George Street Playhouse, ArtsEmerson, and more. Select favorite designs include Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (Off-Broadway Alliance Award, Second Stage Theatre); O+E (Seattle Opera); She’s Come Undone (Gregory Award nomination), What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Book-It Repertory Theatre); and Medea (Seattle Shakespeare Company). She has a B.A. from Cornish College of the Arts. Love to W&W.

Robert J. Aguilar

Lighting Designer

Seattle Rep: Appropriate, Come From Away (2025), Laughs in Spanish, The Skin of Our Teeth, Fat Ham, Lydia and the Troll, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Indecent, In the Heights, MAC BETH, I Am My Own Wife, Lizard Boy, and others. Regional: Theatre Under the Stars, Alliance Theatre, Portland Center Stage, ACT, The 5th Avenue Theatre, The Old Globe, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Denver Center, Intiman, Milwaukee Rep, and Village Theatre. Film: The Jinkx and Dela Holiday Special, Potato Dreams of America. Robert is the Lighting Director at Seattle Rep and a member of USA 829. robertjaguilar.com

Evan Mosher

Sound Designer

Evan Mosher is an audio engineer, sound and video designer, musician, and performer. His designs have frequently been produced at Seattle Public Theater, Seattle Shakespeare Company, ArtsWest, Union Arts Center, Village Theatre KIDSTAGE, On the Boards, in design residencies at Whitman College, and at Cafe Nordo where he was as a company member, AV Manager, and sound designer for nearly every show at their Pioneer Square venue (2015-2022). Evan is also a member of the art-pop band “Awesome,” with whom he’s made melodic noise and peculiar performance for over twenty years.

L.B. Morse

Projections Designer

L.B. Morse (he/him) is a designer for the performing and cultural arts, and has designed lighting, scenery, and multimedia for over 25 productions at Seattle Rep. Favorite previous designs include Indecent (2019, scenic), Public Works’ As You Like It (2019, scenic/projections) and The Odyssey (2017, scenic/projections), Constellations (2016, scenic/lighting), Lizard Boy (2015, scenic/projections), and The Hound of the Baskervilles (2013, scenic/lighting/projections). He has designed for many organizations locally and nationally and is a proud member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.

Jeffrey K. Hanson

Stage Manager

Jeffrey K. Hanson (he/him) has been a proud member of the Seattle theater community and Actors’ Equity Association for 38 years. He has worked extensively as a stage manager at ACT/Union Arts Center and The 5th Avenue Theatre. He is thrilled to return to Seattle Rep where he previously stage managed Mary Jane, Laughs in Spanish, Metamorphoses (2024 and 2000), Selling Kabul, True West (1997), The Cider House Rules - Parts I & II, Private Eyes, and All in the Timing. Other Seattle credits include shows at Seattle Children’s Theatre and Intiman.

Madelyn Salvucci

Assistant Stage Manager

Madelyn Salvucci (she/they) is glad to be back at Seattle Rep for Eureka Day! Assistant Stage Management: Macbeth and As You Like It (Wooden O), The Pigeon Gets a Big Time Holiday Extravaganza! (Seattle Children’s Theatre), Macbeth (Seattle Shakespeare). Production Assistant: The Aves (Union Arts Center). Seattle Rep Stage Management Apprentice 2024/25: The Skin of Our Teeth, Blithe Spirit, Mother Russia. Stage Management: The Lion Tells His Tale (Intiman), The Tempest (Wooden O), Into the Woods (Youth Theatre Northwest). She is ever grateful for her partner and dog and their love and support.

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law. For more information, please visit: concordtheatricals.com/protecting-artists

By Nicole Bearden, Seattle Rep Communications Manager

Town hall meetings have been an integral part of the United States’ democratic process since before the U.S. was an independent nation. The first recorded “town meeting” was in Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1633, nearly one and a half centuries before the signing of The Declaration of Independence.

What is the importance of a town hall meeting? At its heart, a town hall meeting is a public forum where anyone can speak, has access to politicians who make crucial decisions, and may even be able to cast a vote in favor of, or against, propositions that might directly affect the community. In a world where it is common for only a select few to have access to decisionmakers, the opportunity to directly engage in democracy is both rare and valuable. 

Perhaps just as importantly, these community assemblies are, at their best, instruments of accountability. This may mean accountability of politicians and leaders to citizens, or even citizens to one another. But at the end of the day, while participants can say their piece, they are immediately held responsible for their words and actions by their peers—whether that is the accuracy of the information they profess, or the effects of decisions they support. 

But what happens when we take the real-life interactions (and consequences) away by moving a town hall into the digital space? Eureka Day, playwright Jonathan Spector’s 2018 satiric comedy, shows us how the purported “democracy” of the internet and social media can actually have the opposite effect. 

In Eureka Day, the community of a small, self-proclaimed “progressive” private school is hit with a mumps outbreak. The leaders of the Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California pride themselves on a truly democratic approach to decision-making, and when catastrophe strikes their community, they attempt to use their typical process—a “Community Activated Conversation.” 

The leadership committee soon finds out that, what might work for decisions about school fundraiser locations or end-of-school-year play titles, doesn’t necessarily translate to a health crisis. And when their conversations move to a virtual town hall for community input and feedback is shared from behind the safety of a screen, we as an audience are confronted with the question: How can a conversation that works in person sometimes feel so disconnected when it moves online?

Recent research shows us that a phenomenon called “online disinhibition” causes behavior known as “virtual toxicity,” where people feel free to behave in ways they would not normally in an IRL (“In Real Life”) setting, according to the CalTech D.A.D. (Disembodiment, lack of Accountability, and Disinhibition) Framework by CalTech Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience Dean Mobbs:

“When I’m speaking to somebody online,” Mobbs explains, “the conversation I’m having is all in my head…Your internal world is your playground not just for ideas, or for what you want to say, but sometimes for things you shouldn’t say. And when you are communicating in this disembodied state…you begin to forget that you’re having a conversation with a real person.” (CalTech.edu, 2024)

Is there a guarantee that, had the leadership of Eureka Day School hosted an in-person rather than virtual town hall, the outcome would have been more productive? Not at all, but in our current reality, where we have moved significant public and private human interactions to the digital world (dating apps vs. meeting in-person; social media vs. IRL conversations with friends and family; virtual meetings vs. work gatherings; research with human librarians or educators vs. asking an AI agent, etc.), it’s time to reevaluate what some of these practices have cost us as a society and keep the positive changes (accessibility options, ability to stay in touch long-distance), while we do away with what doesn’t serve us. 

Eureka Day is a piece of art that shows us a fictional microcosm of one small community, in one town. The question now is whether we are ready to recognize connections between the story on stage and our current real-world crises, and—more importantly—what are we willing to do about it? 

Explore more content about the show and go behind-the-scenes on Inside Seattle Rep.

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