Much has happened since Oakland playwright Jonathan Spector penned his satire Eureka Day. The play, which premiered Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre Company in 2018, explores the reaction to a mumps outbreak at an elite Berkeley private school, pitting vaccine wokeness against anti-vaxxers.
Sound familiar?
In the years since, the world has dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, measles outbreaks in several states, and a second Trump administration with the Department of Health and Human Services now helmed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic.
“At moments, it feels like stepping into an episode of The Twilight Zone,” said Spector, who’s nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. The awards ceremony is on Sunday, June 8.
The “very Berkeley” story of Eureka Day m