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The many moods of Dana Schultes as intense, pushy parent and school executive committee member Suzanne in Stage West’s production of the send up of political correctness “Eureka Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Photos by Evan Michael Woods\/Staff illustration<\/p>\n
Eureka Day\u2019s executive committee, made up of parents at the willfully progressive private school, makes all decisions by consensus. This becomes a problem after an outbreak of mumps sharply divides said committee.<\/p>\n
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In an incisive production at Stage West Theatre<\/a>, directed by Jenna Burnett and seen at last Sunday\u2019s matinee, Jonathan Spector\u2019s Tony-winning play abruptly shifts from a wry, uproarious satire playfully bursting the balloon of lefty-liberal socio-political views into a drama that uncovers differences festering beneath the patina of extreme tolerance.<\/p>\n The tone shift works because of precise, convincing acting from the cast and Spector\u2019s ability to carve out a narrative that\u2019s clear and nuanced. Besides the question of whether to mandate vaccinations, with potential consequences that are financial as well as philosophical, \u201cEureka Day\u201d deals with lingering racism and open marriage among the woke set.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n By broadening the picture of who these people are and what they want, the playwright creates a case that uncompromising stances are inherently contradictory, or at least ripe for reconsideration, especially when fueled by feelings and assumptions rather than facts or logic.<\/p>\n Seen recently at Amphibian Stage<\/a> as Roy Scheider in \u201cThe Shark is Broken<\/a>,\u201d a comedy set behind the scenes during the filming of \u201cJaws<\/a>,\u201d Jakie Cabe plays Don, the genial if high-strung head of the school (principal would be too formal). Rarely do you see an actor who\u2019s so comfortable onstage.<\/p>\n Amid designer Clare Floyd DeVries\u2019 colorful, detailed set of a classroom flanked by doors to the library and administrative office, Don opens the first committee meeting of the year with a discussion about whether to add a new category \u2014 \u201ctransracial adoptee\u201d \u2014 to the already comically long dropdown menu of ethnic\/racial designations on the school application.\u00a0<\/p>\n Adding flavor to the atmosphere are bean bag chairs, signs that say things like \u201cA is for Activist\u201d and \u201cG is for Grassroots\u201d and a mural of a unicorn at the end of a rainbow.\u00a0<\/p>\n