The Old Vic and Sonia Friedman Productions have today announced the cast and creative team for Jonathan Spector’s multi award-winning Eureka Day, which has its European premiere at The Old Vic this September, directed by Katy Rudd (The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Camp Siegfried).
Joining the previously announced Academy, Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets, The Sessions, Mad About You) are Kirsten Foster (Life of Pi, The Sandman) as May, Mark McKinney (The Kids in the Hall, Superstore) as Don, Ben Schnetzer (The Book Thief, Pride) as Eli and Susan Kelechi Watson (This is Us, A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood) as Carina.
Set against the backdrop of a mumps outbreak at a progressive private elementary school in California in 2017, Eureka Day is a satire on the quest for consensus; the central question of ‘to vaccinate’ or ‘not to vaccinate’ taking on a whole new meaning in 2022.
The creative team are also announced with Set and Costume by Rob Howell, Lighting by Jon Clark, Sound by Donato Wharton, Video by Andrzej Goulding, Music by Jherek Bischoff, Casting by Jim Carnahan, Voice by Charlie Hughes-D’Aeth and Dialect by Penny Dyer. The Baylis Assistant Director is Aaliyah McKay.
Eureka Day will play from 06 September to 31 October 2022 at The Old Vic.
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
EUREKA DAY
By Jonathan Spector
Directed by Katy Rudd
Starring Helen Hunt
With Kirsten Foster, Mark McKinney, Ben Schnetzer and Susan Kelechi Watson
An Old Vic and Sonia Friedman Productions co-production
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
06 Sep–31 Oct 2022
Press night: 23 Sep 2022
‘If consensus was easy, everyone would do it.’
Every child is welcomed at the progressive Eureka Day school in Berkeley, California – it’s a point of pride for the parents on the Executive Committee.
But when a public health scare erupts, it turns out tolerance and togetherness are no match for mumps…
In Jonathan Spector’s timely and hysterical comedy, polite debate descends into ideological warfare, as a democratic utopia tears itself apart.
Eureka Day creative team
Director – Katy Rudd
Set and Costume – Rob Howell
Lighting – Jon Clark
Sound – Donato Wharton
Video – Andrzej Goulding
Composer – Jherek Bischoff
Casting – Jim Carnahan
Voice – Charlie Hughes-D’Aeth
Dialect – Penny Dyer
Baylis Assistant Director – Aaliyah McKay
‘The perfect play for our age of disagreement.’ New York Times
Suitable for ages 14+
Cast
HELEN HUNT
Suzanne
Theatre includes: Our Town, Twelfth Night, Life x 3, Working: A Musical (Broadway); Our Town (Barrow Street Theater/Broad Stage, Santa Monica); The Taming of the Shrew (New York Shakespeare Festival); Been Taken (EST); Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Center, LA); The Guys, Methusalem (The Actor’s Gang); The Value of Names (Skylight Theater); Love Letters (US tour). Television includes: Mad About You – four Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award, Empire Falls, Blindspotting. Film includes: As Good As It Gets – Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress, The Sessions – Academy Award nomination, BAFTA nomination, Ride, Then She Found Me, Soul Surfer, What Women Want, Cast Away, Mr Saturday Night, Twister.
KIRSTEN FOSTER
May
Theatre includes: Life of Pi(West End); Much Ado About Nothing (Dubai Opera House); Around the World in 80 Days (UK tour) Othello, Macbeth(Lyric Hammersmith/HOME Manchester); Romeo and Juliet, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (US tour). Television includes: Rain Dogs, Nightingale, Grantchester, Doctors, Vera, The Sandman, A Discovery of Witches, Jekyll and Hyde, Critical. Kirsten trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
MARK MCKINNEY
Don
Theatre includes: Fuddy Mears (Manhattan Theatre Club); A Flea in Her Ear (Criterion Center). Television includes: Saturday Night Live, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Wanda at Large, Corner Gas, Kevin Hill, Spun Out, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Sportsnight, The Kids in the Hall, Death Comes to Town, Slings and Arrows – two Gemini Awards, Less than Kind – Canadian Comedy Award, Superstore, Man Seeking Woman. Film includes: Saddest Music in the World, Falling Angels, The Ladies Man, Superstar, The Out of Towners, Spice World, Dog Park – Genie Award.
BEN SCHNETZER
Eli
Theatre includes: The Nap (Manhattan Theater Club); Sticks and Bones (Pershing Square Signature Center). Television includes: The Three Body Problem, Y: The Last Man, The Truth About the Harry?Quebert?Affair, Happy Town. Film includes: The Giant, The Grizzlies, Goat, Pride, Saint Judy, The Death and Life of John?F?Donovan, 7 Days in Entebbe, Journey Is the Destination, Snowden, Warcraft, The?Riot Club, Posh, The Book Thief.
SUSAN KELECHI WATSON
Carina
Theatre includes: A Naked Girl on the Appian Way (Broadway); Merry Wives (Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park); Marley, The Story (Public Theater); Core Values (Off-Broadway); Twelfth Night of What You Will, A Raisin in the Sun (Westport Country Playhouse). Television includes: This Is Us – two Screen Actors Guild Awards, three NAACP Image Award nominations, two Critics’ Choice Television Award nominations, The Blacklist, The Following, Louie, NCIS, Between the World and Me.Television as Executive Producer includes: Between the World and Me. Film includes: A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, Small, Beautifully Moving Parts, Blackout. Film as Executive Producer includes: Premature.
