Lisa Anne Porter portrays Suzanne, the founder of a fictional Berkeley private school and mother of six who refuses to vaccinate her children. A scene visualizes an online chatroom onstage, provoking prolonged audience laughter that led Spector to rewrite lines after an early preview. Marin Theatre will stage Eureka Day Aug. 28–Sept. 21 in Mill Valley. Marin Theatre faces financial strain, donor and grant losses, and a subscriber base reduced to a third of pre-pandemic levels. Artistic director Lance Gardner urged attendance and donations, noting ticket revenue falls short of production costs and emphasizing theater's social impact.
One hilarious scene in particular predicted our Zoom-filled future: The audience sees the online chatroom that the actors discuss on stage in real time. Costello said that during the show's first preview at Aurora, the audience laughter was so strong, lasting a full five minutes, it was difficult to hear the actors' dialogue. In response, Spector rewrote the lines to make it less funny.
"I encourage people to attend live theater, to consider giving to nonprofit organizations like us and to understand that the ticket prices that we're charging are nowhere near what we need to cover our expenses," Gardner said. "Shows like [ Eureka Day] can change individuals, and those individuals can change others, and that can have an effect on the entire society."
'Being there that first day, we couldn't hear one another. It was this moment of, 'Do we just keep talking and hope that at the end we end up in the right place?' Porter said. 'It was unbelievable. I've never had an experience like that before.'
Collection
[
|
...
]