Inclusivity, diversity, equality, and everyone’s point of view matters are the woke ideals at an elite private elementary school in Berkeley, California, until they aren’t, in Eureka Day, playing a limited Broadway engagement with Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, following an acclaimed run in London. Written by Jonathan Spector and directed by Anna D. Shapiro, the acerbically insightful comedy offers a timely parody of over-the-top political correctness, online trolling, and the lack of consensus regarding the vaccination policy of the eponymous educational institution, which experiences an outbreak of mumps among its young students, resulting in a heated debate, a great divide, and a eureka moment for its Board of Directors. Set in the 2018-19 school year, it’s a subject that is particularly relevant now, with the controversial anti-vax activist stance of the incoming administration and its appointed Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Bill Irwin, Thomas Middleditch, Amber Gray, Jessica Hecht, and Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz. Photo by Jeremy Daniel. When the five economically privileged, well-educated, articulate Board members – Don (who runs the school), Suzanne, Carina, Eli, and Meiko (four parents whose children are enrolled there) – meet in the school library, containing a central section of books on social justice and hung with posters expressing its core liberal principles (scenic design by Todd Rosenthal) to discuss the appropriate wording for the list of cultural identities on the admissions form, they laughably overthink and over-explicate everything and bend over backwards to be fully inclusive, deferential, and inoffensively PC to the point of absurdity. But when Don receives a letter from the city’s Public Health Division that a child at Eureka Day has been diagnosed with mumps and students who have not been vaccinated will be excluded from attending school, the issue arises as to whether such a policy is acceptable to everyone, most notably the anti-vaxxer parents, including members of the Board, whose rulings have always been by consensus, not majority. Thomas Middleditch, Amber Gray, Bill Irwin, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz, and Jessica Hecht. Photo by Jeremy Daniel. The entire community is invited to a virtual conversation with the Board, the initially polite interactions among them become increasingly disrespectful and angry, and the comedy explodes with the impassioned discussions of the five characters overlapping each other and being overwhelmed by a simultaneous non-stop barrage of 144 rapid-fire online comments and emojis seen on a projection screen above and behind them (projections by David Bengali, with text by Spector) that turn ridiculously foul-mouthed, riotously vicious, and even threatening, as we look back and forth between the two. It becomes clear that the online chat is designed to command our attention, fully succeeding in eliciting our laugh-out-loud reactions, intentionally drowning out the actors, and highlighting the unrestrained posting that permeates our social media, in one of the most hysterically funny and razor-sharp scenes in the show, which could only end with an abrupt blackout (lighting by Jen Schriever). Bill Irwin and Jessica Hecht. Photo by Jeremy Daniel. A terrific all-in cast – Bill Irwin as the usually appeasing Don (who makes a self-referencing joke about wanting to become a mime), the outstanding Jessica Hecht as the excessively talkative, determined, intelligent (but sometimes seemingly ditzy) Suzanne, Thomas Middleditch as the exceedingly wealthy Eli, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz as Meiko, who sits knitting at the meetings, Amber Gray as the Board’s newest member Carina, who faces off with Suzanne, and Eboni Flowers in the surprise supporting role of Winter (no spoiler here!) – delivers the satirical humor, overly accommodating, progressive, passive-aggressive personalities (in apropos costumes by Clint Ramos), and some serious revelations about themselves and the events that lead to their at-odds perspectives and shifting positions on vaxxing, as the consensus deteriorates and Don comes to the realization that they can’t please everyone but must render a decision that the majority feels is in the best interest of the financially strained school and the community as a whole. A witty gut-punch of a closing line reaffirms Eureka Day’s relevance to the past four years and to what’s likely coming next, in a spot-on spoof that will have you laughing, keep you thinking, and leave you experiencing an aha moment. Running Time: Approximately 90 minutes, without intermission. Eureka Day plays through Sunday, January 19, 2025, at MTC, performing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $74-321, including fees), go online.