Full Casting Announced for Manhattan Theatre Club's EUREKA DAY
Posted by: Official_Press_Release 08:01 pm EDT 06/18/24

Manhattan Theatre Club

Announces the Full Cast for

EUREKA DAY

Broadway Premiere

By Jonathan Spector

Directed by Tony Award Winner Anna D. Shapiro

Featuring

Zoë Chao, Amber Gray, Jessica Hecht,

Bill Irwin, Thomas Middleditch

Previews begin Monday, November 25, 2024

Opening on Monday, December 16, 2024

At MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

Manhattan Theatre Club—Lynne Meadow , Artistic Director and Chris Jennings, Executive Director—is pleased to announce full casting for the Broadway premiere of Eureka Day, written by Jonathan Spector and directed by Anna D. Shapiro. The cast of Eureka Day will feature Zoë Chao (If You Were the Last), Amber Gray (Tony Award® nominee for Hadestown), Jessica Hecht (Tony Award nominee for Summer, 1976), Bill Irwin (Tony Award winner for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), and Thomas Middleditch (Emmy Award nominee for "Silicon Valley").

Eureka Day will begin previews on Monday, November 25 and open on Monday, December 16, 2024, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).

Wildly relevant and bitingly funny, Jonathan Spector's play comes to MTC in an all-new production following an acclaimed London run. Eureka Day is a private California elementary school with a Board of Directors that values inclusion above all else – that is, until an outbreak of the mumps forces everyone in the community to reconsider the school's liberal vaccine policy. As cases rise, the board realizes with horror that they've got to do what they swore they never would: make a choice that won't please absolutely everybody.

Produced by special arrangement with Sonia Friedman Productions, Wagner Johnson Productions, and Seaview.

The creative team for Eureka Day will be announced at a later date.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Director Chris Jennings, Manhattan Theatre Club produces seasons of new work for the theatre both on and Off-Broadway, and in the 2023-24 season, all three of their Broadway shows were nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, representing three of the five nominees in the category. MTC's not-for-profit mission, which Meadow created in 1972 and has implemented over five decades of award-winning productions, is to develop and present new work in a dynamic, supportive environment; to identify and collaborate with the most promising new as well as accomplished artists; and to produce a diverse repertoire of innovative, entertaining, and thought-provoking plays and musicals by American and international playwrights. Since 1989, MTC Education, which uses the power of live theatre and playwriting to awaken minds, ignite imaginations, open hearts, and change lives, has also been an important corollary to MTC's work. MTC's over 600 world, American, New York and Broadway premieres have earned 7 Pulitzer Prizes, 30 Tony Awards, 51 Drama Desk Awards and 49 Obie Awards amongst many other honors. MTC has homes on Broadway at its Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and Off-Broadway at New York City Center. MTC is an anti-racist organization that respects and honors all voices, and upholds the values of community and equity. For more information, please visit https://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/.

TICKETING INFORMATION

Joining MTC's season of plays is easy! Just call the MTC Clubline at 212-399-3050 or go to www.manhattantheatreclub.com.

To sign up for MTC's "30 Under 35" program, offering $30 tickets for theatregoers age 35 and under, visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com/30under35/.

Single tickets for Eureka Day will go on sale at a later date.

BIOGRAPHIES

ZOË CHAO can most recently be seen in Peacock's sci-fi rom-com If You Were the Last opposite Anthony Mackie and in the Netflix romantic comedy Your Place or Mine, opposite Reese Witherspoon. Upcoming, Zoë can be seen in Marielle Heller's Nightbitch opposite Amy Adams and James Gunn's animated series "Creatures Commando." Chao is also in the newest season of STARZ's cult favorite "Party Down," and in Apple's two seasons of Phil Lord and Chris Miller's murder mystery comedy, "The Afterparty." Chao was awarded the Actress Award for Television at the Inaugural Critics Choice Association Celebration of Asian Pacific Cinema & Television for her work on the show.

AMBER GRAY has originated roles in numerous productions over the years including: Claudia in Sondheim's final musical Here We Are; Persephone in Hadestown; Hélène in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; Laurey in Daniel Fish's Oklahoma!; and Zoe in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' An Octoroon. Other theatre gems include Sam Gold's Macbeth on Broadway and Taylor Mac's A 24 Decade History of Popular Music. Gray is a company member of The TEAM and has codeveloped and performed in their Mission Drift, Primer for a Failed Superpower, and the upcoming Reconstruction. theteamplays.org. Gray can always be found with radical performance community Reverend Billy and The Stop Shopping Choir who just wrapped up Neil Young's Love Earth Tour as the opener. revbilly.com. TV/Film: upcoming "Long Bright River," Barry Jenkins' "Underground Railroad," Broadway cult favorites "Submissions Only" and "The Gilded Age," Ben Stiller's "Escape at Dannemora," Alex Harvey's Walden: Life in the Woods, Gabe Braden's Where There's Smoke, Mariama Diallo's Master, Michael VQ's Submission, and The Arens' Heartworm. MFA: NYU

JESSICA HECHT last appeared on Broadway in MTC's production of Summer, 1976, receiving a Tony Award nomination for her performance. Her previous Broadway credits include The Price, Fiddler on the Roof, The Assembled Parties, Harvey, After the Fall, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Julius Caeser, and her Tony Award-nominated performance in A View from the Bridge. Off-Broadway, she has appeared in King Lear, Stage Kiss, Three Sisters, The Orchard, Letters from Max, and Admissions (Obie Award & Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination). Her recent television appearances include the Netflix series "Special," for which she received an Emmy Award Nomination, and her roles on "Tokyo Vice," "Super Pumped," "The Sinner," "The Loudest Voice," "Dickinson," "The Boys," and "Succession." She is also recognizable to television audiences from her roles in the beloved series "Friends" and "Breaking Bad." Her film performances include A+, Anesthesia, J. Edgar, The Grey Zone, The Sitter, My Soul to Take, Dan in Real Life, Sideways, The Atlantic City Story, The Sunlit Night, Home, and the recently completed Eleanor the Great directed by Scarlett Johansson.

BILL IRWIN is an actor, director, writer, and clown. His original works include The Regard of Flight; Largely New York; Fool Moon; Old Hats; and The Happiness Lecture . Broadway: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The Goat; Waiting For Godot; The Iceman Cometh; Fool Moon; Largely New York; Bye Bye Birdie. Off-Broadway: The Regard of Flight; Endgame; Old Hats; On Beckett (an evening of passages from the writings of Samuel Beckett). Television: "The Dropout;" "Elmo's World" (Mr. Noodle); "CSI;" "Legion;" "Law and Order SVU;" "New Amsterdam;" "Blue Bloods;" "Quarry." Film: Rustin; Rachel Getting Married; The Grinch Who Stole Christmas; Spoiler Alert; Interstellar; Eight Men Out; Stepping Out; Silent Tongue. He gratefully acknowledges awards and fellowships that have allowed a life in the theatre.

THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH is best known for his starring role in Mike Judge's critically acclaimed HBO series, "Silicon Valley." Thomas' performance garnered him a 2016 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, along with three Critics' Choice nominations for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

Thomas most recently starred opposite Annaleigh Ashford in the CBS comedy series, "B Positive," executive produced by Chuck Lorre, and he currently voices the lead in the animated Hulu series, "Solar Opposites."

Thomas starred in Netflix's first ever improv special, "Middleditch and Schwartz," based off of his nationally toured two-man improv show with Ben Schwartz.

Film credits include: Zombieland: Double Tap, Godzilla: King of the Monsters , Tag, and The Wolf of Wall Street. Additional TV credits include: "The Good Fight," "You're the Worst," and "Drunk History."

JONATHAN SPECTOR (Playwright) is a playwright based in Oakland, California, making his Broadway debut. His plays include: Eureka Day (Glickman Award, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, Rella Lossy Award, Theatre Bay Area Award, WhatsOnStage Award nomination), This Much I Know (Glickman Award, Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award, Edgerton Award), Best Available, Good. Better. Best. Bested., and In From The Cold. His work has been produced across the country and abroad at theaters including The Old Vic, Hampstead Theatre, Aurora Theatre, Colt Coeur, Asolo Rep, Syracuse Stage, Mosaic Theater, Theater J, InterAct, the State Theatre of South Australia and Burgtheater. Jonathan has been a Playwrights' Center Core Writer, TheatreWorks Core Writer, MacDowell Fellow, SPACE at Ryder Farm Resident, and Playwrights Foundation Resident Playwright. He has developed work with Ashland New Play Festival, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor, JAW Festival, New Harmony Project, and PlayPenn, among others. Commissions include Roundabout Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Rep and Miami New Drama. Jonathan is a graduate of the much-besieged New College of Florida.

ANNA D. SHAPIRO (Director) is a Tony Award-winning director and served as Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company from 2014 to 2021, where she remains an ensemble member. She joined the Steppenwolf ensemble in 2005 and was awarded the 2008 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for August: Osage County (Steppenwolf, Broadway, London). She was nominated in 2011 in the same category for The Motherf**ker with the Hat (Public Theater, Labyrinth Theater). Other Steppenwolf directing credits include the world premiere production of The Minutes (also on Broadway); Mary Page Marlowe, Visiting Edna, Three Sisters, A Parallelogram, Up, The Crucible, The Unmentionables (also at Yale Repertory Theatre), The Pain and the Itch (also in New York), I Never Sang for My Father, Man from Nebraska, Purple Heart (also in Galway, Ireland), The Drawer Boy, Side Man (also in Ireland, Australia and Vail, Colorado), Three Days of Rain, The Infidel and This Is Our Youth (which transferred to Broadway). Additional Broadway credits include Of Mice and Men (with James Franco) and Fish in the Dark (with Larry David), and Off-Broadway Domesticated (Lincoln Center Theater). Shapiro is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and Columbia. She is a professor in Northwestern University's Department of Theatre.

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