Jonathan Spector is an American playwright whose plays include Eureka Day and This Much I Know the former of which won him the 2025 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.
Career Spector received his Master of Fine Arts in playwriting from San Francisco State University. Prior to becoming a playwright, he worked as the Literary Manager and Associate Artistic Director at Playwrights Foundation in San Francisco from 2006 to 2010.
Spector's first play produced was In From The Cold at Just Theater in Berkeley, California, in November, 2014. In June 2018 Good. Better. Best. Bested. premiered at Custom Made Theatre Company in San Francisco, California.
Later that year, his most notable work, Eureka Day, premiered at Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, California. The production followed the parents of students at the titular school arguing over vaccine mandates. The Broadway production of Eureka Day premiered in 2024 and received critical acclaim, with The New York Times calling it a "hilarious poison-pen satire of educational wokeism" and Variety praising it as "a cleverly staged social satire." It won the 2025 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. It also received a Drama Desk Award and a Drama League Award, both for Outstanding Revival of a Play in 2025.
Other plays by Spector include This Much I Know, which premiered in 2022 at Aurora Theatre Company, and was later produced at The Hampstead Theater in London in 2023, and Off Broadway at 59E59 Theater in 2025, Best Available, which premiered in 2024 at Shotgun Theatre Company.
In 2026, his play Birthright premiered at MCC Theatre. The play follows six friends who meet on a birthright trip to Israel and their evolving faiths and beliefs in Judaism. Directed by Teddy Bergman, the production received critical acclaim, with The New York Times lauding it as "a thrillingly constructed drama," and The Wrap calling it the "best new play of the year." The show opened on June 29, 2026 and extended through August 23, 2026.
Personal life As of July 2026, Spector was currently based in Oakland, California.
Works Siesta Key (2017) Good. Better. Best. Bested. (2018) Eureka Day (2018) This Much I Know (2022) Best Available (2024) Birthright (2026)
Awards and nominations YearAwardCategoryWorkResultRef.2022Edgerton Foundation AwardNew Play AwardThis Much I Know2025Tony AwardBest Revival of a PlayEureka DayDrama Desk AwardOutstanding Revival of a PlayDrama League AwardOutstanding Revival of a PlayDorian AwardOutstanding Broadway Play Revival
References