End Days at New Jewish Theatre

Laufer’s play is a wacky and off-balance tale that takes aim at science, religion, celebrity worship and suburbia. Set in 2003, just two years after 9/11, sixteen-year-old Rachel Stein is having a bad year. Her father, suffering from post 9/11 depression, won't leave the house or change out of his pajamas. Her mother, Sylvia, is a lapsed Jew who has become a devout born again Christian. Nelson the nerdy sixteen-year- old neighbor who dresses as Elvis has a huge crush on her. The ensuing events of the play propel this dysfunctional family on a journey of discovery that is a manic whirlwind of a family drama that is at the same time weird and illuminating and truthful. The play is poignantly redemptive and often hilariously funny, as it asks us what we would hold most sacred if we knew the end was near. A satirically dark comedy with a moral edge, it is ultimately a story of family and faith, told with wacky hilarity.