Ensemble Studio's END DAYS Makes Off Broadway Premiere 3/25

ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE ((William Carden, Artistic Director, Paul Alexander Slee, Executive Director) and THE ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION (Doron Weber, Program Director) proudly announce the Off-Broadway premiere of END DAYS, a new play by Deborah Zoe Laufer, directed by Lisa Peterson*. Performances begin March 25th, and continue through April 19th at E.S.T. (549 West 52nd Street). Lisa Peterson* directs a cast that includes Molly Ephraim, Dane DeHaan, Peter Friedman, Deidre O'Connell, and Paco Tolson*. End Days will have set design by Lee Savage, lighting design by Raquel Davis, costume design by Suzanne Chesney, and sound design & original composition by Ryan Rumery.

Sixteen-year-old Rachel Stein is having a bad year. Her father hasn't changed out of his pajamas since 9/11. Her mother has begun a close, personal relationship with Jesus. Her new neighbor, a sixteen-year-old Elvis impersonator, has fallen for her, hard. And the Apocalypse is coming Wednesday. Her only hope is that Stephen Hawking will save them all.

End Days was awarded The American Theatre Critics Association Steinberg citation in March, 2008. As a National New Play Network rolling world premiere, it debuted in October 2007 at Florida Stage, The Phoenix Theater in Indianapolis in February, 2008 and Curious Theater in Denver in July, 2008. End Days will be recognized in the Burns Mantle Yearbook as one of the best regional plays of 2008. The acting editions of Laufer's plays End Days, The Last Schwartz, and Out of Sterno are being published by Samuel French.

Now in its eleventh season, The Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project (Graeme Gillis, Program Director; Linsay Firman, Associate Director), an initiative designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling work exploring the worlds of science and technology and to challenge the existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in the popular imagination, has premiered over 100 plays, dance and performance pieces, selected from proposals and submissions from around the country. The EST/Sloan Project is designed to stimulate artists to create new theatrical works exploring the worlds of science and technology and to challenge the existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in popular culture. Each season the EST/Sloan Project commissions and develops new works, and presents the results, at various stages from first readings to fully mounted productions, in the FIRST LIGHT Festival.

Deborah Zoe Laufer's other plays include The Last Schwartz which was nominated for a Carbonell Award for Best New Work and was published by Smith and Kraus in Women Playwrights, the Best Plays of 2003. It premiered at Florida Stage and enjoyed a six month run at The Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. It has received numerous productions around the country. Out of Sterno was workshopped at The Cherry Lane Alternative in New York City. It will receive its world premiere at Portland Stage in Maine in March, 2009 with a grant from the Edgerton Foundation. Deborah is one of six playwrights commissioned by Actors Theatre of Louisville to write Brink, featuring their Apprentice Company at this year's Humana Festival. Other short works: The Record , commissioned for Juilliard's Centennial Celebration, where it premiered in October 2005 (published by Smith and Kraus in The Best 10 Minute Plays of 2005). Saturday, produced in 2005 in the City Theatre's Summer Shorts Festival. The Prom, produced in 2003 by City Theatre's Short Cuts School Tour. Deborah is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she was also a Playwright-in-Residence and where her play Fortune was produced. Fortune opened at The Marin Theatre Company in January of 2005, and has had several productions in California and Florida. Other plays include: The Gulf of Westchester (Florida Stage/NNPN commission), Random Acts, and Miniatures. Her newest play Sirens, has been selected for Florida Stage's 1st Look Festival in March. Deborah is a two-time recipient of the LeCompte du Nouy grant from The Lincoln Center Foundation. Her plays have been developed at The Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Ojai Playwrights Conference, The Missoula Colony, The Cherry Lane Alternative, The Dramatists Guild Fellowship Program, New Georges and The Lark Play Development Center. She is a proud member of The Dramatists Guild.

THE ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE is located at 549 West 52nd Street (Between 10th & 11th Avenues). Performances will be Monday, Wednesday through Friday at 7pm, Saturdays at 2pm and 7pm, and Sundays @ 3pm. Tickets will be $30 (during Previews only $20) with Students & Seniors $15 for all performances. To purchase tickets, and for more information, please call 212-352-3101 or at www.ensemblestudiotheatre.org