Intimate Dark Comedy END DAYS Satirizes The Conflict Between Science And Religion

California Repertory Company, part of the CSULB Theatre Arts Department, continues its spring season with End Days, by Deborah Zoe Laufer.

Directed by Beth Lopes, the show opens on April 27th in The Players Theatre.

This award-winning play is centered on sixteen-year-old goth atheist Rachel Stein and the wacky universe of people in her orbit: her mother is busily awaiting the Rapture; her father hasn't changed out of his pajamas since 9/11; her new neighbor is an Elvis impersonator who has a crush on her; on top of all that the Apocalypse is approaching. Will Stephen Hawking be the one to save them all?

End Days was awarded The ATCA Steinberg citation and appeared at Ensemble Studio Theatre through a Sloan Grant. It received a rolling work premiere through the National New Play Network.

Deborah Zoe Laufer is an emerging American Playwright currently residing in Brooklyn. Her other plays include Informed Consent, Leveling Up, Sirens, Out of Sterno, The Last Schwartz, Meta, The Three Sisters of Weehawken, Fortune, The Gulf of Westchester, Miniatures, and Random Acts. Laufer is a recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award and the Lilly Award and grants and commissions from The Edgerton Foundation, the NEA and NNPN. Her plays have been developed at PlayPenn, The Eugene O'Neill NPC, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Ojai, The Missoula Colony, The Cherry Lane Alternative, The Dramatists Guild, New Georges, The Lark, Asolo Rep. and the Baltic Playwrights Conference. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and a member of The Dramatists Guild.

Director Beth Lopes is a freelance theater director and teacher based in Los Angeles. Deeply committed to telling stories for the present moment, Beth is intent on fostering original work and making classics relevant for new generations. About End Days, she writes, "...I don't understand why these two things [Science and Religion] have to be mutually exclusive... We can know the science behind how a human being is created and birthed into the world but does that make it any less miraculous?... I think, for some, religion is less about spirituality and more about rules. And when those rules aren't followed, or when parables are interpreted literally, is where people can get into more black and white territory about religion and science."

Tickets: http://web.csulb.edu/colleges/cota/theatre/on-stage-now/index.html

Prices: General Admission $20

Students (w/ID)/ CSULB Faculty & Staff/$15

Seniors (55+)/ Military: $17

Groups: Groups of 10 or more start at $12.5/ticket

Location: Studio Theater at CSULB, 7th Street and East Campus Drive