BWW Reviews: New Jewish Theatre Opens Season with Funny and Touching END DAYS

Playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer's End Days is a whimsical sort of farce with heart, a humorous work that starts off amusing, but in the end, winds up teaching its characters what it means to be a real family. It's the kind of ensemble piece that the New Jewish Theatre does so well, and their current production is a well acted and neatly directed presentation that's a wacky delight.

It's two years after 9/11 and Arthur Stein has yet to get out of his pajamas and face life. Perhaps it's just a guilt-ridden reaction to his surviving that terrorist attack while the rest of his staff perished. His Wife Sylvia has not only taken up religion, she's hanging around with a literal incarnation of Jesus (in the flesh), and haranguing anyone and everyone with her new found beliefs. Her rebellious goth-girl daughter Rachel finds it all distasteful, but she has problems of her own in the presence of one Nelson Steinberg, an Elvis-suit wearing science nerd who stalks her because he finds her so appealing. They do wind up forming a relationship based first on what seems like pity, since he's beat up and battered on a daily basis by the kids at school, but which begins to blossom as Nelson relates his considerable knowledge of science and the universe in general. And, somehow, in a marijuana-induced haze, Rachel begins a dialog with a rather petulant Stephen Hawking, complete with motorized wheelchair and computer generated voice. When Jesus reluctantly reveals the date of the rapture to Sylvia and disappears, he appears to have an ulterior motive, and that's where the play gets its more heart-warming aspects from.

Terry Meddows is wonderful as Arthur Stein, and seeing him slowly awaken at the insistence of Nelson, who's studying for his Bar Mitzvah, is a joy to behold. Nancy Bell also does great work as Sylvia, annoying at first with her insistence that the end is near as she pals around with Jesus, but more appealing once the day of the rapture is supposedly upon them, and she has to decide what is truly important to her. Chelsea Serocke is also quite good as Rachel, obviously intelligent, but rebelling at every opportunity under her pale makeup and black garb. Clayton Fox charms as Nelson, a chatterbox who keeps conversational questions on hand in a pocket notebook, but who's really just a good-natured kid who needs the security of his Elvis suit like Linus needs his blanket. Roger Erb has a blast as both Jesus and Stephen Hawking.

Eric Little's direction is well done, and the play, even though it's uneven in tone from act to act, holds it all together in fine fashion. Justine Barisonek's scenic design neatly conjures the suburban condo setting where the bulk of the action takes place, and John Armstrong's lighting keeps the action clearly in focus. Michele Freidman Siler's costumes are perfect fits for each of these unusual characters.

The New Jewish Theatre opens their season with a real winner, providing a funny and touching production of End Days that runs through September 25, 2011.

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