Chicago Tribune: Comedy asks: What do you do with the unsaved?
Thanks to some very solid and honest acting under the direction of Shade Murray, you become quite involved in this funky little band of seekers, and invested in their eventual discovery that they need each other more than they think — regardless of any rapture that may await.

Edge Chicago: Review
...a lighthearted, fresh look into the ideas that make up evangelical religion, physics, the Rapture, and belief in general.

Laufer, herself a science-loving atheist, never lets these big topics overpower, and she achieves this by creating relatable, likeable and flawed characters who are all searching for some sort of meaning. Aren’t we all?

Pioneer Press: Preview - 'End Days,' examines faith, science and Elvis
The premise is reminiscent of a bad joke: Jesus, Elvis and Stephen Hawking walk into a bar...
But while "End Days" is certainly funny, it's far too outlandishly original to fit into the parameters of a predictably gauche one-liner.

Chicago Critic: New twist on religious fever a humorous fable
Who said religion can’t be funny?... Without being ‘preachy’ or condescending, End Days unfolds as a funny look at the role of faith in human relations. This show is hilarious and healing.

SteadStyle: Review
Faith and Renewal! ... a wonderful theatrical experience.  This is indeed a story of faith, not just in the religious sense, but faith in humanity and in family.

Examiner: O Holy Stephen Hawking? Next Theatre talkback to delve sacred and scientific
Examiner.com

Catey Sullivan

Preview Article

Talk about the elaborate entrance of deities both sacred and secular. In Deborah Zoe Laufer’s  End Days, the unlikely trinity of Jesus, Elvis and Stephen Hawking offer salvation to a family in full-tilt emotional meltdown. From particle theory to prayer tracts, there’s a host of food for thought within Next Theatre’s staging of Laufer’s award-winning comedic drama. Those keen to delve the subtext are invited to attend a talkback with the playwright following 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8 performance of End Days. The event is free to ticket holders.

End Days continues Next’s quasi-season of Apocalypse, coming on the heels of boom, Peter Sinn Nachtreib’s oddball tale of tropical fish and the last two people on earth. Thumbnail synopsis of End Days: The World Trade Center attacks of Sept. 11 have sparked massive dysfunction in the family Stein. Sylvia Stein, a nice Jewish mother before the tragedy, has become a fervent Evangelical Christian who chats daily with Jesus and believes the End is Nigh. Husband Arthur has crumpled into a depression that stops on a precarious ledge just shy of catatonia. Teenage daughter Rachel seeks solace in surliness, the troubled Elvis impersonator who lives next door and the specter of genius physicist Stephen Hawking.

Director Shade Murray – taking a break from working on his MFA in directing from Northwestern – helms an impressive Chicago cast that includes Laura T. Fisher as Sylvia and Joseph Wycoff as Jesus Christ and Stephen Hawking. (Quasi-tangent #1:Fisher and Wycoff are a powerful combo - as anyone who saw Next’s blisteringly intense Defiance and Frozen already knows. )

As The New Testament’s Leading Man/Lamb of God, Wycoff is miles away from the pedophile child killer he played the bejeebus out of in Frozen and equally far (albeit from a different direction) from the dangerously ineffectual chaplain he played to such smarmy effect in Defiance. His own religious and academic backgrounds make the actor singularly equipped to portray two characters in whose personas the worlds of science and spirituality both collide and coalesce.

“Joseph,” says director Murray, “is someone who strongly straddles the mysteries of faith and science. Those are the two aspects that form his personal ID.” That formation started in the Bible belt region of Indiana, where Wycoff grew up in a non-denominational household.  

“Religion was always this fascinating thing to me,” Wycoff said. “When friends asked me to go with them to Temple or church, I very gladly accompanied them. I studied a lot of different religions, a lot of denominations. Eventually I found that I was agreeing with what the Buddhists were talking about, that they matched my own belief system and I became a regular practitioner.”

In addition to the teachings of the Dalai Lama, Wycoff has read the Bible in its entirety (“it’s a fascinating piece of literature.”) and Hawking’s seminal masterpiece ‘A Brief History of Time.’ (“Got it right when it came out. Couldn’t put it down.”) He’s also made the requisite science geek pilgrimage to country’s premiere atom-splitting facility: “I’ve toured Fermi-Lab,” he said of the west suburban super-conducting supercollider site.

Laufer’s depiction of Jesus squares with the Jesus of the Bible, Wycoff contends.

“There’s a scene where Jesus refuses to reveal to Sylvia the exact date of the Rapture. He – Jesus – isn’t portrayed as a caricature or a mockery. The answers he gives when she presses him are the same answers the historical Jesus would have given."

"You can understand why people would chose to believe in him,” says Murray of End Days' Jesus, “His presence is magical.”

"Many people in many different faiths speak about having a spiritual guide they turn to,” Wycoff adds, “In End Days, we have a literal spiritual presence standing next to Sylvia in the kitchen.” Hawking, meanwhile, stands next to Sylvia’s angry daughter Rachel, or rather, sits, since he’s in a wheelchair.

(Quasi Tangent 2: In real life, Hawking speaks through a computer, an effect Wycoff will create with only his voice. “When I spoke with Deborah about auditioning for Stephen, she told me people came in for (the Florida production), pushed a button on a tape recorder and then just sat there while a tape of their voice played. Which had to be really weird,” said Murray, “It’s amazing that Joseph can create the machine effect without the machine.” )

A standing savior, a sitting scientist –Who wins the debate in the Stein's fractured household? Wycoff answers with a quote from the Dalai Lama’s book Kindness, Clarity and Insight: "Different medicines are prescribed for different diseases, and a medicine which is appropriate in one situation may not be appropriate in another."

“Jesus and Hawking- these are people whose work are constantly being interpreted and reinterpreted,” added Murray. “I think that’s part of the point here. Jesus can only say so much – ultimately it’s not Jesus Christ’s role to save mankind: It’s for mankind to interpret His word and then do something with them. With Laufer’s play, it’s all about agency – what other characters do with this wisdom they’re handed."

End Days was awarded The American Theatre Critics Association Steinberg citation in March, 2008. It received its NYC premiere at Ensemble Studio Theatre in March, 2009 through an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant. It debuted in October, 2007 at Florida Stage, The Phoenix Theater in Indianapolis and Curious Theater in Denver through a National New Play Network rolling premiere and will have received nine productions by the end of the year. End Days is listed in the Burns Mantle Yearbook as one of the best regional plays of 2008, and is published in The Best Plays of 2008.

“Who knew The Rapture could be so funny?" – Theatremania

"…rapturously funny play about a family trying to survive in a world hurtling toward Armageddon, proves that the right playwright can inspire healing laughter in even the most sobering subjects."
-The Miami Herald

"A satirical dark comedy with a moral edge."
"The universality of the denouement brings this comedy full circle, leaving us to admire the relevancy of Laufer's humor and wisdom of her message." -Variety


“Enormously funny, warm and uplifting!” - CurtainUp

"… both poignantly redemptive and often hilariously funny."
"I hope others will have the opportunity to see this special play. It begs the question of what we would hold most sacred if we knew the end was near. And it brings to life our broad range of choices, including laughter, and the treasured traveling companions who are there even when we face our own personal Armageddon." -The Huffington Post