Apocalypse not now. . . .Apocalypse when. . . . Apocalypse on Wednesday. . . . Whenever. . . .
"End Days," a comedy about the end of the world, the Rapture and all sorts of semi-religious situations, is a funny play with serious overtones. It opened as the New Jewish Theatre began its 15th season last night at the JCC, and it offers a great many jokes about religion. Given people's thinking these days, playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer manages to insult most of them along her way.
The Stein family, Dad Arthur (Terry Meddows), Mom Sylvia (Nancy Bell) and daughter Rachel (Chelsea Serocke) left New York after Sept. 11, 2001. Two years later they're amazingly dysfunctional, Arthur so depressed he can go no farther than from bedroom to kitchen, and he does not stop at the closet. Sylvia is controlling, anxious and absurdly devout, ready to accept the Rapture and on a first-name basis with a Jesus (a wonderful Roger Erb) whom only she sees ("Thank you, Jesus," she says. "You're welcome, Sylvia," he replies). Rachel is a young, white-faced Goth, fed up with her family and most other things, though she does like math. One day, from across the street, comes Nelson Steinberg (naive, charming Clayton Fox), a stumbling, bumbling, befuddled youngster who wears a white Elvis Presley jumpsuit, and is the daily lunchroom target of showers of milk cartons. He loves Rachel, and is a fan of Stephen Hawking, but when Hawking shows up in his motorized scooter, It's Erb again, his voice semi-garbled, but he's only visible to Rachel.
Humor in American theater comes mainly from Jewish playwrights, speaking through Jewish characters, but that's the subject of books, and the life of Neil Simon. When Arthur awakens from a lengthy nap, for example, and says, "Time for a nosh," it's funnier than if he asked for a snack. Yes, Arthur is Jewish, but he fell away when he married Sylvia, and he returns with a vengeance when he learns that Nelson is due for a Bar Mitzvah.
Nelson looks as if he's due for college, but that's a minor problem.
Laufer's play, which had an off-Broadway run a couple of years ago, features another typically hilarious performance from Meddows, spot-on work from Serocke and strong work from the rest of the cast, under Eric Little's relaxed, well-tmed direction. Michele Friedman Siler designed appropriate costumes, including the Presley jumpsuit and good robes for Jesus. Justin Barisonek and John Armstrong provided appropriate set and lights, respectively.
A loose approach to religion, maybe what all of us need these days while a variety of imprecations fly around our heads. and enough laughs, too. The time between scenes got a little long on a few occasions, perhaps because of escaping milk cartons.
End Days, produced by the New Jewish Theatre, opened last night at the Jewish Community Center, and will run through Sept. 25
— Joe