"End Days" - by Deborah Zoe Laufer - City on a Hill Arts (Leominster, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: Audrey Lavenski as “Rachel Stein,” Cherry Lynn Zinger as “Sylvia Stein” and Tim Daughters as “Arthur Stein” in a scene from Deborah Zoe Laufer's "END DAYS" from City on a Hill Arts now playing in Leominster, MA. through November 15, 2025. Photo Credit: Jen Knight)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“This afternoon, we're back in front of the XXX video store on Townsend. The first day we prayed there, 22 sinners went in. Last night, it was less than 10."
("Sylvia Stein") - Deborah Zoe Laufer
City on a Hill Arts
Presents Deborah Zoe Laufer's
"END DAYS"
A Rapturously Funny Comedy!
Written by Deborah Zoe Laufer
Directed by Michael Knight
Cast Includes: Lucas Cardwell as “Jesus/Stephen Hawking,” Cherry Lynn Zinger as “Sylvia Stein,” Ben Wilder as “Nelson Steinberg,” Tim Daughters as “Arthur Stein,” Audrey Lavenski as “Rachel Stein,” Ben Spurr and Traci Bartlett as "Various Characters."
Performances held at Congregation Agudat Achim, 268 Washington Street, Leominster, MA. 01453
Performances:
November 8, 2025 through November 15, 2025
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
TICKETS:
Free admission with donations welcome
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COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
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(Warning: The following review contains spoilers)
(Note: The following review is of a final dress rehearsal)
From City on a Hill Arts the "END DAYS" comes to Leominster, as two “geeky” high schoolers are faced with the immortal question: “Can science and religion harmoniously co-exist?”
Perhaps not as harmonious as some would like, if playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer’s two-act play “END DAYS” is any indication.
Back in 2023, METRMag interviewed the “END DAYS” author, with Laufer recalling how she would rush home from kindergarten “to tell my mother the unbelievable thing that happened that day – my mind was blown by some new revelation, and I needed to tell the world.”
Does this imply Laufer herself might have been perceived as (with all due respect) a little bit of a “geek” in school?
The playwright responded, "I don’t know, but I was definitely geeky…I was bad at studying things I didn’t care about…but I loved English, reading and writing. Everything else had to come through osmosis."
Laufer would go on to study acting at the State University of New York at Purchase.
Laufer’s first play, “MINIATURES,” drew the attention of playwright Marsha Norman, who invited Laufer to study playwriting at the Juilliard School where Norman taught. Laufer accepted the invitation and graduated from Juilliard in 2000.
Since then, Laufer's plays have been staged and enjoyed all over the country.
In 2008, Laufer won the "Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Citation" from the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) for her play, "END DAYS" now staged by City on a Hill Arts in Leominster, MA.
(Photo: Cherry Lynn Zinger as “Sylvia Stein,” Audrey Lavenski as “Rachel Stein” and Tim Daughters as “Arthur Stein” in a scene from Deborah Zoe Laufer's "END DAYS" from City on a Hill Arts now playing in Leominster, MA. through November 15, 2025. Photo Credit: Jen Knight)
In the show, perceptively directed by Michael Knight, we encounter several characters each facing a turning point in their life before being faced with the ultimate turning point – i.e. "END DAYS" a Biblical reference to the apocalyptic end of humanity via the “predicted” resurrection of Christ.
I use the word “predicted” in quotes because the date of Christ’s return keeps changing (as if on a continuously-shaken “Etch-a-Sketch” pad) and for when exactly this "END DAYS" is supposed to take place.
But for the characters we meet in Laufer’s heartwarming play, it is now, or at least in the time and place where "END DAYS" is set, which is only about two years after the events of September 11th, 2001…(September 20th, 2003 to be exact)...fast approaching a very important Wednesday.
One of the clever devices Laufer uses in the play is for one actor (in this case City on a Hill actor Lucas Cardwell) to portray both actual renowned physicist “Stephen Hawking” who was still quite alive during this time and Biblical idol “Jesus” who was (and is) actually still quite dead (although some might disagree).
Hawking can only be seen and heard by high schooler Rachel Stein (Audrey Lavenski) while Jesus can only be seen and heard by Rachel’s born-again Christian mother, Sylvia (Cherry Lynn Zinger).
Zinger impresses as Sylvia, not trying to make the character appear as an obtuse, one-dimensional religious zealot.
(Photo: Lucas Cardwell as "Jesus" and Cherry Lynn Zinger as “Sylvia” in a scene from Deborah Zoe Laufer's "END DAYS" from City on a Hill Arts now playing in Leominster, MA. through November 15, 2025. Photo Credit: Jen Knight)
Sylvia’s husband, Arthur (Tim Daughter), cannot see either Hawking or Jesus and, even if he could, probably would not find their sudden appearance all too surprising as he is practically comatose himself these days.
Rachel, as marvelously played by Lavenski, is in full "Goth" mode, having completely become estranged from her parents resulting from her mother’s religious rantings and her father’s complete withdrawal from life after his witnessing a horrific event from 9/11.
As Arthur, Daughter does well but the evolution from where his reclusive character begins in the story to where Arthur winds up by around the middle seems to happen abruptly and without a clear, concise moment of (if you’ll pardon the expression) “revelation.”
Inserting himself into the family’s life comes neighborhood nudge Nelson Steinberg (Ben Wilder) who first comes off like a long, lanky, white Elvis-impersonator-clad “Steve Urkel” to the Stein’s dysfunctional “Winslow Family.”
Wilder is adept at playing up this "Urkel-like" behavior, especially in the full-on obsession Nelson has with Rachel.
As we get to know Nelson more, though, he becomes less "stalker-y" and more of a sympathetic character, especially after we see him constantly ridiculed and bullied (mostly by Ben Spurr and Traci Bartlett who portray multiple unnamed characters in the show)...and yet, Nelson never loses any of his cheerful, positive or optimistic outlook.
Nelson quickly becomes the catalyst for everything that follows, embracing and impacting the Stein family in ways they never could have conceived.
(Photo: Ben Wilder as “Nelson Steinberg” in a scene from Deborah Zoe Laufer's "END DAYS" from City on a Hill Arts now playing in Leominster, MA. through November 15, 2025. Photo Credit: Jen Knight)
The City on a Hill Arts cast performances here are all quite insightful, with Wilder and Lavenski splendidly bringing much of the story's heart to the forefront.
Wilder and Daughter have some wonderful exchanges together on stage as do Lavenski and Zinger with Cardwell’s respective characters.
Cardwell as Hawking and Jesus artfully conducts a delicate balancing act in bringing a humorous flair to both roles without reducing either to be seen as some sort of absurd, disrespectful mockery.
Similarly, Laufer has also gone to great lengths in the script not to demean anyone's religious belief or doctrine.
The set design is minimalist with some occasionally anachronistic props on hand given the time and place in which the story is set.
There's a TV set/VCR combo and a telephone with cord attached - this may be by design by the instructions in the script, although by 2003 many homes probably would have moved on to DVD players and cordless phones.
However, the addition of several comic panels along the sides and back wall of the stage adds a nice look and feel to the show, as if we are watching some “faith-based” anthology series episode.
(Photo: Audrey Lavenski as “Rachel Stein,” Cherry Lynn Zinger as “Sylvia Stein” and Tim Daughters as “Arthur Stein” in a scene from Deborah Zoe Laufer's "END DAYS" from City on a Hill Arts now playing in Leominster, MA. through November 15, 2025. Photo Credit: Jen Knight)
As this critique is of a final dress rehearsal with the full cast, not every technical element was perfect and the actors were still finding their way through some of the dialogue - Yet, overall, there is still a lot to be enjoyed here thanks to the affecting material provided by the playwright and the execution by the cast and creative team at City on a Hill Arts.
Of course, in the end (pun intended), it is Laufer’s sensitively constructed tale which both amuses and entertains – and, if it prompts some discussions about the best way for science and religion to co-exist, all the better.
While the next part of this sentence may read a little cryptic, “END DAYS” continues at Congregation Agudat Achim in Leominster until November 15th, 2025 - So, get yourselves ready, as you wouldn’t want to be “left behind.”
For their (God willing) forthcoming 2026 season, City on a Hill Arts will present Kenneth Lonergan’s “THE WAVERLY GALLERY” beginning in February.
For tickets and more information, contact City on a Hill Arts at # 978-906-5081, via email at director@cityonahillarts.org or visit www.cityonahillarts.org
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Approximately two hours with one intermission.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
A Rapturously Funny Comedy!
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 teenage Elvis impersonator, has fallen for her hard.
And the Apocalypse is coming Wednesday.
Her only hope is that Stephen Hawking will save them all!
"Wild and wonderful… END DAYS is enormously funny, warm and uplifting.” - CurtainUp.
ABOUT CITY ON A HILL ARTS
CITY ON A HILL (COH) produces works of art that explore the intersection of faith, spirituality, and culture, fostering in each of us a more just and loving response.
70 Foster Road
Ashby, MA. 01431
# 978-906-5081
