How Family Identity Evolves

In End Days, each family member has made a big change in their personal identity that’s pushed them far away from the Stein family core. Each is left re-evaluating their own personal point of view in relationship to the others, asking, “If you are THAT, then who am I?”

Read stories from our End Days artists

Feels Like Teen Spirit

Is there an age when messages of faith are most potent? In End Days, teenagers Rachel and Nelson are both willing to dive head first in to new ways of defining beliefs, no matter how unconventional, in order to define themselves.

An article from TIME Magazine, 2005

End Days artistic team

Director Shade Murray has numerous Chicago credits including The Chosen (Jeff Nomination, Director), The Subject Was Roses at Writers' Theatre, Fatty Arbuckle... at Second City, R.U.R., Marathon '33 (Jeff and After Dark Awards, Ensemble), Detective Story (Jeff Award, Production, Director, Ensemble), WRLS #5, and Our Country's Good at Strawdog, Kimberly Akimbo at A Red Orchid, Stupid Kids (Jeff Nomination, Director), Some Explicit Polaroids, Santaland Diaries, Never Swim Alone at Roadworks as well as productions at the MCA, Shattered Globe, About Face, Colbalt, Shakespeare's Motley Crew, Timberlake Playhouse and dance theatre in collaboration with MK and Birgitta Victorson.  Shade is an MFA candidate in directing at Northwestern University and was recently named a finalist for the 2009 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors.  Upcoming productions:  Abigail's Party (A Red Orchid), Good Soul of Szechuan (Strawdog). This is his first production with Next Theatre.

Playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer has had her plays developed at The Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Ojai Playwrights Conference, The Missoula Colony, The Cherry Lane Alternative, The Dramatists Guild Fellowship Program, New Georges and The Lark Play Development Center. She is a two-time recipient of the LeCompte du Nouy grant from The Lincoln Center Foundation. Other works include The Last Schwartz (published by Smith and Kraus in Women Playwrights, the Best Plays of 2003), Out of Sterno, Fortune, The Gulf of Westchester, Random Acts and Miniatures. Deborah was one of six playwrights commissioned by Actors Theatre of Louisville to write Brink, featuring their Apprentice Company at this year's Humana Festival. She is a member of The Dramatists Guild and is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she has also been a Playwright-in-Residence. The acting editions of End Days, The Last Schwartz, and Out of Sterno are being published by Samuel French with whom she was the featured playwright in January of 2009. Read more at deborahzoelaufer.com

Next Theatre Artistic Associates Joseph Wycoff and Laura T. Fisher appear in the production. Joseph has been seen in numerous productions including Defiance, Frozen, The U.N. Inspector, Miss Witherspoon, Omnium Gatherum and The Misanthrope. He will also play the lead role of Mr. Povondra in the upcoming production of War With the Newts: Povondra’s Dream. In End Days, he tackles the other-worldly roles of Jesus and Stephen Hawking.

Laura T. Fisher was last seen in Defiance and also appeared in Helen. Identified by the playwright as the inspiration for her story, Laura plays Sylvia Stein, an agnostic, well-educated Jewish mother who becomes an Evangelical Christian, much to the surprise of her family.

The cast is rounded out by William Dick, Adam Shalzi and Carolyn Faye Kramer.

The production team includes Set Designer Andre LaSalle, Costume Designer Melissa Torchia, Lighting Designer Lee Fiskness, Sound Designer Nick Keenan, and Stage Manager Nancy Staiger.

Add your voice to the conversation!

Share your story about shifting family dynamics transforming your role, values or identity. We’ll share responses from additional artists and fellow audience members in our lobby and here at nexttheatre.org. Send your thoughts, anecdotes and stories to Chelsea@nexttheatre.org.