The End Will Hurt

by Laura Neill

Maura's dying and obsessed with Facebook, but that's not the only problem—her daughter Cindy is under the Food Network's control, and her granddaughter Darcy is getting way too good at first-person-shooter video games. As each woman avoids facing her grief, digital worlds meld with the real world to create a dangerous new landscape in which anything is possible.

Maura's dying and obsessed with Facebook, but that's not the only problem—her daughter Cindy is under the Food Network's control, and her granddaughter Darcy is getting way too good at first-person-shooter video games. As each woman avoids facing her grief, digital worlds meld with the real world to create a dangerous new landscape in which anything is possible.

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The End Will Hurt

Recommended by

  • Nick Malakhow: The End Will Hurt by Laura Neill
    “

    An inventive, briskly moving, and darkly funny look at intergenerational relationships between female family members. The way each central character's media-related antagonist trails them helps physicalize in a gloriously theatrical manner the extent to which we rely on certain crutches to console us and help us come to terms with our grief. There are several surprising and well-earned twists! It would be delightful to see this onstage, and I hope it receives further development and production opportunities!

    An inventive, briskly moving, and darkly funny look at intergenerational relationships between female family members. The way each central character's media-related antagonist trails them helps physicalize in a gloriously theatrical manner the extent to which we rely on certain crutches to console us and help us come to terms with our grief. There are several surprising and well-earned twists! It would be delightful to see this onstage, and I hope it receives further development and production opportunities!

    ”

Character Information

  • Darcy
    A teenage girl with a lot to prove. Missing her father and terrified of her own mortality, she sinks herself into video games and hopes to join the Marines. The daughter of Sergeant and Cindy.
    17
    woman
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      Teens,
      20s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female,
      Non-binary
  • Cindy
    A woman who clings to the Food Network, hoping to get the recipe right. She told a big lie to her daughter years ago and hasn't come clean. She bakes ten thousand cupcakes but never any actual meals.
    40s
    woman
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s,
      50s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female,
      Non-binary
  • Maura
    A smart woman who knows she's dying. She stuck steadfastly to “the rules” of society for most of her life but now finds herself sick and unable to connect with her family. So she starts a Facebook account.
    70ish
    woman
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      60s,
      70s+
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female,
      Non-binary
  • Sergeant
    Broad, solid, strong, macho. A figment of Darcy's imagination—a stand-in for her father the Marine. In him we see her wish to be strong, certain, and the emotional opposite of everything her mother is.
    40s
    Man
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s,
      50s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male,
      Non-binary
  • Food Network
    Well... the Food Network. Encapsulated in one diabolical little entity. Also the voice inside Cindy's head. Probably female. Maybe looks vaguely like whoever currently has a big Food Network show.
  • Facebook
    Well... Facebook. All the subliminal messaging that you're not good enough, wrapped into a voice inside Maura's head. Possibly genderless. Whoever they are, they're wearing one of those skinny techno-hipster suits with the skinny techno-hipster ties.

Development History

  • Workshop, University of Tulsa, 2017

Awards

  • WomenWorks
    University of Tulsa
    Winner
    2017