SUSAN LERNER PHOTOGRAPHY Michaela Cronan as Rachel and Scott Borish as Nelson share a tender moment in End Days.

End Days, Deborah Zoe Laufer's 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.

True, the third Laufer script to get its world premiere at Manalapan's Florida Stage doesn't sound particularly hilarious.

Sylvia Stein (Elizabeth Dimon) has turned her back on Judaism to embrace born-again Christianity; her husband Arthur (Jim Shankman) has been in a deep depression (and in his pajamas) since 9/11. Their daughter Rachel (Michaela Cronan) is the personification of Goth teen angst, spreading sullenness through every room of the Steins' condo. And Rachel's classmate Nelson (Scott Borish), a new kid who is seriously crushing on her, is a weirdo who wears an Elvis suit that practically demands school beat-downs.

Does it sound any funnier if you know that Jesus and physicist Stephen Hawking (both played brilliantly, though obviously in entirely different ways, by Terry Hardcastle) are also characters in End Days?

Laufer, working again with the comedically gifted Louis Tyrrell as her director, has a true knack for making sweet theatrical lemonade out of bitter thematic lemons. Each of the family characters in End Days, it turns out, is trying to cope after loss: the dread-filled Sylvia, who seeks a sense of security in her newfound faith; Arthur, who has survivor guilt after losing so many colleagues at the World Trade Center; Rachel, who has ''lost'' both of her parents to their preoccupations; and Nelson, who has literally lost both of his.

Throughout the course of the play, with assists from Jesus (for Sylvia) and Hawking (for Rachel), the Steins and Nelson gradually come to the realization -- or, perhaps, they simply remember -- that in an undeniably scary world, those we love can become our anchors, that ''salvation'' lies in emotional connection and support.

It's likely that Laufer, who lives outside New York City, keeps returning to Florida Stage to premiere her work because she knows she'll get a first-rate production, which is again the case with End Days. She has been blessed with a wonderful cast: Dimon, who makes Sylvia not a fanatic but a woman deeply concerned for her family; Shankman, whose Arthur awakens sweetly from his stupor; Cronan, whose needy girl shines through the teen armor; Borish, who is as close to puppy-dog adorable as a guy can get.

And then there's Hardcastle, the very best kind of scene stealer. His Jesus is a beatific man of few words, his Hawking (who zips around in a motorized wheelchair as the actor replicates the computerized voice that allows the physicist to speak) a wisecracking sit-down comedian.

Perhaps only Deborah Zoe Laufer would think to combine a Goth girl (Michaela Cronan), her born-again mom, her post-9/11 depressed dad, an Elvis-loving kid (Scott Borish), Jesus and Stephen Hawking in the same play -- and make the combination hilarious. Florida Stage kicks off its season at 8 p.m. Friday with End Days, Laufer's world premiere play with a most unconventional cast of characters. The play runs through Nov. 25, with performances at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday and 2 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at Florida Stage, 262 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan. Tickets are $45 Friday through Sunday evening, $42 for other shows (opening night performance and reception is $75). Call 561-585-3433 in Palm Beach County, 800-514-3837 elsewhere, or visit www.floridastage.org.