The Rink at the End of the World

SEASON 17

NOW ACCEPTING AUDITIONS

Co-World Premiere by Megan Tabaque

Cadence & Alleyway Theatre
April 30–May 16, 2027 | Firehouse Theatre

Rehearsals begin on or around March 29

About the Play

When an entire country club of athletes gets taken out by a rogue bout of measles, a motley crew of mall-rink figure skaters find themselves on a flight to Croatia to compete in the World Synchronized Figure Skating Championships as first alternates.

As they train, complain, destroy, and rebuild each other on their quest to achieve the impossible, something even darker looms on the edges of the global stage: a nuclear arms race.

The Rink at the End of the World asks the hard questions:

Where is Croatia again?
What the hell is Putin’s problem?
Why is Tall Heather Co-Captain and not me?
Where can we find relief—and the strength to go on—when it feels like the world is only out to destroy us?

A comic experiment in synchronization, surreality, and apocalyptic survival, the play uses the high-octane, high-stakes, high-learning-curve emotional drivers of teenage girls to capture a contemporary sense of doom felt by younger generations living in a world that seems uninvested in its own future—and instead invested in its own demise.

About the Playwright

MEGAN TABAQUE (she/her) is a playwright, director, and educator who grew up in the suburbs of Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Her plays have been developed, commissioned, and/or produced by the Alliance Theater, Great Plains Theater Commons, Seven Devils New Play Conference, Tofte Lake Center, Theatrical Outfit, Salvage Vanguard Theater, Inner City Arts, Paper Chairs, The Road Theater, Rogue Machine Theater, UCSB’s Launchpad Program and The Workshop Theater.

Awards include the Michener Fellowship, Kundiman Fiction Fellowship, Emory Playwriting Fellowship, 4 Seasons Residency, Sewanee Writers’ Conference Scholar. She has been a finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference and Seattle Public Theater Emerald Prize. She’s been a Semifinalist for the New Dramatist Residency, Princess Grace Award, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and Playwrights’ Realm Scratchpad Series, among others. 

She’s taught creative writing at Bennington College, Emory University, UT Austin and at non-profit programs for youth across the U.S. including Inner City Arts, Rude Mechs' Off Center Teens, the New South Young Playwrights Conference, and the Austin Bat Cave. She has also assisted award-winning TV writer Sheila Callaghan, and developed projects for the immersive weirdo-giants at Meow Wolf. 

Megan has an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers in Austin, TX. She currently resides in Los Angeles, where she works as an Assistant Professor of Playwriting , Screenwriting, and Acting at UC Riverside. | megantabaque.com

Photo credit: Casey Gardner Ford

Audition Notice

Cadence is seeking actors for the co-world premiere of The Rink at the End of the World by Megan Tabaque.

AEA and Non-Union performers are welcome to submit.
All performers will be paid.

AUDITION DEADLINE
October 25, 2026

VIRTUAL CALLBACKS
October 26 - November 1, 2026

Seeking

  • Female-identifying actors, ages 18–30

    • Must be able to play ages 14–18)

  • Female-identifying actors, ages 40–55

  • Male-identifying actors, ages 40–58

How to Submit

Please email the following to casting@cadencetheatre.org

  • Labeled headshot

  • Resume

  • Two contrasting, contemporary 1-minute monologues

  • A labeled slate video including:

    • Name

    • Height

    • Current location

    • Availability between March 29 and May 16, 2027

    • Whether you are local to Richmond

    • If not local, whether you have local housing and transportation

Open Roles

Suzanne - 18

Team Captain. Rink darling. Getting old.

Natalie - 15*

Bitchy but skilled. Daughter of Coach Noreen.

Christina - 18

Too pretty. Dim, but not dumb.

Nikki - 14*

Skittish, fragile, an old soul. Daughter of Coach Will.

Tall Heather - 17

A budding intellectual. Over-caffeinated.

Amanda - 15

Wise, weird, altered by tragedy.

Mr. Will - 40s/50s*

A charmer. Three times married. Dad-bod-hot. Nikki’s dad.

Ms. Noreen - 40s/50s*

High-strung. Hanging by a thread. Natalie’s mom.

*Parent/child roles.