Three Plays For The End Of The World

Three Plays for the End of the World will be Chelsea and Cole’s first collaboration since graduating from the National Theatre School in May 2022. They were drawn to each other artistically due to their shared love of Beckett and Sarah Kane, of the uncanny and unpredictable, the grotesque and absurd, and the desire and fear to live unapologetically.

“what you are about to see”, the first play in the series, is a poetic exploration about violence in the theatre and theatre as violence. Inspired by the work of Kane specifically, this play questions the culpability of theatre creators, and audience members, in the voyeuristic expressions of violence that occur on stage.

“…Drumroll…” examines the gray-space between personal morality and vigilantism. Rooney, the audiences’ main “eyes” in the story, is an imperfect narrator whose assertions may not always be correct; while Tommy, the “antagonist,” fluctuates between both perpetrator and victim.

“The Last Water Cooler…” is a one-person monologue that explores the loneliness brought on by the pandemic and our climate crisis. Dramatized by a lowly maintenance man’s melancholy in removing the world’s last watercoolor, a once great bastion of community.

“Three Plays for the End of the World” was not created to be a premonition of what’s to come, but instead an offering to where we have already arrived.

Cole Hayley is a creator based in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. He is a recent graduate of the National Theatre School and an alumni of Memorial University of Newfoundland, where he received a BA in English and Communications. He’s a member of the inaugural Poverty Cove playwrights unit, and is currently working on publishing a collection of poetry.

Chelsea Dab Hilke is a director and theatre-maker from Montreal. She is a graduate of the National Theatre School’s Directing program and holds a Masters in Theatre and Performance Studies from York University. In her work, Chelsea values collaboration, courage, care, compassion and curiosity, with an interest in investigating gender, medical systems, mothers, grief, jewish-ness, memory, and the precariousness of identity…in no particular order.

Anna Morreale is a multidisciplinary actor and artist currently based in tiohtià ke / Montreal. A recent graduate from the National Theatre School of Canada, Anna has been performing since before they can remember and has always understood the importance of theatre for one’s community. Anna is consistently inspired by theatre that is unconventional, yet remains accessible to all. Their practice reflects this through the employment of movement, performance art and collective creation as focal points in their work.

Brandon Carabin is an actor originally from Cape Breton Island, N.S, currently living in Montreal, QC. Brandon studied acting at Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador and later went on to graduate from the National Theatre School of Canada in the acting program in May, 2022. He is grateful for the opportunity to work with past friends and colleagues on a unique and challenging piece of theatre.

Brenda Vaca (She/Her) (Mexico, 1994) Scenographer experienced in lighting, sound and video design. Graduated from the Production Design and Technical Arts program at The National Theater School of Canada after completing a degree specialized in Scenography in Mexico City. As an artist and collaborator she strives with professional commitment and focus towards honoring voices like her own.

Henry Beasley is a multi-disciplinary artist originally from New Westminster, BC, traditional territory of the Qayqayt Nation. He currently splits his time between New Westminster and Tiohti:áke/Montreal. Working primarily in theatre, Henry is drawn to any project that captures his curiosity and attention, or offers an opportunity to learn something new.