LOVE IS COMPLICATED is an anthology of three one-act plays, RACCOON, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MAGGIE and SIX DAYS IN THE LIFE OF MOM, 2126. They are thematically linked by the capacity of love to drive people to surprising places in their lives.
Three women. And love that’s complicated. Today when her husband announces he’s leaving her and stealing all their money, a woman discovers raccoons aren’t so bad. Tomorrow morning another woman will wake up in a hotel room with a clown to learn that maybe God’s answered her prayers and surgery for the hateful husband she doesn’t have the courage to leave went better than she could have hoped—and he’s gone. A hundred years in the future, an artificial human who’s also a Mom changes her program herself so she can love her kids, arrange the birthday celebration she’s been planning for almost two decades and then shut herself down.
Keywords: Marriage breakups, domestication of raccoons, social injustice, prejudice, isolation, romance, clowns, childcare in the future, maternal love, parenthood, aging, siblings, AI, big tech, superhero, surveillance culture.
Production History:
RACCOON, IT Productions, Left of Centre Festival, Brantford, Ontario, 2026.
RACCOON, Theatre Aurora, Foundations Fest, Aurora, Ontario, 2026.
RACCOON, IT Productions, The Knights, Brantford, Ontario, 2026.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MAGGIE, Left of Centre Festival, Brantford, Ontario.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MAGGIE, IT Productions, The Knights, Brantford, Ontario, 2026.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MAGGIE, Butter Side Up Theatre Company, Thestival, Lantern Theatre, Sheffield, UK, 2026.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MAGGIE, Broken Arts Entertainment, Loved Ones, season 3, audio drama, Scarborough, Maine, USA, 2026.
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Science Fiction, Dark Comedy
Acts: 3
Run time: 121 minutes
Suitable for students 16+
Cast size: 9 actors
Male roles: 3
Female roles: 4
Other roles: 2
Casting notes: Casting for LOVE IS COMPLICATED is ideal for community theatres at nine actors. Three leads for women, another woman in a major supporting role, three men, two voices. Actors in their twenties, thirties, forties / fifties / sixties. All the one-acts feature leading roles for women.
