Pocket Universe

A One-Act Play
by Chris Cluff

About the Play

Pocket Universe is a tender, funny, gut-punch of a one-act about grief, family history, and the small objects that hold the biggest truths.

In a fully-finished late-80s basement packed with nostalgia—Atari cartridges, board games, mixtapes, lava lamps—Casey tries to clear out their father’s house while keeping their feelings boxed up. Their best friend Riley shows up with snacks, chaos, and a talent for accidentally unearthing emotional landmines. Then Morgan, Casey’s sibling, arrives with paperwork and a different version of the past—one Casey never had access to.

As old voicemails crackle to life through a surviving flip phone, the basement becomes a kind of time machine: part memory, part evidence locker, part shelter. What starts as “just cleaning” turns into a reckoning with what was hidden, what was misunderstood, and what was quietly done out of love—folded into paper cranes, tucked under a sink, and paid for month after month without being spoken aloud.

Pocket Universe lives where laughter and loss overlap: a play about the ways families protect each other imperfectly… and the way hope sometimes shows up as a small signal left on, just in case.

Script Details

• Cast: 4 performers
  • Casey (40s) — wry, guarded, competent
  • Riley (40s) — pragmatic, calming presence; Casey’s friend
  • Morgan (50s) — emotional, impulsive, funny; Casey’s sibling
  • Dad (70s) — heard only through recorded voicemails
    (All roles are gender-flexible; adjust as needed.)
• Setting: A finished late-80s suburban basement (nostalgic, cluttered, lived-in)
• Time: Present day, with the past bleeding in through objects and audio
• Length: Approximately 35–45 minutes
• Style: Dramedy / family story / grief + humour / memory play (grounded, not abstract)

Read the First Five Pages (Free)

I’m sharing the first five pages of Pocket Universe below as a free preview.

These opening pages establish the world (the basement), the central relationship (Casey + Riley), and the emotional engine of the play: what it means to sort through someone else’s life while trying not to feel your own.

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First 5 – Pocket Universe
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Get the Full Script

If you’d like to read the complete play, a full PDF of Pocket Universe is available for $5 CAD.

This helps support the continued development of my writing and keeps the work independent.

How to Get the Full Script

1. Send $5 CAD via Interac e-Transfer
2. Include your email address in the message field
3. Use the note: “Pocket Universe – full script”
4. I’ll email you the complete PDF within 24 hours (usually much sooner)

E-Transfer Details

• Amount: $5 CAD
• Recipient Name: Chris Cluff
• Email: chrisjcluff@gmail.com
• Security Question (if needed): Pocket Universe
• Answer: Flip phone

(If your bank uses Auto-Deposit, you can ignore the security question/answer.)

Production & Reading Inquiries

If you’re interested in:

• producing the play
• staging a reading or workshop
• classroom / educational use
• festival submission questions

please reach out.

📧 chrisjcluff@gmail.com

Pocket Universe © 2025 by Chris Cluff is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Content Notes

This play includes themes of:

• grief and family illness
• memory loss / caregiving stress
• mild profanity
• emotional revelations tied to family conflict

Thank You

If you’ve ever found yourself holding an object from your childhood and realizing it weighs more than it should… this play is for you.

Thanks for reading.
— Chris