Margaret O'Donnell

10-minute play (2026). Day after dreary day, immigrants in US immigration court are driven on an express lane through the justice system. But it’s not fast enough! Until now. Department of Justice bureaucrats have developed the novel, the efficient, the due-process free Choose Your Deport Option! TM and are testing it out in court. If the pilot succeeds, the DOJ will deport immigrants in numbers higher than its wildest dreams. And it will succeed! Unless of course, some joker throws a wrench into the works.

10-minute (2026). It’s tougher than ever for salmon to return to their home streams to spawn – barriers, including climate change and increased human commerce, get steeper yearly. But some salmon may have a secret weapon…

Full-Length (2020, rev. 2025). In 2037 in America, poverty has been nearly eliminated, carbon emissions are reduced by 80% over 2018 levels, all are covered by comprehensive health insurance, and every high school graduate is eligible for free tuition at the nation’s colleges and universities. All due, the government trumpets, to the federal funds freed up for social investment by the Quality of Life Act, which mandates death at age 75. When a tiny group of elderly fighters in small town Illinois take on the law, the government reacts with fury. Who prevails may depend on the tactics each are willing to use. Do the ends justify the means?

One-Act. (2018, revised 2025) Immigration courtrooms hidden away in detention centers throughout the United States decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year. Immigration judges, appointed as employees of the federal government’s Department of Justice, are the sole decision-makers for the detained, eighty-four percent of whom don’t have lawyers to represent them or explain the process to them. The public is definitely not welcome to observe. Outcomes vary wildly depending on the judge assigned to the case, and the most recent Administration-mandated interpretations of the law.

The Detention Lottery, written by an immigration attorney, provides a first-hand look inside one such courtroom, as audience members are detained upon entry, assigned identities as immigrants, and must defend themselves against deportation as best they can in court, without preparation. The real-time immersive experience is followed by a question and comment period and is best conducted by experienced immigration attorneys.

The script and all production materials are freely-licensed in Creative Commons: http://globallawadvocates.com/immigration-in-the-arts/the-detention-lot….

5-minute play (2025). Kenny and Chuckie stumble upon each other on a high, snow-covered peak, and discover man’s-best-friend can have its own agenda.

10-minute (2024). Who knew lap swimming could be so fierce? When it’s mixed with dreams of love and romance, it turns downright brutal…

10-minutes (2024).Three brothers come together every year for a fishing trip to the rustic family cabin they share. But rustic isn’t as kind as it used to be to their now middle-aged bones. Should they sell or upgrade? Each brother has an opinion, and a secret plan…

10-minutes (2024). What’s a 1950s seeker after love to do when neighbors can and do pick up their phones and listen to conversations not their own? Try to disguise themselves, that’s what. Sometimes it works. But sometimes it fails spectacularly…

10-minutes (2023). Polly and Bill pay a visit their old frenemy and brother-in-law Robert, to demand return of some old family treasures. But things are not as they seem. Polly and Bill’s interests diverge fast, and Robert has a few tricks he may or may not be willing to deploy.

One Act (2022). A housing corporation is getting ready to clear-cut the old-growth forest next to Livvy’s house for a new luxury development, and some forest beings and their city-slicker allies seem to think Livvy can do something about it. She’s heart-broken about her beloved forest, but her dad is working for the corporation! Should she be loyal to the forest, or to her dad?

Full-Length (2021). Squaring off for the soul of Mexican immigrant Lucia Beltran, Star Spangle and Santa Lucia punch it out as Lucia makes her way in her new country, the United States. Spangle pushes assimilation, Santa Lucia counsels integrity, and Lucia’s ensnared between them. Only Lucia can determine who will prevail.

Full-Length (2021). Over sixty, newly jobless and about to be homeless, Alison see no future for herself worth living. She’ll have to give up her beloved art – photographing and printing photos of the vanishing orcas of the Pacific Northwest – without money for supplies. When she strikes up a conversation with the orca she’s been photographing for years, things just might turn around for Alison. And then again, they might explode.

One-Act (2020). The monster of climate crisis is staring eleven year old Savannah right in the face, and she’s petrified. She is convinced she’s too young, too ignorant, and too powerless to help stop the destruction, and she despairs in her attempts to write poetry and make videos calling for change. When the non-human beings of the Earth – animal, plant, and mineral -- call a council to inspire humans to take action, though, it’s Savannah they invite to sit in the seat reserved for humans. The trees, forest deities, and the council of all beings shower their pledges of help on Savannah, but it may not be enough to convince her of her own abilities. That’s where a little forest magic may come in handy… A play for young audiences.

10-minute play (2020). Things are looking grim at the face mask factory. Long-timer Kel refuses to help the new kid learn the ropes, and the factory cat seems to have some serious delusions of grandeur. Productivity quotas most definitely won't be met. This is a situation only a local deity can save. But first, you have to believe...

Full-Length (2016). A brush with police spins out of control for undocumented immigrant Fredy Lopez, when he’s arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and detained in immigration jail. The life he’s built after more than a decade in the U.S. shatters, and friends, social workers, lawyers, employers, pastor, immigration judge, and guards flood into the formerly private life he lived with his wife and daughter. What happens next depends on factors no one seems to control.