Daric Moore, left, and Nancy Montgomery share a kiss while performing during a rehearsal for the play “Love/Sick.”

Imagine love. Then imagine it and its consequences in every way, shape and form you can think of. In actor-playwright John Cariani’s play “Love/Sick,” that’s just the start.

Partners for the PAC and the Astoria chapter of the American Association of University Women will present Cariani’s play on the stage of the Clatsop Community College’s Performing Arts Center this September. Performances are set for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 16, 17, 23 and 24 and at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18 and 25.

Unleash your imagination, and get ready to see Cariani nail something that strikes a familiar chord in each one of us or someone we have known at some point in time. He calls his play, first produced in 2012, “an unromantic play for the romantic in all of us.” Nine separate but sequentially connected vignettes are performed in eight- to 10-minute bursts of tight dialogue: In each one, it’s 7:30 p.m. on a Friday night in an alternate suburban reality where imagination co-mingles with reality.

“It kind of turns our reality on its ear,” Cariani said about the play in a 2013 interview at The Public Theatre in Maine. “In the play you’ll meet a bunch of what I call desperate optimists: people who … believe in love but they are terrified that it won’t last.”

Taking place sequentially in the same general location, the vignettes each focus on two people who are romantically linked to one another. Whoops — except for that one woman waiting to hear from her boyfriend when a singing telegram guy arrives with a less-than-hoped-for message. The Huffington Post wrote about Cariani’s ability to “poke fun at the happily-ever-after by means of a strong dose of happily-never-after.”

Each vignette’s quirky title hints at its characters’ inner workings and possible neuroses. In “Uh-oh,” a bored woman tries to put a spark back into her marriage. In “What?!” a man’s stress-related disorder compromises his love life. In “Forgot,” the thing forgotten is to have a baby. In “Destiny,” a couple reconnects after their carts collide at the supermarket.

Relationships progress with each vignette; each couple the audience meets is a bit more mature than the previous, and each relationship is at a slightly more advanced stage.

“The parts (of each vignette) come together to create a satisfying whole, one that chronicles the life cycle of a typical relationship,” wrote Cariani. Showcasing couples and their involvements, their trials and their tribulations, in total 18 characters present the many facets of love and the different powers it wields. The play is packed with dry wit, laugh-out-loud humor, pathos, and there’s not an expletive in sight — a trademark of Cariani’s.

This AAUW production of “Love/Sick” is directed by well-known and respected local director Susi Brown, with assistance by Bobbi Brice.

Brown is no stranger to Cariani’s work. She read his first play, “Almost, Maine,” shortly after it was published in 2004. The play flopped when it ran Off Broadway in 2006, but it went on to find enormous success on community stages around the U.S. and the world. It’s even edged out Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” as the most-produced play in U.S. high schools. Brown saw “Almost, Maine” on stage in Sebastopol, California and knew she wanted to direct it. In 2010, she went on to do just that, helming a production at the Coaster Theatre in Cannon Beach.

“After that, I waited until Cariani finished working on other pieces. I watched for ‘Love/Sick’ to be released on a daily basis and ordered it when I saw the manuscript was available,” Brown said. “His humor, his understanding of the human condition, his command of dialogue, and his absurd situations interests me. I find actors truly enjoy his writing, and they like to tell his stories through his characters’ voices. We all have fun. It’s my number-one rule when working on a show.”

For the production at the PAC, actor Daric Moore has composed 11 musical pieces to accompany the play, including an overture, scene changes, an intermission piece and a rousing curtain call.

“Daric and our engineer, Dave Gager, call it The ‘Love/Sick’ Soundtrack. It has exceeded all expectations I had when I asked him if he would consider creating some original work for our show,” Brown said.

Moore’s soundtrack will be available for purchase as a CD for $5 in the lobby on performance dates.

The eight actors performing — sometimes one, sometimes multiple roles — are Priscilla Fairall, William Ham, Lori Wilson Honl, Toni Ihander, Daric Moore, Nancy Montgomery, Barry Sears and Sheila Shaffer. They appear two at a time, portraying 18 different characters. Dave Gager is the sound technician; the running crew is Isaac Gray and Cheyenne Lyon; lighting design is by Larry Bryant.

The Partners for the PAC and the Astoria chapter of the American Association of University Women are active in the cause to continue to breathe life and funds into the Save the PAC effort. Proceeds from ticket sales for this production benefit Clatsop Community College student scholarships and support the continuing use of the CCC Performing Arts Center, located at 588 16th St. at Franklin Avenue in Astoria. Tickets are $15 each. Doors open one hour before the performance. Refreshments will be available during intermission. For more information, contact Sara Meyer of AAUW at chuck555@gmail.com or 503-791-0426; or Charlene Larsen of Partners for the PAC at crl.larsen@charter.net