Many good projects start by chance. And Trina Davies’s The Romeo Initiative — part of this year’s Enbridge playRites Festival of New Canadian Plays — is no exception.

While flipping through television channels with her father in 2003, the Vancouver-based playwright stumbled upon a documentary of Germany’s Cold War, in which a woman was bemoaning a relationship she’d had.

Davies recalls her father’s response —“Oh, she’s stupid.”

Davies, however, had a very different reaction. What she saw prompted her to explore the “biochemistry of romantic love.” And that’s how the seed of The Romeo Initiative sprouted.

“Basically, The Romeo Initiative is about love, trust and betrayal,” says Davies.

“It tells the story of a couple who meet while on vacation. However, when they return to their regular lives in Cold War-era West Germany, things get complicated.”

Davies used a lot of research material from Helen Fisher’s book, Why We Love, which explains that MRIs detect a powerful chemical cocktail in people’s brains when falling in love.

Davies is a self-described “research fiend,” and says she “immersed herself” in material relating to the Cold War before completing The Romeo Initiative.

In fact, she’s been working with two German journalists who have helped her translate texts and provided her with research material.

As well, Davies is encouraging the cast of The Romeo Initiative to take a page from her approach; she has asked them to read Why We Love in preparation for their roles, and they don’t seem to mind.

“It’s interesting to see how living in one country, that’s divided in two, affects the psyche of the people there,” says Kira Bradley, one of the play’s actors.

Davies is no stranger to the genre of historical drama. In fact, she says she now has a “bit of a reputation” for writing historical plays. One of her earlier works, Shatter, deals with the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion of 1917. Another, Waxworks, explores the life of a young Madame Tussaud during the French Revolution.

“I’ve always been drawn to its history. I worked at Fort Edmonton Park when I was in university. I’ve always had a thing for stories and storytelling. But, to use a cliché, ‘History repeats itself.’”

As such, Davies won’t do history just for history’s sake.

“A lot of events that have happened in the past are very relevant to current times. Shatter, for example, dealt with racial profiling of the Germans in World War I, because I saw what happened post-9/11 in America,” she explains.

“It’s good to recognize that these are not new concepts. Do we continue to make the same mistakes over and over, or do we learn from them?”

As for having The Romeo Initiative on this year’s playRites bill, Davies says she’s “thrilled.”

“Getting a new play onstage is a real feat in the current environment. playRites has gone on so long, and is so well respected, it’s the best way a new play can be launched in Canada.”