←Recommendations of Under Multicolored Lights

12.21.24 - Holidays can be the roughest time of year for split families. With so much hurt, resentment and confusion, any happy front gets pushed to the back. Young Charlie just wants something positive in his life, and he finds a way to get it, unsafe as it is. DC Cathro captures the anger between his parents, both blaming the other for this lapse in judgement, but he allows us to identify with them, and are relieved when they come to an agreement as to how to proceed. Uplifting and hopeful.

In a brief 10 minutes, DC Cathro delivers a truly moving story of two divorced parents and their six-year-old child and the difficulties coping with the split they each face. The initial image is frightening, and although reason eventually wins out over emotion, there is a sense that the road ahead for these three will not be smooth. A very different kind of holiday story, but an authentic one worthy of inclusion in any holiday themed festival or any time of year.

An incredibly creative, fast-paced show full of emotional and environmental tension. DC Cartho is a master at creating these scenes where the audience is a half-step behind the action, creating the illusion that what the audience is rooting for is going to happen, giving them a false sense of control. The touching ending between Polly and Ben, especially the both names part really hit me. Love, ultimately it’s about love!

One of life's hardest lessons is that sometimes love has nothing to do with the hard choices we have to make. Only, here, DC Cathro reminds us that love, really, is at the heart of those decisions too. It might just be a different form of love. How are you supposed to handle it when love causes you to walk away from a different sort of love? When it transforms that sort of love into a sort of hatred? When it still lingers... This is a heartbreaking short play. But in that, hope and love glitter like Christmas lights.

I found this play captivating. It starts going down one path, but then defies expectations. I especially love the playwright's use of lights and sound to suggest the world. Theatrical and compelling.

This 10-minute Christmastime drama shows young, divorced parents at their breaking point, yet still trying to come together.

I love that DC Cathro shows so much empathy for all of his characters, including Robert and Polly in "Under Multicolored Lights." He never judges his characters, he just understands them so they can better understand one another. They may not be able to put their emotions into words, but they are trying and that's what needs to happen in order to grow.

"Under Multicolored Lights" would be a lot of fun for a lighting designer.

With a skill to be envied, Cathro touches on a vast amount of food for thought in just ten pages. I can’t recall any time I’ve encountered such a quick and to the point Christmas drama, let alone one so moving. Sometimes, you rarely care or give thought to things that might mean the world to others. What a beautiful reminder.

The beginning of this play was, at first, quite surreal. I kept trying to guess the mystery, but the truth turned out to be so much more simple and heartbreaking.

Cathro paints a portrait of a toxic family situation during the most delicate time of the year. Both parents love their child and both parents have messed up. There's so much pain in these few pages, but for the characters it's pain they needed to face. They learn from it. They find a fragile peace. Perhaps we can too.

The opening image of this play (a small child seated in the middle of an intersection) is so jarring, but when it is combined with the sparse-but-subtext-rich dialogue of his damaged parents the emotional impact of the story is undeniable. Hearing it aloud I was moved to tears- I can only imagine I would be reduced to a blubbering mess to actually see it performed. If you are looking for something to shake up the usual holiday fare, please produce this incredible piece of theatre.

UNDER MULTICOLORED LIGHTS is a heart-wrenching family drama. From the shocking opening visual moment to the heartbreaking final plea, this 10-minute play is so moving. These are flawed and very human characters fighting for family and love and trying to hold onto what they have left. It is rare that a 10-minute play brings tears to my eyes, but DC Cathro has done just that with this play!