Recommended by Joe Swenson

Nora Louse Syran captures the essence of two travelers heading in the same direction, but directionally heading in different directions. I found conceptually that this story really delivers a strong set-up and massive twist where Nora delivers one last set-up and then absolutely crushes the audience with Canadians reality. The monologue that the Canadian delivers is an important message for everyone. I love it. I loved this show. Anytime a show can make you involuntarily emote, it's a winner. This show is great.

Trauma gets you in different ways and everyone reacts differently. It’s akin to chaos and DC Cartho establishes a moment with Joan that will resonate with a wide variety of audiences.

This short play starts innocently enough, establishing how the world has changed through the eyes of a game. It also shows you that you don’t know when your safe space will evaporate into a dangerous situation psychologically speaking.

Another highly recommended show in the DC Cartho Literary Universe or DCCLU for short!

I love the ending. In Frank McGuiness’ play “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me,” there’s a moment where Edward is trying to get a ride out of Michael by telling him a story about a hitchhiker who doesn’t reveal the contents of his bag and leaves it behind before getting to a checkpoint. I felt the same way about Randy’s backpack as I did the rucksack in that play.

DC has a way to bring characters to life in your heart and once again DC’s establishes an incredible relationship between Randy and Rod. Great Play!

This one is going to sit with me for a while. DC Cartho does an amazing job of building identifiable characters in the Officer, Dewey, and even Dewey’s sister. This short piece has it all, tension, complex emotion, establishment of high stakes, characters that you root for, etc.

Woven into the last part of this short play is the recipe to come out of isolation with an ice-breaker of sorts. Naturally with a DC Cartho short play, you don’t want it to end. I get the same about this one. Brilliant!

Oh my God! Christopher Soucy, wow! Just Wow! The stakes start off very high, and just when you think they can't get higher, they do, and just when you think they've peaked, they haven't. This show made my stomach queasy from all of the tension, piling on more tension, misdirection, twists, and then finally, somehow relieved us of all of the tension in the most tension filled way possible. Like magic. In this play is the line, "Like my soul was wearing a body that was just a little too big." Masterclass on tension, action, and twists! Remarkable.

There is a lot to unpack here and Mattson does a wonderful job packing it into the show first so that Marie can unpack it all for the audience. It's hard to write about homelessness and Mattson creates art with messages. The playwright delivers comedy in his trademark way, quick wit, fast reactions, some physicality, but without poking fun at or romanticizing the situation. Mattson captures a piece of life, an important life, and delivers an important piece of art. Marie's monologue at the end reads like the closing argument in defense of the homeless. Excellent Show!

Fantastic little play from multiple perspectives including the baby. The comedy in this short play is fantastic and I would pay money to see the performer playing baby get thrown around by the invisible force. Mattson has built a play that grabs your attention, holds it, makes you laugh and smile all along the way, and then just as you think it's over, he throws in one last wrinkle. This has to be a must see.

Sometimes it's important to just go with what's inside the box, rather than looking outside the box. Robert Mattson does a brilliant job of bringing that point home with his go-with-what-we-know while exploring other options play about casting the dwarves, the actual dwarves, in Snow White. During this short, fantastic show, you meet three, uh, four(ish) dwarves who are all auditioning for the last dwarven role. Let the fun begin as Mattson's 10 pager is sure to bring a smile to your face.

Antogonism is a beautiful play with a wonderful message about how important it is to not let those that might piss in the pool take up real estate in your head and just move on to what you like. There's a bit of set-up and you want B,C, and D to retaliate, but instead are left completely satisfied with this quick show ends. Kudos Steven G. Martin!

Steve expertly plays with pull away tension and emotional tension in this short by powerful drama. The poignant nature of being in a wide-open space for the vulnerable Trystan and the sudden desperation as Trystan almost misses his chance to find help. Masterful!