Lions | 2025
An unsentimental duet about the business of letting our dads die.
With a dose of Kafka and A Christmas Carol, Lions disassembles the myths our fathers told themselves about what it means to be a great man. Enter a world of breathing machines, Christmas ghosts, to-do lists, shirts that smell like grass, and the most romantic disappointments of our fathers’ lives. Part clown show and part deconstructed eulogy, Lions tries to honor our fathers by not denying them the humanity they could not always offer themselves. A show about death that is not about grief, but instead asks, ‘What does it mean to live a good life?‘
Lions is part of Cannonball 2025 and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
Venue: The Proscenium at The Drake
Dates: September 10, 2025 - September 21, 2025
“I hope this show about dead dads has a long life beyond this year’s festival. ”
CREATIVE TEAM
Written and Performed by Alice Yorke and Scott R. Sheppard
Directed and Developed by Sarah Blush
Scenic and Prop Designer: Colleen Murray
Lighting Designer: Masha Tsimring
Costume Designer: Rebecca Kanach
Sound Designer: Johnny Gasper
Promotional Photos: Emilie Krause
Production Photos: Ashley Smith, Wide Eyed Studios
See the full digital program HERE
PRESS AND ACCOLADES
[Lions] records the administrative minutiae of dying, evoking the equal measures of dignity, pomp, and absurdity that descend in death’s aftermath…. The longtime rapport between Sheppard and Yorke as performers adds humor and richness to even the smallest moments throughout the tight 70-minute runtime…. I hope this show about dead dads has a long life beyond this year’s festival.
“8 Shows We’ve Loved at the Philly Fringe Fest So Far”
[Yorke and Sheppard] remind us, too: How you want to be remembered is not always how it will happen. Lions made me laugh, cry, and consider my doomed legacy