IndyFringe Theatre Festival-Vile

About the Show: Are you sad? Me too, bestie. Let’s stuff our faces with girl dinner (patriarchal pepperoni pizza pie) and order some face masks for self care (from Amazon because we need them TOMORROW) and watch some tv (that we’ve seen before) while we scroll tiktok (to judge a stranger’s Target haul) - all to make sure that we absolutely DO NOT have a feeling (or a memory, or a critical thought.)

In Vile, Francesca Montanile Lyons brings you a solo performance that rides the line between pleasure and disgust, where clown and buffon hold a funhouse mirror to the artist’s self. Here, the laughter is tinged with nausea, and the nausea is tinged with relief. Ingredients include: the decay of late stage capitalism, a skewering of rape culture, the hilarity of depression, plus greasy toes, a balloon *****, extra cheese, and a side of bdsm. 

You can request more details about how these show up by contacting the artist: www.francescamontanilelyons.com/contact

Created & Performed by Francesca Montanile Lyons
Creative Collaborator: Alicia Crosby
Sound Design: Tom Carman

About Francesca: Francesca Montanile Lyons (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Philadelphia: a performer, director, visual artist, and educator. She conceived of, wrote, and directed 'Dear Diary LOL'- a play made with the words of real-life diaries of teenage girls in the late 90s/early 2000s- which premiered in the 2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, followed by a run at FringeArts and the New Ohio in NYC in 2018 to rave reviews (“…we absolutely need more theater like this.” - Exuent NYC 2019). She was a member of 'Girl Poop' (2018-2021), a “delightfully weird” femme foursome specializing in ***** Pop Rock: short, high-octane ditties inspired by first-person experience set to simple and catchy beats. She also makes cheeky visual art that is often literally cheeky: drawings, embroideries, and animations that celebrate sensuality and eroticism. Across mediums, her work seeks to disempower shame and taboo through playful honesty & voyeuristic delight. Other credits include co-creating/directing ‘Van Gogh Shogh’ by Donna Oblongata (Deep End Studios in PHL Fringe) 'Rough & Tumble' (Canonball Fest in PHL Fringe), 'Legal Tender' (PHL Fringe & AntFest), 'Fourth Quarter' (FPA Fest), co-creating/performing 'The Hopefuls' (2015-2106), and directing 'All 100 Fires' by Donna Oblongata (Panorama), 'Die, Dumping, Die!' (MuralArts/D3), and 'Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea' (Arts Bank). She has served as Co-Artistic Director of Antigravity Performance Project. Francesca's teaching artistry has ranged from dramatic story times for infants and their caregivers to adjunct teaching at Temple University & UArts, with plenty in between: visiting school classrooms for theater curriculum with various organizations, bilingual arts and literacy classes with the Barnes Foundation/Puentes a las Artes, and sexuality education with Yes to Consent/Puentes de Salud. MFA in Devised Performance from UArts/Pig Iron School (2016). BA in Theatre Arts & Performance Studies from Brown U (2011).

Content Considerations: consent violation, rape/rape culture, kink, depression, suicidal ideation. It is recommended for audiences 18+

Buy Tickets