The Groundhog
The Professor gives an excruciatingly detailed lecture on 1993's Groundhog Day while slowly losing control of the classroom, losing the thread of what they meant to say, and losing their grip on reality. A tour de force monologue for one talking clown (like Groucho) and one silent clown (like Harpo). Content warning: Academia, arts education, missing dongles, PowerPoint, teaching the worst class of your life. A new play by Savannah Reich (Oedipus in Seattle, What is the Butt Game), directed by Francesca Montanile Lyons (Vile, Clowncuterie). Starring Hannah Gold as The Professor and Alex Braslavsky as Sam the TA.
September 13, 2026, 6:15pm
September 19, 2026, 4:30pm
September 24, 2026, 8:30pm
September 26, 2026, 1:30pm
BEHOLD! The Angel Clown Show
An accidental emissary of the holey host stumbles onto our mortal plane. Messy, salacious, and confused, this ancient and childlike being has a message for humanity... but how can it get anything done while every atom and sense of its new body screams with delightful, delicious, and terrible urgency?!
Let this supernatural being take you for an hour of surreal sacramental exchanges, including apocalyptic fanfares and ecstasies, a serenade to feet, and an ode to holes.
Created and performed by Ambrose Gage. Directed by Francesca Montanile Lyons.
September 11, 2026, 6:30pm
September 14, 2026, 8:00pm
September 15, 2026, 6:30pm
September 27, 2026, 7:30pm
Clowncuterie 2026
A scrumptious and/or revolting variety show of bite-sized bits inspired by food from all spheres of Philly clownerie: across drag, burlesque, alt-comedy, & performance art. Flavors may be silly, or sexy, or sad - it’s a charcuterie of contemporary clown - it’s CLOWNCUTERIE!!!
Created and produced by Francesca Montanile Lyons with Queen Conch.
Sept 8th at 7:30pm + Sept 15th at 8:30pm
Produced in DUMB HUB: Philly Fringe's ONLY ALWAYS ALL clown, alt comedy, performance art, idiot, freaky sh*t hub. Curated by Sarah Knittel.
VILE in NYC Clown Fest
Presented as a part of the first annual NYC Clown Fest at Brooklyn Art Haus!
Are you sad? Me too, bestie. Welcome to VILE, an award-winning clown show that rides the line between pleasure and disgust, where clown and buffon hold a funhouse mirror to the experience of muddling through depression while drowning in modernity. 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, greasy toes, a balloon penis, extra cheese, and a side of bdsm.
Francesca Montanile Lyons "commands the stage with incredible presence" (Twin Cities Geek). Trained at the Pig Iron School in traditional clown and buffon, she creates work that seeks to disempower shame through radical honesty and voyeuristic delight. Rather than a classic application of these forms, VILE brings them into a modern context with a feminist lens, infused with aesthetics of queer nightlife and influenced by the performer's time making work in the drag and burlesque scenes in Philadelphia. VILE is born from creative research into performance states that are deeply pleasurable in their unpleasantness.
VILE has toured nationally to US Fringe Festivals in Providence, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Minneapolis. It is a Golden Lanyard MN Fringe Staff Award Winner, Encore Series Cannonball PHL Fringe Fest Selection, and Flamboyance Award Nominee.
Writer/Performer: Francesca Montanile Lyons
Creative Collaboration: Alicia Crosby
Sound Design: Tom Carman
Animations & Projections: Francesca Montanile Lyons
VILE at Variety Pack Comedy Festival
TICKETS: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/varietypack/2178372
Are you sad? Me too, bestie. Welcome to VILE, a wild award-winning solo show from Francesca Montanile Lyons that blends clown and bouffon in an exploration of muddling through depression, swimming in rape culture, and drowning in modernity. Expect absurdity, tenderness, the kind of laughter that’s tinged with nausea, and nausea that’s tinged with relief. “[R]aunchy, authentic, hilarious…a fantastic piece of performance art and a real gem of the Fringe.” -Twin Cities Geek
The Van Gogh Shogh - East Coast Tour
One part deranged “Sip ‘n Paint”, one part karaoke night and one part Sotheby’s, with 6 audience members given the chance to paint Starry Night under the tutelage of the master himself.
In The Van Gogh Shogh, Donna Oblongata uses the lens of Vincent Van Gogh’s life and legacy to ask urgent questions about the nature of art, success, reproduction, and the meaning(lessness) of a creative life.
Summer Showmakers
❤️🔥 Summer Showmakers ❤️🔥 is an incubator for up to 8 artists developing new work in Philly this summer: a scaffolding for creative process including dramaturgical and outside eye support, feedback, accountability, and shared tools + prompts.
PART ONE: Creation + Generation
Wednesday, June 17, 6-9pm
* Wednesday, June 24, 6-9pm
Wednesday, July 1, 6-9pm
PART TWO: Structure + Editing
* Wednesday, July 15, 6-9pm
Wednesday, July 22, 6-9pm
Wednesday, July 29, 6-9pm
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, WIP Share
PART THREE: Making It Happen
* Wednesday, AUG 19, 6-9pm
Wednesday, Aug 26, 6-9pm
* Wednesday, Sept 2, 6-9pm
PLUS: One Individual Session to be scheduled with each participant.
Held at Pig Iron Studios, 1417 N 2nd St, PHL or Online (when marked with *)
$400-900 Sliding scale.
Limited to 8 members.
📋 To apply, fill out this brief form.
Clown4Clown: Directing & Being Directed for Solo Performers
A workshop with Francesca Montanile Lyons and Donna Oblongata on tools and techniques for approaching collaboration between Solo Performers/Clowns and Directors.
VILE
Are you sad? Me too, bestie. Welcome to VILE, a wild award-winning solo show from Francesca Montanile Lyons. VILE blends clown and bouffon in an exploration of muddling through depression, surviving rape culture, and drowning in modernity. Expect a riot of absurdity, tenderness, and the kind of laughter that feels more like a cathartic gag reflex. Ingredients include: greasy toes, green cellophane, a balloon penis, and a side of BDSM. VILE has toured nationally to US Fringe Festivals in Providence, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Minneapolis.
WINNER:
Encore Series Cannonball Fringe 2024
Golden Lanyard MN Fringe 2024
“It’s raunchy, authentic, and hilarious... a fantastic piece of performance art and a real gem of the fringe.” —Twin Cities Geek
“The sort of fringe theater experiment that has people talking long after”. —Twin Cities Arts Reader
FOUR SHOWS:
September 13, 2025 9.30pm
September 15, 2025 7.00pm
September 19, 2025 9.30pm
September 25, 2025 9.30pm
CLOWNCUTERIE
Bite-sized bits from a variety of Philly's most scrumptious clowns sharing food-inspired works. Made in a facility that processes the horrors of life with haha's. Flavors may be silly, or sexy, or sad - it's a charcuterie of contemporary clown!! It's Clowncuterie!!!
Curated and produced by Francesca Montanile Lyons.
🍕FRIDAY with host Wet Betty!! - September 5, 2025 9.30pm
🔸Rose Luardo
🔸Queen Conch
🔸Kayo Kenshin
🔸Ryann Elise
🔸Michael Amendola
🔸Francesca Montanile Lyons
🦪 SATURDAY with host Queen Conch!! - September 6, 2025 9.00pm
🔹Dinah Loneliness
🔹kiss the clown
🔹Marisol Rose-Shapiro
🔹Alyse James + James Gentile
🔹Francesca Montanile Lyons
🎂 SUNDAY with host Queen Conch!! - September 7, 2025 8.00pm
🔺Alex Tatarsky
🔺Caresse Deville
🔺Wet Betty
🔺Alyse James + James Gentile
🔺Kayo Kenshin
🔺Francesca Montanile Lyons
Les Pierettes: A Night of Fem Clowns
Line-up:
Francesca Montanile Lyons
Isabel Beck-Roe
Kiss the Clown
Midge Nease
Sophie Stringer
Teresa Nutter
Rough & Tumble's Grief Cabaret 2024
A clown act benefitting Rough & Tumble Productions.
What is the Butt Game?
By Savannah Reich, Directed by Connor Hogan. Cannonball Fest in Philadelphia Fringe 2024.
In 1989, Savannah Reich’s daycare was shut down by the Child Protection Agency under suspicion of child abuse related to the so-called “butt game,” part of the Satanic Panic era. These false accusations ultimately brought the community closer, forming a chosen family.
With the help of her collaborator Connor Hogan and an ensemble of local actors, Savannah attempts to answer the question: why did CPS see danger where Savannah saw love and community? How much of truth is objective? And what actually was the butt game?
Guest Performers 9/20/2024:
Francesca Montanile
Mason Rosenthal
Ben Rosenthal
Making Art From Digital Landscapes (Conjuring Joy Residency at the Painted Bride)
https://paintedbride.org/francesca/
