Lions

Dramatic Comedy / 9m, 3f / Interior It's the 2007 NFL season and the Detroit Lions are on a winning streak - unfortunately out of work steelworker John Waite is not. With humor and humanity, playwright Vince Melocchi offers a glimpse into The Tenth Ward Club, where the patrons place their hopes on their team, and attempt to escape the creeping demise of their city and of their way of life. "[Lions] is a drama that speaks directly to our country's current state of affairs, which is to say it's a play about unemployment, hardship and economic collapse. If that sounds like a depressing thematic lineup, the play itself is far from being a downer. 'Lions' takes an unsentimental look at a ravaged cross-section of present-day Detroit and tells a story of compassion in a cold climate...Melocchi's play is a smart, humanistic...observation of working-class survivalism." - Los Angeles Times "Lions is about hope...about the endurance of a middle class getting squeezed...finding life amid the lifeless" - Drew Sharp, Detroit Free Press "...an all-around touching portrait of Middle America, a reminder that 'real Americans' need not be so reductively characterized as Joe the Plumber." - L.A. Weekly