“Lions”: 100% Sweet – UPDATED

SWEET
The strong ensemble, though, piles through these uneven aspects to deliver an all-around touching portrait of Middle America, a reminder that “real Americans” need not be so reductively characterized as simply Joe the Plumber.
Luis Reyes – Los Angeles Weekly

SWEET
Playwright Vince Melocchi’s somber ensemble drama about a group of underachieving pals hanging out at a Detroit neighborhood bar, watching their lives drift down the toilet as the economy tanks around them, possesses a worldly prescience, neatly anticipating the country’s current fiscal woes.
Paul Birchall – Backstage

SWEET
In Vince Melocchi’s play, Lions, we are privy to the hardships of a group of downtrodden men and women who are faced with the economic sufferings of today’s world. Playing at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, Lions is a compelling play, performed with realism by a gifted cast under the direction of Guellermo Cienfuegos.
Carol Segal – Stagehappenings

SWEET
“Lions,” directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos, seldom rises above detached quotidian observations, preferring to illuminate surfaces instead of plumbing depths. But the production delivers a handful of excellent performances (especially McKenzie’s) and brings to life characters whose lack of bitterness and self-pity make them worthy of our empathy.
David Ng – LA Times

SWEET
It is not without powerful social commentary, however, and no surprise then, that Melocchi’s play, along with its publication by Samuel French, has recently been submitted to the Pulitzer Committee. Simple and succinct, Melocchi’s language and sharp observations cut to the bone while maintaining a playful banter, avoiding the drama from becoming too dreary. Spook’s character and the play itself is an amalgam of “Death of a Salesman” and “The Iceman Cometh” but without the tragic end or bitter conclusion of these.
MR Hunter – Stagehappenings