‘Liars at a Funeral’ marks playwright’s return to Lighthouse Festival Theatre (The Hamilton Spectator)

Sophia Fabiilli’s comedy explores family dynamics with humour.

By Lori Littleton | Contributor to The Hamilton Spectator

July 30, 2026

Sophia Fabiilli’s debut professional acting appearance was Lighthouse Festival Theatre’s “When the Reaper Calls” in 2011. Now, the Kingston-based playwright’s comedy “Liars at a Funeral” will grace the same Port Dover stage from July 29 to Aug. 15.

Fabiilli also appeared in the world premiere of Norm Foster’s “The Gentleman Clothier” at Lighthouse in 2014, and said having “Liars” performed there feels like a “full-circle moment.”

“When you’re a new, fledgling actor, your first couple of professional contracts mean so much to you, and I had felt like I had just won the lottery that I got to work there,” she said. “It’s great to be back.”

After a couple of acting gigs, the Sheridan College and University of Toronto theatre and drama graduate wanted to try her hand at playwrighting with the intention of penning a “really juicy role” for herself.

“I had been doing a lot of summer and regional theatre and I really wanted to work in Toronto … so I applied and got a spot in the Toronto Fringe Festival,” she said.

She wrote, produced and performed, “The Philanderess,” which took home The Second City Award for Best New Comedy in 2015, and has followed that up with the award-winning “How to Stand Up,” “Why It’s imPossible,” and “Liars,” which was commissioned and developed by the Blyth Festival in 2023. “Liars” has since been booked at 12 theatres, including Alberta Theatre Projects and the Thousand Islands Playhouse, where it broke the record for the highest-selling comedy in the company’s history. She currently has two projects in the works.

In “Liars,” a dysfunctional family gathers to mourn Grandma Mavis, who has faked her death as a way to reunite them. But when a storm traps them in the funeral home, the reunion takes on a life of its own.

Fabiilli said she wanted to write a big family comedy — five actors play nine characters — and place a senior female actor in the centre of a story. A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Prime Time TV Writing Program, Fabiilli has also written for the Emmy Award-winning show, “Odd Squad,” and appeared on various theatre stages, including Theatre Aquarius.

Fabiilli, who’ll see the play in Port Dover before its run in Port Colborne from Aug. 19 to 30, said Lighthouse is a special place, and she’s grateful to former artistic director Derek Ritschel for giving her her break.

“He gave me my start and yes, it’s just one contract, but it’s also confidence that you need as a young artist so I feel like I owe him a couple beers at this point,” she said.

David Leyshon, Lighthouse interim artistic producer, said with “Liars,” Fabiilli has taken the structure of a farce, created a lot of complexity and heart underneath it and mixed it with many family dynamics to make it a rich play.

“I think, ultimately, that’s what makes me drawn to it and why I think theatre artists are drawn to it and want to share it with theatre audiences because it is all the fun and all the high-tempo zaniness of farce but has this great complex beating heart underneath it,” he said.

The play is being directed by Blair Williams, and Peter Hartwell, who has designed at Stratford and Shaw festivals, is set designer.

“(Williams) has been in the play before as an actor so the advantage of that is he’s been inside the machine … and has a really good sense of how it needs to work and the logistics of a play that moves at that pace,” he said.

Not only is “Liars” a very funny play, Leyshon said audiences will enjoy the very premise of someone faking their death for ulterior motives.

“I think audiences are going to be really tickled by how (Fabiilli’s) chosen to navigate this thing — this concept that maybe all of us are just a little curious about.”

‘Liars at a Funeral’

Presented by Lighthouse Festival Theatre

Dates Preview July 30, 2 p.m.; July 30 and 31, 7:30 p.m., Aug. 1, 6, 7, 13 and 14, 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Aug. 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 15, 2 p.m., relaxed performance Aug. 11, 10 a.m.

Where 247 Main St., Port Dover

Tickets $18 to $85

For information lighthousetheatre.com

Lori Littleton is a freelance writer who enjoys reviewing theatre. Email her at [email protected].