Playwright comes full circle with Lighthouse Theatre production of Liars at a Funeral (Simcoe Reformer)

Sophia Fabiilli is returning to Port Dover’s Lighthouse Theatre only this time she is a playwright and not an actor. POSTMEDIA FILE

Sophia Fabiilli isn’t so much bringing a new play to Port Dover’s Lighthouse Festival Theatre but her career full circle.

By Jacob Robinson

July 22, 2026

Playwright Sophia Fabiilli isn’t just bringing a new play to Port Dover’s Lighthouse Festival Theatre but also her career full circle.

It was back in 2011 when Fabiilli, fresh out of school, was chosen for a show in Port Dover. She returned again in 2014. This summer, the Lighthouse team has chosen Fabiilli’s ‘Liars at a Funeral’ to hit the stage beginning July 29.

“Doing my very first professional contract as an actor in Port Dover, being directed by (former artistic director) Derek Ritschel, I really felt like I had won the lottery,” Fabiilli recalled. “I was 22 years old and thought, ‘I’ve made it.’ It was this huge defining moment.”

Three years later, Fabiilli was once again in Port Dover for a stint with a Norm Foster creation.

“I got to see a new play come to life,” she said. “That was a new experience for me. All of those experiences were really formative in terms of my identity as a professional, gaining experience, and growing in the industry. Those experiences at Lighthouse were really positive, and I just felt very at home in Port Dover.”

Fabiilli is coming to town armed with her second play. The first she wrote to star in, and during the process, she came to a surprising discovery.

“I realized that I liked writing more than I liked acting, although I still love acting,” she said. “I found it very satisfying to be able to take the reins and create the story myself.”

One of the reasons Fabiilli found the writing process so satisfying was the ability to create deep, authentic roles for older women. Liars at a Funeral is set at the end-of-life ceremony for a character named Mavis. Clamouring for a family reunion, she fakes her own death as a last-ditch way to get the people she loves together in the same room.

“Of course, it doesn’t go as planned,” Fabiilli said, referencing a blizzard that traps the family in the funeral parlour for far longer than expected. “It’s a big-hearted comedy. There are a lot of laughs, but there’s also a strong emotional core because it’s really about reconciliation. It’s about a family trying to reckon with things that have happened in the past that they’ve never talked about.”

“In Mavis’s mind, she’s giving her family a second chance,” Fabiilli explained. “She’s trying to create an opportunity for those conversations people often wish they had before it’s too late.”

The show is scheduled for a run in Port Dover from July 29 to August 15 and will then move to Port Colborne’s Roselawn Theatre (which sits under the LFT umbrella) from Aug. 19 to 30.

“It wasn’t that long ago that we couldn’t go to the theatre because of the pandemic, and there’s certainly a lot going on in the world that’s stressful, so if this play gives people a night off from life, lets them reflect on their own families, and gives them a good laugh, that’s what I hope they take away,” Fabiilli said.

Being selected for the LFT bill is something Fabiilli isn’t taking for granted.

“To be able to return all these years later and have my own play produced there is one of those pinch-me moments,” she said. “It’s really lovely.”

For LFT ticketing information, visit lighthousetheatre.com or call the box office at 888-779-7703.