The Philadelphia Fringe Festival is set to host a powerful and thought-provoking new play by Joshua Crone, a Marine Corps veteran and the founder of Yellow Bicycle Theatre. Titled A Marine Walks Up to the Pearly Gates, the show is an ambitious exploration of the U.S. Marine Corps’ 250-year history, told from the surreal perspective of fallen Marines arriving at the gates of Heaven. The production will run from September 11 to September 27, 2025, at the Yellow Bicycle Theater in Center City.

Written and directed by Joshua Crone, a former Marine who served in the mid-90s, the play is a deeply personal project. Crone’s diverse background, which includes time as a carpenter, programmer, fisherman, and translator, informs his unique artistic vision. He founded Yellow Bicycle Theater in 2022, transforming an abandoned escape room into an edgy, experimental space for theater and film. Crone’s mission as a playwright is to “explore difficult questions by giving abstract problems human dimensions,” all while ensuring the audience is entertained.

The impetus for A Marine Walks Up to the Pearly Gates is the upcoming 250th birthday of the Marine Corps on November 10, 2025. The play delves into both the heroic contributions of the Corps and its more controversial aspects, such as racial segregation. From the American Revolution to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the audience will witness the ghostly parade of Marines who, in their afterlife, must confront their past and their service.

Crone’s play is designed to be a “rowdy, poignant yarn filled with gallows humor,” drawing inspiration from the running cadences Marines sing. The central premise, “Hell is other Marines,” is a twist on Jean-Paul Sartre’s famous line, presenting a purgatory where Marines from different eras give each other a hard time. Through a series of flashbacks, the audience will follow each of the eight characters on an “archetypal soldier’s journey,” from recruitment and training to combat and death. A unique technical element is the use of video projections to create animated shadows of unseen figures, a solution born out of a technical problem that evolved into a trippy, immersive effect.

The play is also filled with “Easter eggs” for those with a military background. Crone incorporates details from his own service, such as moves from the hand-to-hand combat system known as Line Training. He also references historical events that are part of every Marine’s “knowledge,” including the original order of the Continental Congress that founded the Corps. Crone cites authors like Jason Bohm (Washington’s Marines), Chester Nez (Code Talker), and Allan R. Millett (Semper Fidelis) as sources that gave him a “new appreciation for Marine Corps tradition.”

For the audience, Crone’s ideal takeaway is not just a deeper understanding of military history, but the simple catharsis of laughter and emotional engagement. The play is an homage to his fellow “jarheads,” written to share the feeling of pride in a long and storied tradition. The play is intended for mature audiences, with an age rating of 18+ due to violent content, adult language, and fog/smoke effects.

Following its run at the Philly Fringe, the play may be heading to a new audience. There is a potential plan to secure a venue in Washington, D.C. for Veterans Day Weekend, possibly at the Army Museum.