She worked for Senators Daniel B. Brewster of Maryland and Robert F. Kennedy before becoming a teacher at the Town School in New York.
Later off-Broadway productions included the 1987 version of Martha Clarke's The Garden of Earthly Delights, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and The Cryptogram.
In 1987 Lion commissioned George Wolfe, Susan Birkenhead and Luther Henderson to write a show about Jelly Roll Morton.
[1] In 1993-94 Lion produced Angels in America: Millennium Approaches[3] and Perestroika followed by the 1995 production of Seven Guitars.
Following Hairspray, Lion produced the Broadway productions Caroline, or Change (2004), The Wedding Singer (2006), and Radio Golf (2007) as well as Harlem Song at The Apollo.