In The Talk, writer and performer Lilly Percifield becomes five different characters in 60 minutes to lead the audience through a rowdy Christian high school pre-dance pep rally. (How does she do it? By owning several wigs and wearing layers and layers of costumes on top of each other.) Percifield’s characters take on cheerleading moves, dress code enforcement, a worship singalong, and an abstinence-only sex ed talk. It’s chaotic, self-aware, and hilarious. It’s intimately familiar with the culture it parodies, pointing out and laughing at its hypocrisies and absurdities, encouraging the audience to wonder what exactly this kind of teaching does to children, anyway. And, to be clear, there are many absurdities to choose from among Percifield’s colorful parade of characters.

Percifield begins the show as herself, offering an explanation of her piece and a plea: she “got out” alright, but she hopes to save her younger sisters still stuck in small-town religious fervor. There’s the teenage Lions football captain (Christian school teams are always either Lions or Eagles), who takes his “leadership” role way too seriously and refers to his girlfriend as a Proverbs 31 Woman (she’s 16!). Then the cheer squad captain, who offers empty platitudes to the girls not chosen to join her team. They have great spirit! The biggest fools are the adult characters, Principal Luke and his smokin’ hot wife (whose name now escapes me, sorry!). Mrs. Luke is the leader of our titular purity talk. She’s totally satisfied with her own super-holy sex life, so armed with a felt board, illustrative STD photos, and a demonstrative tuna fish sandwich, she’s here to tell her audience of teenage girls what’s what and warn them off boys for good. She was my favorite, and I wanted to see more of her. Purity culture is so full of peculiarities and its own jargon, I’m sure Percifield could have filled the whole hour with it all! But that probably wouldn’t have been as entertaining or user-friendly; Percifield never lets the energy get trauma-heavy or indeed heavy at all. This subject is one that can easily get heavy; veterans of Exvangelical communities or #ChurchToo survivors can tell you that. But The Talk isn’t a deep meditation, so much as a celebration of finding a way out.

If you get to see The Talk in the future, be prepared; it isn’t just a monologue. Throughout the show, Percifield ropes audience members into waving rally signs, joining her on stage, and coming up with insults on the spot. It was more participation than I think my audience came in prepared for, but the unexpected guest stars were all good sports (it didn’t hurt that most came in with drinks in hand, thanks Butterfly Bar!). So though it’s a one-woman show, it becomes almost an improvised ensemble piece, chaotic and unexpected and fun.

Lilly Percifield performed The Talk: A Pep Rally Purity Play at The VORTEX on May 23 & 24, 2025. She hopes to tour the show next year. For more info, visit Grackle Jack online or The Talk on Instagram.