The Talk: A Pep Rally Purity Play
by Grackle Jack
May. 23 - May. 24
Friday-Saturday
Let’s go LIONS! It’s the big Homecoming Pep Rally at Christian High School Academy and there is no better time to talk about Abstinence. You’ll be dazzled by the pom squad, cheer on the football captain, and discover what’s Not Holy from Principal Luke’s smokin’ hot wife. Local performer and creator Lilly Percifield channels her experience with West Texas Evangelical Purity Culture into a ridiculous one-woman comedy that pokes fun at the absurd personalities and outrageous hypocrisies of purity culture. This wildly joyful performance runs two nights only at The VORTEX.
Created, written, and designed by Lilly Percifield and CB Goodman
Performed by Lilly Percifield
Directed by CB Goodman
Assistant Directed by Jess Workman
About the Artists:
Lilly Percifield is an actor and designer based in Austin. You can catch her around town performing in plays, improv shows, and at alt comedy mics. She’s also a part of the D&D Podcast Gals & Goblins and graduated from Southwestern University.
CB Goodman is a theatre maker and Founding Artistic Director of Grackle Jack. Her award-winning solo show In The Beginning most recently performed at the iconic Fusebox Festival in Austin. She also teaches clown workshops and designs props and puppets for local theatre companies.
The Talk: A Pep Rally Purity Play is supported in part by Grackle Jack, VORTEX Repertory Company, Save our Springs Alliance, the City of Austin Economic Development Department, the Texas Commission on the Arts, Six Square Austin’s Black Cultural District, and ATX Theatre.
Grackle Jack’s Mission: We create original comedic performances about current social issues, using humor and vulnerability to reach for a new understanding.
Grackle Jack Productions is known for its inspired use of puppetry, clown, bouffon, drag, music, and text. The company often works from incongruent historical events and literature as source material, blending and mapping divergent strands into multifaceted performance.
Generating each piece for Grackle Jack takes years of collaboration with an ever-evolving group of directors, actors, puppeteers, composers, and designers. Each project honors its own incubation period and requires new combinations of artists in order to keep the work alive and meet the specific needs of the show.
The VORTEX Mission: We conjure urgent, unashamed art to create action in a shifting age. We embrace diverse communities, break down barriers, and elevate inclusive discourse from our cultural harbor in Austin, Texas. We enliven humanity with magical green new theatre at our Butterfly Bar and Sanctuary.
The VORTEX Core Values: Our core values are encompassed by the Pentacle of Integrity: Transformation, Magic, Community, Diversity, and Earth. Integrity lives at our core. We engage in radical transformation through edge-walking artistic creations and innovations. Magic emanates from our cultural harbor, engaging Spirit. Our space and our culture support expanding circles of inclusive community. Our art reflects diversity of people and voices from the global majority. Sustainability and environmentalism center Earth at our foundation.
ABOUT THE VORTEX:
-
● a fearless theatre exchange for a shifting age
-
● change-makers and truth-tellers for more than three decades
-
● anti-racist lens reflects diversity of people and voices of the BIPOC global majority
-
● expanding circles of inclusive communities
-
● a catalyst for change, providing theatrical art characterized by direct impact
-
● stimulating inquiry and challenging white supremacy
-
● a unique regional theatre
-
● a cultural harbor in Six Square Austin’s Black Cultural Arts District
-
● radical transformation through edge-walking artistic creations and innovations
-
● ensemble-generated, aesthetically diverse world premiere plays and musicals
-
● hundreds of awards for artistic excellence.
-
● a leader in the growth of the arts and economic stability in Austin
-
● striving for an equitable, life-sustaining civilization
-
● centering Earth at our foundation
-
● Green Business Leaders with Recycling and Composting
-
● spacious Butterfly Sanctuary
-
● Garden Stage
-
● The Butterfly Bar
-
● Patrizi’s
-
● The Eloise Brooks Cullum Stage
-
The Talk: A Pep Rally Purity Play
by Lilly Percifield
Grackle Jack
May 23 - May 24, 2025
When: May 23-24, 2025
Friday & Saturday at 8 pm
Run Time: 60 minutes
The VORTEX, 2307 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78722 INSIDE the theatre on the Eloise Brooks Cullum Stage!
Six Square-Austin’s Black Cultural District.
Bus route. Bike Racks. Limited Free Parking.
The Butterfly Bar@The VORTEX opens at 5pm: hand-crafted cocktails, wine, and beer. Patrizi’s@The VORTEX opens at 5pm: delicious homemade Italian food.
Tickets: $25
GENERAL seating www.vortexrep.org or 512-478-5282
Advanced Reservations Recommended. Limited seating.
Blue Star Theatre: Discounts for Military, Veterans, and their families.
Radical Rush Free Tickets: Limited free tickets for each performance in the spirit of sustainability, accessibility, and the gift economy. Radical Rush tickets released one hour in advance-in-person only.
16+ Age Recommendation
MORE INFORMATION can be found at www.GrackleJack.com
