Beyond the Path – An Honest Review of The Love Talker

By Olyver LaGabed, Staff Writer

Horror in theater is often overlooked. Many people don’t see the appeal, or don’t even think it’s possible to scare an audience in person through stagecraft alone. For many, the practicality that onstage horror requires is a major turn off to the fear factor – a puppet just isn’t convincing once an audience can see its strings. However, after watching Pellissippi State Community College’s most recent Department of Theatre performance, I believe it can be said that strings aren’t a weakness. In fact, the strings and level of creativity used to pull off the story of The Love Talker played a hand in one of the most unique, bone-chillingly impressive experiences I’ve ever had in a theater. 

“An Appalachian, generational horror. . .”

The Love Talker, a one-act play written by Deborah Pryor and Pellissippi State’s performance directed by Gretchen Lynne Wingerter, is a fictional story about a pair of sisters, Bun and Gowdie Blackmun, who are being haunted by an evil spirit known as (you guessed it) the Love Talker, who resides just beyond the path in the woods. The show tackles many incredibly nuanced topics, such as generational trauma, and many themes revolving around sexual assault and grooming. When asked in an interview to describe the show in three words, William Edgar Osbourne, the actor who played the role of the main antagonist, chose to describe the show as such: Appalachian, generational horror. No three words could better describe this one-act. The Love Talker is not a show that I, or anyone who had the chance to see it, will forget anytime soon. 

Being a show that is somehow both minimal and effective, the act achieves an incredibly rustic feel, which makes the whole thing feel all the more personal and horrific, as the main character falls victim to her family’s generational curse. Every single aspect of this show adds to the story, whether that be the acting, the costumes, the set, the lights – every single piece plays a part in drawing the audience in and creating a genuinely unsettling experience. Deceptively simplistic, the show creates several layers of nuance through small measures and choices that leave the audience on their toes. Seriously, even for people who aren’t into plays or slow-er stories, The Love Talker manages to captivate an audience and keep that attention for the full fifty-minute runtime. I’ve never been in an audience that’s been so still. 

“There are all kindsa possibilities.”

The audience’s reaction is a testament to the talent behind every single person who worked on this show. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: every single thing about this show adds to the story. Every light cue, every sound, every decision made with the set added to the show’s creepy atmosphere. The hard work done here did not go unnoticed, and it pays off immensely as the story is able to immerse the audience into its story seamlessly. It’s the professional-level work and is the passion of every single person backstage, onstage, and it’s a brilliant show of what Pellissippi State’s Department of Theatre is capable of.

During the aforementioned interview I had with Osbourne, we spoke about the Department of Theatre here at Pellissippi State:

“. . .How has your experience been with Pellissippi’s theater program?”

“It’s been, overall, really, really great. . . We have a lot of opportunities, actually, that I think a lot of other people don’t get. We have a stage combat professor who is SAFD (Society of American Fight Directors) certified, which means he can get us certifications of specific weapons that we’re taught. . . All of that is really exciting. We go to ACTF, which is the American College Theater Festival, and the Love Talker was entered into the festival, and we got a couple people nominated for the acting award there. The instructors in the Department of Theater always let us know what’s going on and give us plenty of opportunities as we can get for experience working, and networking, and for classes and certifications.”

Truly, it seems to be that the Department of Theatre here at Pellissippi State is a program which fosters and encourages bright futures in the performing arts. Not just with their actors, but also with the opportunities that are given to every branch of their department. Through The Love Talker, they were able to really showcase the talent everyone in the department has.

This nature is especially apparent in the triple casting the show utilized in order to give as many opportunities as possible to each student auditioning. The casting wasn’t just done in an effort to ensure as few mishaps as possible; it was done so that multiple people would have a chance to get experience for real-world acting and possibilities. This program goes out of its way to support its students, and it shows on stage and in the opportunities each student is given. The Love Talker, performed by Pellissippi State, will be traveling to Scotland to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2026, the largest theater and performing arts festival in the world. Many community colleges in the area don’t invest in the arts; many community colleges, ironically, don’t really invest in the community of their school.  But this performance, this theatre department, has shown off how much Pellissippi State truly values the opportunities students have to explore their paths in their education.