How Wild Wild Christian Turned Religious Trauma into Comedy

Once again, my ventures for Tawk of New Yawk brought me to a show I didn’t quite know what to expect from. From the title, I knew it would have something to do with Christianity and a cowboy theme. And it did. It had that and so much more.

Wild Wild Christian is a one-woman show by comedian Simone McAlonen that has become a staple of theatre festivals around the world, particularly Edinburgh. We follow Simone as she guides us through her actual childhood diary from her time at a Christian summer camp. In her pink, borderline Sabrina Carpenter-inspired outfit and with her bubbly personality, the contrast between her cheerful presence and what her journal reveals is both funny and startling.

What follows is a series of absurd moments and jokes based largely on the beliefs and pressures placed on a child, specifically a young girl, by religious institutions and society at large.

In many ways, I am both the ideal audience for this show and the worst possible audience for it. A little about me: I love very few documentaries. (I don't know why. I get bored.) But one of the few documentaries I absolutely adore is Wild Wild Country on Netflix. That story is incredible to me. I’ve watched it four times.

If you haven’t seen it, and keeping details to a minimum, it “ends” (it is real life after all) with two lingering questions. What happened to Sheila? And what happened to the Rajneeshees' home in America?

The first question was answered in a sequel documentary, also on Netflix, which I naturally watched and found fascinating. But for the second question, I was sadly out of luck... until now.

Even though Wild Wild Christian is about much more than that, imagine my surprise when the show opens with a surreal commercial for the Christian camp Simone attended, a real camp, and reveals that it occupies the very same land where the Rajneeshees once lived. The property had simply been converted. At long last, I had my sequel.

Afterward, Simone walked onstage and confirmed that the show was indeed called Wild Wild Christian in honor of the documentary. I was immediately on board.

Credit: Caroline Xia

The reason I’m also not the perfect audience member for a show like this is that I’m French. And if you know anything about France, it’s a very secular country. I was already aware of how seriously Americans can take religious youth culture, but it doesn’t really hit me emotionally as much as it leaves me flabbergasted that some of these things were still happening in the 2000s and continue into the 2020s.

So while this whole aspect of the show was fun and engaging, it didn’t resonate with me emotionally in quite the same way it might for audience members who have lived through similar experiences.

The show is simply staged: a bare stage, a projector, and some props on a nearby table. It all falls on Simone to bring the world to life, and for the most part, she succeeds.

Her peppy attitude and delivery carry us through the horrors (the teenage years) and shocking moments of her childhood as she reads from what we can only assume is her real diary. A series of stories and sketches follows, accompanied by animated visuals that either relate directly to the journal entry being discussed or invite us into the mind of a young girl who has been deeply shaped by her upbringing.

We witness situations that range from hilarious to genuinely bizarre: filming an abstinence video with her two bullies, learning why the only rule is “don’t make purple,” or being presented as a gift to the neighboring Christian camp full of rugged cowboys as part of a peace offering.

Yes, an eleven-year-old girl was apparently the gift.

It’s hilarious watching these stories unfold. It’s also occasionally concerning, especially when Simone’s journal repeatedly mentions praying not to be raped. Somehow, and this is a testament to her comedic skill, it becomes one of the funniest recurring threads in the show.

There’s also an interesting distinction between the versions of Simone we see onstage. The Simone reading from the journal is reliving the events of her time at the former Wild Wild Country camp. The Simone stepping outside the narrative to explain or reflect is the present-day version of herself, someone who has lived through those experiences and grown beyond them.

At the end of the day, this is a charming comedy about someone's life. It’s a one-woman show about one woman’s experiences, and in this case, the wild and often absurd reality of her heavily indoctrinated childhood. (And for me, kind of a sequel to Wild Wild Country, which I still find hilarious.)

It’s cute, charming, and very funny.

My two main criticisms are these.

First, I’m not sure the overall throughline completely succeeds in connecting all the dots. The ending is touching, and while I personally can’t fully relate to the feelings Simone expresses toward her younger self, I can certainly empathize with them. Still, I’m not convinced it lands as the natural conclusion to everything that came before. At times, the show feels more like a succession of sketches and reflections than a single narrative building toward a destination. The material is strong enough that I wanted a slightly stronger thread holding it all together.

The theme is compelling and Simone is charismatic, so I’d also love to see more audience interaction. The moments involving audience participation, particularly the scripted bits, were funny, but I think they could be pushed even further. The strongest interactive moment for me was actually right at the beginning when she walked around handing out cookies. That was delightful.

My second criticism is less about the show itself and more about whether this style of theatre appeals to you.

Personally, I enjoy one-person shows, especially those coming from the Fringe tradition. I’ll happily watch as many as I can. I love discovering the strange, funny, tragic, and deeply personal ways people choose to tell their stories.

This is very much one of those shows.

If you’re someone who regularly complains that the Fringe is full of quirky solo performances, then I should tell you that this production is currently fundraising to go to the Fringe and would probably do extremely well there. It is exactly the kind of show you’re thinking of.

That said, I liked it. I thought it had charm. It was touching, funny, and full of memorable moments. I just wanted a little more connective tissue leading into the finale.

It could also use a bigger budget for props and thematic elements, so if you enjoy what you hear, consider donating. The diary material is hilarious. Her song about being bored is genuinely incredible. (Spotify when?)

Overall, if you have religious trauma from childhood, if the idea of a secret sequel to Wild Wild Country appeals to you, or if any of the other positives I’ve mentioned sound like your thing, then Wild Wild Christian is a show worth keeping an eye on.

Follow them on Instagram and donate to their Fringe dreams if you feel so inclined.