Time: Fri, 02-Nov-2001 16:47:27 GMT     IP: 64.12.101.151

Shannon--

Todd here from Charlottesville and the Orignal No Shame rabble 
rousers from back in 86 in Iowa.

Good idea to take a break if you need one, but don't take a 
break without a very real plan for restarting in the spring.  
Make sure you have a date (not a romantic one, a calendar one) 
and spend the break lining up pieces, get people writing in 
advance and do some publicity before you re-open.

Easy for me to say, I'm way over here in Charlottesville, but if 
there is anything I can do to help let me know.

One thing I am really eager to do is get this marvelous hub 
website working as a means of discussion between all the known 
no shames out there.  I think we can draw on each other and 
really use the network to make us stronger.  Why not?

I am also working on the idea of a National No Shame convention 
with alums, workshops, round table discussions, and performances 
over a week in the birthplace of No Shame, Iowa City.

Check the other message boards and you and the Austin people 
discuss it over there and here too.

Austin seems like a great place for a No Shame, shame to see it 
wither on the vine.  Mabye by talking about the Austin troubles 
with someone in one of the other locations you can get a fresh 
perspective or new contacts for performers, writers, and 
audience.

Its possible.  

Also, anyone down there know how to contact Stuart Hoyle?  I 
miss the feller and don't know how to contact him.

Thanks, 

Todd Ristau
No Shame Charlottesville

Time: Sun, 04-Nov-2001 22:09:47 GMT     IP: 128.83.128.187

Hey everyone. What a great show last night. There was a ton of 
really great material and it was nice to see so many new people 
and people who've only been once or twice come out and perform. 
If there was one drawback to the show it was the length, but I 
wasn't about to turn away anyone who wanted to perform on our 
last show of the year, so there you have it. 

OK, in addition to the order here, I'll be posting a review of 
the show, my impressions as a fellow audience member and not as 
the svengali of Austin No Shame whose taste-dictates must be 
followed. Oh, and I will be soliciting all your advice about 
where No Shame goes from here.

But for now, here is the order for No Shame, 11/03/01

0.	Order and announcements, Shannon McCormick

1.	Rise Up, or the Most Offensive Scene I've Ever Written, 
by Jordan T. Maxwell. Performed by Jordan T. Maxwell. J. 
presents an exercise from his playwriting class, wherein the 
students were asked to write the most offensive scene possible. 
Many cultures and sub-cultures are slandered and then members of 
said group are shot by a redneck. Monologue with stage 
directions.

2.	This Song Makes Me Cry, by Courtney Hopkin. Performed by 
Courtney Hopkin. C. is sitting in a cafˇ(?) or somewhere public 
and has strong, emotional reaction to the Pixies song "Where Is 
My Mind?" By the end, however, she cannot help but mouth the 
words. Performance piece.

3.	Translations from the Unconscious, by Clyde Smith. 
Performed by Clyde Smith. C. reads five or so poems drawn from 
dreams. Poetry.

4.	Red Pajama Blues, by Brad McEntire. Performed by Brad 
McEntire. B. plays husband just hired to work for Disney who 
presents his side of an argument with his wife concerning the 
satanic nature of Walt Disney, et al. Monologue.

5.	Super Hero Club, First Meeting, by Michael Joplin and 
Jon Benner. Performed by Michael Joplin and Jon Benner. M. and 
J. play two superheroes. Much pose striking to Europe's "The 
Final Countdown", "flying" criminal nabbing. Comedy sketch. 

6.	That Burt Sure Can Paint, by Burt McAlister. Performed 
by Burt McAlister with audience assistance from Brandyn DeCecco. 
Burt, to the strains of Len's "Steal My Sunshine," paints a 
portrait of Brandyn on his naked chest. Performance piece.

7.	Tea with Amie, by Amie Elyn. Performed by Amie Elyn with 
audience assistance from Jericho (last name?). A. sits on stage 
in dead silence drinking a cup of tea until J. shouts from 
audience that she sucks and should get off the stage. 
Performance piece.

8.	Tassy Madison, by Jessy Schwatz. Performed by Jessy 
Schwartz. J. plays Tassy Madison, an elementary age beauty 
pageant competitor who performs her talent routine, a tap dance 
to Ween's "Spinal Meningitis Got Me Down." Performance piece.

9.	Sugar Toes A Capella, by Gook [Hung Nguyen]. Performed 
by Gook. G., in yellowface, tap dances and sing's Eric Idle's "I 
Like Chinese." Performance piece.

10.	To Shannon from room 120 Theatre, by Greg Romero. 
Performed by Greg Romero, Ann Taylor, and Timothy Verret (Sp? On 
Tim's last name). T. plays a dreaming dog, G. reads the sports 
commentary running through the sleeping dog's head, and A. plays 
the dog's owner trying to rouse him. Comedic one-page play.

11.	 A Song for Jesus, by Hollis Beauford Jr. [David 
Trachtenberg]. Performed by Hollis Beauford Jr. and "Jesus". H. 
attempts to play his song about Jesus for the audience, but 
Jesus keeps interrupting him, telling him to shape up and to 
take a little pride in what he's doing. Comedy sketch.

12.	 Big Black Hullabaloo Extravaganza, Part 2, by Jeff 
Amos. Performed by Jeff Amos. J. "attempts" to play his new 
song, but his guitar is horrible out of tune, so he regales us 
with his exploits and travails of the previous day while tuning 
his guitar. Performance piece.

13.	 P.S. You're an Asshole, Part 2, by Lady Leroy [Lee 
Eddy]. Performed by Lady Leroy. A letter from Lady Leroy to the 
person who egged her car on Halloween. Epistolary monologue.

14.	Why Did I Do That?, by Liz Belile. Performed by Liz 
Belile. A song about L.'s regrets regarding a certain guy (or 
guys?) with whom she made numerous romantic missteps and 
miscalculations. Comedic song.

15.	A Hymn of Self-Righteousness, by Taylor Maddux. 
Performed by Taylor Maddux. A prayer set to music concerning 
T.'s saintliness and the sinful behavior of others. Comedic 
religious song.

15.5	Barney Fife song, by Allison DeFrees. Performed by 
Allison DeFrees. A. sings a pretty song on which she needs help 
replacing one line which is the title of a Ryan Adams album. 
Song.

16.	Life and Origami, Part 2, by Ace Manning. Performed by 
Ace Manning. A. attempts yet again to make 60 origami cranes, 
one for each member of the audience, while telling us about, in 
this case, his life in 1996. Performance piece.

17.	The Medium is the Message, by A.G. Bayer. Performed by 
Gonzo Gonzalez, Hung Nguyen and Justin (last name?). G., H., and 
J. come on with newspapers on their face like bandanas and 
carrying boom boxes on which plays a sound collage of news 
headlines from recent events. They then blow "anthrax" on the 
audience. Performance piece.

18.	Randy Minnow Says Hello, by Shannon McCormick. Performed 
by Shannon McCormick. Randy Minnow gives away several items from 
Shannon's house while talking about his own mediocrity and the 
future of No Shame. Performance piece.

Time: Sun, 04-Nov-2001 22:12:38 GMT     IP: 128.83.128.187


1.	Rise Up, or the Most Offensive Scene I've Ever Written, 
by Jordan T. Maxwell. Performed by Jordan T. Maxwell. J. 
presents an exercise from his playwriting class, wherein the 
students were asked to write the most offensive scene possible. 
Many cultures and sub-cultures are slandered and then members of 
said group are shot by a redneck. Monologue with stage 
directions.

OK, so yes this was offensive. In retrospect this piece might 
have been better a little later in the evening; I was worried 
that all of the first time people were sitting there 
thinking "Oh boy, No Shame is about misogyny and fagbashing, 
etc. what have I gotten myself into?" But I guess everyone's 
irony meters are pretty well-tuned and it wasn't nearly as 
difficult to tell if Jordan was kidding as it was on piece like 
Travis's Bitch in a Box from earlier in the year. And hey, 
Jordan's a smart guy, but the laughter from the audience was 
maybe more sparse and more nervous than he was expecting. What 
do you think?

2.	This Song Makes Me Cry, by Courtney Hopkin. Performed by 
Courtney Hopkin. C. is sitting in a cafˇ(?) or somewhere public 
and has strong, emotional reaction to the Pixies song "Where Is 
My Mind?" By the end, however, she cannot help but mouth the 
words. Performance piece.

This was, let us not forget, Courtney's first appearance at No 
Shame as herself. She's told me in the past that when she first 
heard about No Shame she was terrified to perform and it's 
interesting that her first piece as Courtney involved no 
dialogue. Like a lot of the song-oriented pieces from the show, 
this was maybe a tad long, but man it was priceless when she 
started mouthing the words. I was near Michael Joplin and I 
thought he was going to burst a blood vessel in his head from 
laughing when she started lip synching.

3.	Translations from the Unconscious, by Clyde Smith. 
Performed by Clyde Smith. C. reads five or so poems drawn from 
dreams. Poetry.

So often poetry doesn't go over so well at No Shame, but I 
thought Clyde did a good job here. The reason poetry often 
doesn't fly is that if one just reads it, it doesn't have the 
sort of theatrical/stage presence quality that most of the other 
pieces on a given night will have, and so it sort of brings the 
energy down and the audience' brain is usually still going a 
million miles an hour from some brash, rowdy sketch and they 
don't pay attention. It's like someone playing a folk song at a 
demolition derby. Anyway, back to Clyde. I thought the poems 
were pretty good and it's obvious he's used to reading them in 
front of an audience. The poem about the brother (which was 
going to be made into a film) was particularly good and so was 
the poem about the oatmeal muffin recipe.

4.	Red Pajama Blues, by Brad McEntire. Performed by Brad 
McEntire. B. plays husband just hired to work for Disney who 
presents his side of an argument with his wife concerning the 
satanic nature of Walt Disney, et al. Monologue.


This was exciting, our first performer, barring Bill Stern's 
showing at B.O.N.S., who traveled here from out of town to be 
part of the festivities. Nice, tight, monologue; short but well 
paced and it ended at just the right time with Satan/Walt 
Disney's telephone number being the same rate as a call to a 
psychic hotline. Nice. I hope Brad spreads the word amongst 
Dallasites (Dallasians?) and we start getting more guests like 
this. 

5.	Super Hero Club, First Meeting, by Michael Joplin and 
Jon Benner. Performed by Michael Joplin and Jon Benner. M. and 
J. play two superheroes. Much pose striking to Europe's "The 
Final Countdown", "flying" criminal nabbing. Comedy sketch. 

Again, with the length of this particular song, the act lasted 
maybe too long. But man, you've gotta hand it Michael and Jon. 
This piece, which was maybe not the most polished, totally 
captured the whole No Shame dare to fail spirit in that they 
just fucking go for it and if the flying doesn't work, well, 
that's part of the piece and when Michael did get Jon up in the 
air the crowd went nuts. Fun. I particularly liked the bread 
flying into the face, which I didn't get exactly but I am 
partial to bread in the face, as anyone who saw the Catch 24 
show would know. I felt like this piece's older protective 
brother because I was sitting down on the floor after helping 
them position the fan and even though almost everyone seemed to 
like what was going on, I couldn't help but notice that Allison 
DeFrees was scowling through the whole thing. Why I'm not sure, 
but this is one of those pieces that measured by "normal" 
theater standards would seem weak and amateurish, but within the 
context of No Shame its flaws were part of its charm and 
delight. OK, enough said.

Time: Sun, 04-Nov-2001 22:13:53 GMT     IP: 128.83.128.187

6.	That Burt Sure Can Paint, by Burt McAlister. Performed 
by Burt McAlister with audience assistance from Brandyn DeCecco. 
Burt, to the strains of Len's "Steal My Sunshine," paints a 
portrait of Brandyn on his naked chest. Performance piece.

This piece totally kicked my ass. One of my favorites of the 
evening. So funny, such a great idea and man did Burt sell it. 
Someone turned to me (Joplin? Ace?) and said "How did he think 
of this?" And Brandyn didn't know she was going to be in the 
piece and she did a great job of being Burt's model. Lots of 
pieces tonight without dialogue. I thought this was just 
fabulous.

7.	Tea with Amie, by Amie Elyn. Performed by Amie Elyn with 
audience assistance from Jericho (last name?). A. sits on stage 
in dead silence drinking a cup of tea until J. shouts from 
audience that she sucks and should get off the stage. 
Performance piece.

Another piece without dialogue. I need to start being more 
strict about the script submission aspect of No Shame so that I 
stop putting overly similar pieces together. I'm always amazed 
by the audiences willingness to go with complete silence. This 
piece was similar to something Allison did in the first No Shame 
(Which Amie didn't see). Is that a flaw or an illustration of 
the power of remaining silent? I'm not sure. Thoughts?

8.	Tassy Madison, by Jessy Schwatz. Performed by Jessy 
Schwartz. J. plays Tassy Madison, an elementary age beauty 
pageant competitor who performs her talent routine, a tap dance 
to Ween's "Spinal Meningitis Got Me Down." Performance piece.

I'm so glad that Jessy came. I had seen her do this piece at the 
Velveeta Room several months ago and when I met her at MoMFest I 
knew that she had to bring this to No Shame. I glad she let me 
pester her and I hope she keeps coming when we start up again. 
Good writing ("Daddy likes it when I were chaps" is so creepy 
and right on and hilarious) plus a pretty damn cool dance 
routine to boot. 

9.	Sugar Toes A Capella, by Gook [Hung Nguyen]. Performed 
by Gook. G., in yellowface, tap dances and sing's Eric Idle's "I 
Like Chinese." Performance piece.

Again, I think this piece suffered a bit because of what came 
right before it and for that I'm apologetic. I do think that 
SugarToes/Gook/Hung needs to start interacting with other 
characters on stage, in that the feeling this piece was supposed 
to engender among the audience was almost identical to the 
feeling of earlier SuagarToes pieces, but those pieces had the 
advantage of unfamiliarity. Does that make sense? I'd love to 
see SugarToes waiting in line at the bank, or working at a job, 
or going to Church's Fried Chicken with Ratgirl, with maybe a 
tap dance number thrown in but maybe not. What do you guys think?

10.	To Shannon from room 120 Theatre, by Greg Romero. 
Performed by Greg Romero, Ann Taylor, and Timothy Verret (Sp? On 
Tim's last name). T. plays a dreaming dog, G. reads the sports 
commentary running through the sleeping dog's head, and A. plays 
the dog's owner trying to rouse him. Comedic one-page play.

One of my favorite pieces of the evening. Short, tight, a great 
idea. I told Greg I loved this piece because of the totally 
dream-like assemblage of objects-Irish Tea, Koo-Aid, Lamppost, 
and Toaster-combined with the completely obvious dog-logic of 
having a race. And it's always fun to hear Ann swear. Tim was a 
good dreaming dog, too.

Time: Sun, 04-Nov-2001 22:15:16 GMT     IP: 128.83.128.187

A Song for Jesus, by Hollis Beauford Jr. [David Trachtenberg]. 
Performed by Hollis Beauford Jr. and "Jesus". H. attempts to 
play his song about Jesus for the audience, but Jesus keeps 
interrupting him, telling him to shape up and to take a little 
pride in what he's doing. Comedy sketch.

Dave too embodies the dare to fail aspect of No Shame and I'll 
tell you why. He and I work together and he usually tells me in 
advance what he's planning on doing. I think he might think that 
I don't have faith in his ideas because usually when he 
describes things to me they're very loosely sketched out and 
while  I always encourage him to come to the show and do his 
thing, I don't react with super-gushy enthusiasm . Thus, when 
met with me sort of tacitly saying that his piece might not 
work, he works on it anyway and dares to fail. And let me also 
say that Dave doesn't come from an acting background which is 
also part of what No Shame's about, encouraging people who 
wouldn't otherwise be involved in theater to perform.

So, after saying all this, I have to say I thought this piece 
was really great. Very funny and the tape of Jesus was well-
timed out. It's obvious he spent some time with this and it paid 
off. Keep on writing stuff, Dave.

12.	 Big Black Hullabaloo Extravaganza, Part 2, by Jeff 
Amos. Performed by Jeff Amos. J. "attempts" to play his new 
song, but his guitar is horrible out of tune, so he regales us 
with his exploits and travails of the previous day while tuning 
his guitar. Performance piece.

All right, once again I put pieces of a similar nature together. 
What are the odds of two people with guitars doing pieces about 
how they don't get to do their pieces? Weird. So I thought this 
work suffered a little in comparison to Dave's, but Jeff has 
been working on this kind of anti-piece/metafictional piece for 
a while and this is by far the best it's worked for him (in case 
anyone has forgotten the bizarre disaster that was B.B.H.E., 
part 1). I thought this worked, but I'd like to see Jeff 
stretch, too. I'd love to hear him just play a song, funny or 
no. Or try a different kind of monologue. Thoughts?

13.	 P.S. You're an Asshole, Part 2, by Lady Leroy [Lee 
Eddy]. Performed by Lady Leroy. A letter from Lady Leroy to the 
person who egged her car on Halloween. Epistolary monologue.

Goddman Lee Eddy is funny. This monologue was so well written 
and her face is so naturally expressive that I just died the 
whole way through this. And let's here it for the single most 
violent display of emotion we've had at No Shame thus far. When 
she started yelling, it was like, damn I knew she had a large 
mouth but her man her oral cavity became like supernaturally 
gigantic. She probably could have swallowed Jon Benner whole. 
What a strange review I've just written.

14.	Why Did I Do That?, by Liz Belile. Performed by Liz 
Belile. A song about L.'s regrets regarding a certain guy (or 
guys?) with whom she made numerous romantic missteps and 
miscalculations. Comedic song.

Yay, Liz Belile. Another person I've been pestering to come to 
No Shame and I hope she had good time performing. I thought this 
song was fun, and it's nice to see someone as naturally herself 
onstage as she is. Not many people could sing that "I swallowed 
your semen" line and then crack up laughing at the 
ridiculousness/naughtiness of the line and seem quite so 
charming. And I loved that she was willing to play along with 
the audience and take suggestions from the peanut gallery. Nice.

Time: Sun, 04-Nov-2001 22:16:28 GMT     IP: 128.83.128.187

15.	A Hymn of Self-Righteousness, by Taylor Maddux. 
Performed by Taylor Maddux. A prayer set to music concerning 
T.'s saintliness and the sinful behavior of others. Comedic 
religious song.
Yay, again, this time for Taylor. Always a fun guy to have at No 
Shame. Was this a real prayer? How creepy. And did Taylor write 
the music for it? Hilarious.

15.5	Barney Fife song, by Allison DeFrees. Performed by 
Allison DeFrees. A. sings a pretty song on which she needs help 
replacing one line which is the title of a Ryan Adams album. 
Song.

So I never got the message that Allison was running late and 
wanted to be on the list, but nor did she ever approach me and 
ask if she had been in fact put on it. So if I seemed annoyed by 
this aspect of the show, it was because I felt like I had been 
blindsided by poutiness. I thought it was a nice song and 
Allison's got a pretty voice. And hey, Ann won a beer.

16.	Life and Origami, Part 2, by Ace Manning. Performed by 
Ace Manning. A. attempts yet again to make 60 origami cranes, 
one for each member of the audience, while telling us about, in 
this case, his life in 1996. Performance piece.

Ace. People love the Ace. I love the Ace. In a couple years Ace 
is probably going to be a movie star. Obviously the joke was the 
same as the first time, but it seemed like the lines were a bit 
funnier ("I'm going to be throwing these things out like bolts 
of fire), and also it got into some really interesting emotional 
territory concerning Ace's weight problem in high school and his 
parents' divorce. Again, I want to see Ace stretch out and try 
other stuff as well.

17.	The Medium is the Message, by A.G. Bayer. Performed by 
Gonzo Gonzalez, Hung Nguyen and Justin (last name?). G., H., and 
J. come on with newspapers on their face like bandanas and 
carrying boom boxes on which plays a sound collage of news 
headlines from recent events. They then blow "anthrax" on the 
audience. Performance piece.

I wonder if anyone was offended or freaked out by this. It was 
too bad that Clyde started kicking at Justin when he came out 
into the audience; that was really bizarre. I hope Justin didn't 
get hurt. Joplin said to me this blew him away. The moment they 
blew the "anthrax" on the audience was really weird, because no 
matter what it seems like there's a sliver of you're brain that 
got to be saying "Well I know this is fake, but what if...?" We 
should have more stuff like this that challenges and provokes 
and has weird sound collage elements. No more kicking though.

18.	Randy Minnow Says Hello, by Shannon McCormick. Performed 
by Shannon McCormick. Randy Minnow gives away several items from 
Shannon's house while talking about his own mediocrity and the 
future of No Shame. Performance piece.

So Randy was a bit shyer than he is normally, less brash and 
obnoxious. Maybe he was just nervous. Not sure if this was the 
best place in the order for him to come on. Mike D'Alonzo said 
this piece made him sad. What do you think? 

Time: Sun, 04-Nov-2001 22:47:29 GMT     IP: 158.252.131.191

Let's start with my "bizarre" behavior during the anthrax 
provocation piece.  The reason I started kicking had to do 
with the initial push into the front row of furniture by one of 
the performers.  When he tumbled into the bench and the 
table and chair in front of me, it hit me in the leg and the only 
reason I didn't get knocked in the chest by the table or 
crunched into my chair by the furniture was because I 
grounded quickly and grabbed the furniture to keep it from 
moving and also kicked him back under the table.

It didn't really hurt but it scared me and it also told me that I 
couldn't trust these performers.  When they started to move 
into the audience they were side by side, the guy that almost 
hurt me and the guy that did the nice piece about 
antiChinese racism earlier in the show.  They were also 
carrying jamboxes and I didn't know what they were going to 
do.  Because I had just been nearly injured, or imagined that 
I could have been, I had a panic attack and lashed out to 
protect myself.  After a couple of kicks I realized I was 
overreacting when they didn't keep coming at that point.  
When I stopped they both eventually moved into the 
audience so I don't think I undermined the work.

Actually, since it was clearly a provocation of sorts, I think I 
may have added to it (or not, who knows?).  Most of you may 
have known those guys.  I didn't and I've worked with people 
before, mostly performance artists, who get somewhat 
dangerous when they decide their aesthetic demands it.  I 
took them seriously.  I felt like I was nearly injured and I 
panicked.  Sorry if it came across in a fucked up manner. 

Peace,
I'm really for it.
clyde

Time: Sun, 04-Nov-2001 22:54:04 GMT     IP: 158.252.131.191

In my other message I respond to Shannon's comments 
about my behavior during the anthrax piece.  Check it out if 
you were concerned.

Overall I thought it was a great evening.  Even the pieces I 
didn't like were well performed.  I don't go to open mic poetry 
readings anymore because they usually have way too much 
half assed material.  But this show was really well done, 
especially considering it was an open signup situation.  So I 
hope doing the poetry thing worked okay for folks.

This was my first performance in Austin and one of the very 
few where I'll read poetry.  I don't write it anymore so it's 
mostly a retro act.  I am going to start dancing soon and will 
be appearing in Fronterafest.  The piece will be a solo 
entitled:
Cassandra's Return:  seen but not heard
It's choreographed by Rick Darnell of San Francisco's High 
Risk Group.  I'm in a trashy slip, teased up hair, distressed 
makeup.  It's a different side of clyde, unless you charge the 
stage in which case I will defend myself.  (ha, ha)

Really, no shame's a cool event and I hope you folks find a 
way to get it going again in 2002.
Peace,
let's try that for a change.
Clyde

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 00:25:34 GMT     IP: 128.83.176.172

I couldn't exactly see what was going on, so I missed the 
beginning. When I looked over I saw Justin (also a first-time No 
Shamer)being kicked at and I wasn't sure what was going on. I'm 
sure it was a natural and reasonable response to what was going 
on. I just didn't want anyone getting hurt. And ultimately, all 
that matters is that you and Justin talk about to make sure that 
their aren't any smoldering animosities out there that would make 
future No Shames uncomfortable.

And as far as the poetry thing goes, I thought your stuff was 
good. I'm an ex-poet as well. Your pieces were sort of a 
springboard for a discussion about poetry in general at No Shame 
and how No Shame is different from an open mike. 

Keep coming, and spread the word.

All the best,

Shannon

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 01:52:33 GMT     IP: 158.252.132.27

Basically I apologized to two of the performers after the event 
and, though they seemed uncomfortable, assured me that 
things were cool.  I certainly would be willing to reach out 
again if I knew how to contact Justin or the other performer 
that got caught in the crossfire.  I have no animosity and do 
recognize that at a certain point I was overreacting but then 
I've been assaulted before as well and freezing up is not a 
safe option so I tend to go into overdrive when endangered.

Of course, Justin (I'm assuming it was him since you 
mention him) did go into the front row furniture which was 
very close to numerous people.  So he endangered the 
audience, or at least me, and I responded to what I perceived 
as an immediate threat to my safety.  I'll have to say that I've 
done some intense performances but I've never endangered 
anybody but myself.

Anyway, I just hope people aren't talking about me without 
talking to me.  I guess at this point unless I hear anything to 
the contrary I would be uncomfortable returning if people 
have a fucked up impression of me.  Shannon, you're the 
only person I know and our interactions probably add up to 
about 5 minutes altogether so I feel at somewhat of a 
disadvantage in this situation since a lot of these folks seem 
rather interconnected.
Oh well, if anybody wants to follow up, I'm at:
culturalresearch@hotmail.com
512-459-9894
Sorry if I introduced something negative.
Clyde Smith

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 04:40:23 GMT     IP: 209.184.0.216

So I've identified four areas of concern for No Shame that I'd 
like to take care of before we start up again next year. I'm 
going to go ahead and separate them out into four different 
posts and see what you guys think. Of course if you identify 
other areas that you feel need addressing, please let me and 
everyone here know.

The largest thing we need to take care of is frequency. How 
often should we do this thing? Right now I wonder if twice a 
week is too often. I have perhaps been relying too much on 
the "first and third week of the month" thing to promote the 
show and to let people know when we're performing and people I 
think have a hard time remembering when we have No Shame.

In Iowa City they run the show every week, so they don't need 
the same kind of advance publicity to remind people when the 
show is.  But I don't think we could go weekly right now for a 
number of reasons-one, we have a hard time filling the bill 
already and two, I don't think we could go weekly at the Hideout 
until we start drawing enough that they could justify giving up 
a slot on a weekly basis. At some point I would love to be able 
to go every week, but not until there's a groundswell of support 
for it.

The other reason that I think IC can do weekly shows without a 
problem is frankly there's less to do in IC than in Austin, less 
competition from other theaters, less music and nightlife and 
just stuff to do. Anyway.

So my thought is to make the show monthly and have it be more of 
a special event that people wouldn't want to miss out on than it 
is currently. This would also allow me more time to promote the 
shit out of the show. Some people have suggested we perform even 
less frequently-once every two or three months. What 

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 04:41:23 GMT     IP: 209.184.0.216

My second area of concern has to do with ticket prices. Is there 
too much disparity between the get in free status of performers 
and the five bones paid by the general audience?

Should tickets cost less? I ask for two reasons. First, would we 
have more audience if people only had to pay two bucks? Is five 
prohibitively expensive for some people, namely students, who 
should be making up more of our audience than currently? In Iowa 
City they charge a buck and sell out a 150 seat theater pretty 
much every week.

Second, does the five dollar payment encourage people to perform 
and thus avoid admission costs when they're pieces aren't really 
ready? In Charlottesville performers pay alongside audience 
members. Would performers go for this? I don't mind  performers 
getting in free but I don't want there to be too big of a 
perceptual gap between the audience and performers.

This will be an area that I will have to talk to with the 
Hideout, but I would love to hear your feedback. 

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 04:42:48 GMT     IP: 209.184.0.216

The last post about ticket costs leads into this one. I'm 
guessing a number of people are confused/slashed frustrated by 
the chaos of the pre-show and sign-up period. People don't know 
when to enter the space, ticket buyers aren't sure where to go, 
people slip in after the show's begun, etc. 

This is all my fault in that I've been trying to do too much. 
But what would make your lives as performers and audience member 
easier?

I've got some things in the works to make all of this smoother 
and take a little pressure off of me, but I want your feedback 
as well. Talk to me people.

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 04:45:08 GMT     IP: 209.184.0.216

All right the last thing, which is the most nebulous: the 
creation and retention of a steady group of performers and 
audience members.

Almost everyone who's performed at No Shame (there have been a 
few notable exceptions) has expressed to me their delight with 
the format. The audience aspect is a little spottier but that's 
ok, No Shame isn't necessarily for everyone.  But where do we go 
from here? There seems to be a core of ten to fifteen people who 
I would call regulars amongst us, and maybe another secondary 
tier of fifteen to twenty performers who've been once or twice 
and are always amenable to me soliciting them for material. Now, 
I knew very few of you back when No Shame started and I feel 
good that we've managed to create the community we have. But I 
wonder if people view No Shame as somehow my thing. It's not. I 
just brought the idea and organized the schedule and try to make 
things happen. But it's your thing. As they say at the 
Charlottesville No Shame, it's your theatre; you make it what 
you want. Or something like that. 

So I felt bad putting No Shame to rest for a while because I 
think the people I mention above still want it to happen. But I 
need your help in spreading the word. I don't know what I'm 
getting at here exactly except that No Shame is your forum and 
we can make it into a very good thing. But not without 
performers and audience members. This is why I'm soliciting you 
all for advice-in the future I'm hoping to have more people 
involved in the promotion and management of the show and want to 
get you all started now.

All right, hope you all have something to say. And don't just 
email me privately, post your suggestions to the board so 
everyone else can hear what your thoughts.

Thank you and lots of love,

Shannon

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 16:30:00 GMT     IP: 66.64.4.18

Hm. Swallowing Jon Benner whole may be my next No Shame piece. 
Phew. That takes away all the pressure of trying to think of what 
to do come January. Now I can enjoy my holidays in piece. More 
Ladeeleroy rants at http://ladeeleroy.diaryland.com  Yes. Self 
promotion. Yes. I'm bored at work and this is what I do with my 
time. Sigh.
PS. I royally enjoyed this No Shame. I'm thinking that every No 
Shame should be advertised as the Last No Shame. It worked for 
the Bad Dog (sorta); I don't see why it wouldn't work for the No 
Shamer.

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 17:19:11 GMT     IP: 208.190.159.233

Shannon, Thanks for you reviews of the pieces.  

As to the order of the pieces, I gotta say that, for this 
audience member, having Amie's and Burt's pieces together, and 
Hung's and the tap dancing lady's pieces (sorry can't remember 
her name) together, did not hurt any of the pieces at all.  They 
were all so much their own pieces that whatever similarities they 
had didn't even occur to me.

As to Randy Minnow, it's hard for me to be objective about him, 
cause I like the character so much.  While I'd agree that, yes, 
perhaps that his having to end the show, hand out presents, etc., 
restricted his Randy Minnow-ness somewhat, I'd say that it was a 
good introduction of the character.  Now he can go on to create 
his own world of Minnow-ness.  

Signed,

Lord T

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 17:26:03 GMT     IP: 208.190.159.233

Clyde put into words my reaction to this piece.  I did not trust 
these performers.  Not that I felt they were out to do harm, but 
that because of what appeared to me to be wrecklessness, they 
might inadvertently do harm.

The loudness of the radios put me off and seemed to put others 
off as well.  The entire performance made me as if the audience 
was being held in contempt by the performers.  

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 17:34:00 GMT     IP: 208.190.159.233

Whoops: mis-spelled recklessness.  Apologies...

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 17:35:34 GMT     IP: 152.163.207.192

Well, I don't go to your no shame, so its not really my place to 
tell you how to run it, but even back at Iowa in the days when we 
first started having to pay an admission  ($1) If you took up a 
seat you paid for it.  No Shame performers only got in for free 
if they sat in the green room and that was considered kind of a 
sucky not very polite not really part of the group thing to do.

We have a very small space in Charlottesville, and no backstage 
area, only around 75 seats, which has never sold out, but 
everybody pays except staff--because they are actually working 
the door, running the lights or selling cheap beer.

There have been a few grumbles about this, but performing 
shouldn't be a way to see the show for free, performing is a 
privildge afforded by having the space, and if the show don't 
make the rent (or the mark) then the space goes away.  Our 
performers understand that, they also understand that they are 
only performing for 5 minutes of a two hour evening.  Why 
shouldn't they demonstrate their support for the other writers 
and performers by dropping the same $5 bones as the other 
audience?

If performers can take up seats and don't have to pay, this makes 
a very very clear line of distinction between audience and 
performers and the whole point of No Shame, I thought, was to 
make it easy for audience to cross that line and become 
performers too.  I realize Shannon made this point, but I want to 
hammer it home.

If I pay $5 to get in as audience and somebody drags me up on 
stage as part of the piece do I get a refund?

I know you might think at first that if you make people "pay to 
play" they will stop coming.  Well, don't phrase it or even think 
about it like that.  You don't have to pay to play, you have to 
pay to sit down in a seat, which costs somebody money to 
maintain, heat (or in texas, cool), and insure.

Be brave enough to ask people to actually support their theatre 
by contributing to it financially.  If they tell you their 
contribution is their work--and I have heard this not ever from 
no shamers, but from some pretty snooty playwrights in some 
theatre companies I have worked with--then you don't need their 
contribution that badly, let them go where people will give it 
the value they think its worth--if they can find it.

$5 a week is a pretty small contribution to a theatre your 
performers must think is important.  What is that? Two beers?  
What kind of playwright or performer can't give up two beeers to 
support a theatre that exists solely to promote their work and 
career?

I know, people are broke, the economy is going to hell, there's 
an undeclared war being waged, but its only $5 a week.  Or every 
onther week in Austin.  Cripes.  

The money you do have--where are you spending it?  Ok, rent and 
laundry and shampoo might be more important than theatre.  But if 
a couple extra sodas or an extra trip through mcdonalds is more 
important to you than supporting the theatre you work in, why are 
you working there?

Ok, sorry to soap box, but you don't get ownership of something 
without paying for it and $5 seems a small price to keep the 
doors open.

I had this creative writing teacher in High School that said, in 
no uncertain terms: "If you don't buy poetry, don't write it.  
Because if you write it and don't buy other people's, then you're 
not giving anything to the artform, you're just ripping people 
off."  He also said he wanted to die 80 years old from a heart 
attack, drunk and in bed with an 18 year old girl.  He must have 
been practicing because a long time before 80 that's how he got 
fired from the school.

Anyay, the principle is the same--don't just take, give.

todd

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 18:15:22 GMT     IP: 208.190.159.24

Just off the top of my head, it seems to me that once a month 
would be worth giving a try.  Just seems right somehow.  It's 
easy to remember, it's not so often that there need be a mad 
scramble to come up with something new, and that "once a month" 
sound just adds a certain excitement to the event, don't you 
think?  

And perhaps a "Best of" show every six months?

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 18:33:55 GMT     IP: 208.190.159.24

What Todd said...

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 18:39:44 GMT     IP: 208.190.159.24

Shannon, 

Perhaps s sign on the table saying "No Shame Sign-up?"

Perhpas we should be helping out so's you don't have to do so 
much.

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 20:20:16 GMT     IP: 63.232.120.92

Shannon,

something to think about-- creating a "core" has its benefits, 
but there are dangers if this core makes it difficult for new 
performers to get involved.  Also, I hope No SHame never falls 
into the trap of being a "club" or any such exclusive type 
thing.  Things always need to be shaken up and new blood needs 
always to be sought.

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 22:45:46 GMT     IP: 66.25.174.28

Once a month makes sense to me.  It's actually something I was
gonna suggest, but I guess I don't need to anymore.

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 23:09:41 GMT     IP: 66.25.174.28

Well, now, I have to disagree with the "performers pay" idea. 
Mostly because, well, if I don't have money, I'm not going
anywhere, and if I had to pay to perform at No Shame, I'd have
performed far less this year.  Conversely, if I don't have a piece
prepared, I'm not going to No Shame just because I can get in free
if I slop something together.  But I might be different than most.
 Who knows?

If it's a matter of financial hardship for the organizers, and
they really need the performers to pay, then why do this in the
first place?  The whole idea of No Shame is that performers, brave
souls that they are, have NOTHING TO LOSE by participating and
trying out new things that might not fly in the 'legitimate
theatre'.  I'm sure as hell not gonna risk something like singing
the national anthem in the way I did if I have to pay to see
whether or not people will like it.

As far as performers taking up too many seats or whatever, give me
a break.  The performers are the best audience members.  You
really make them sit in the green room if they can't cough up the
$5?  I think that's uncool.

Now, I'm not privy to all of the financial details here in Austin,
but it's my guess that most of the money No Shame makes for the
Hideout comes from food and drink sales.  No Shame nights are
probably good nights for the Hideout, business-wise.  And the
owner knows that.  I mean, 6th street is just one block away.  How
can a coffee house realistically compete without some sort of
event to draw crowds who will buy a Shiner or a Mocha Latte.

For the question of how much the audience should pay, I think $5
is ok, but that $1 is better.  Even the poorest artist can usually
scrounge up a buck.  And that might just encourage more people to
check out the shows.  You can rarely see a movie for a dollar,
much less live entertainment.

And if Austin started charging only a dollar, and decided to make
the performers pay too, then I could deal with it.  I would still
think it sucked, but I would pay my dollar to sit in silence in
front of an audience for 5 minutes.

Amie

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 23:20:24 GMT     IP: 66.25.174.28

I tell everyone I know about No Shame and encourage people to both
perform and watch.  Only a very small portion of those people have
actually come to a show.

I think the problem with theater types is that they are usually
involved in a show or they are seeing a show and 11PM on a
Saturday is just a bad time for many of them.  I know it has been
for me, on several occasions.  It's just no fun to race from a
performance that gets out after 10, find a parking spot downtown,
and make it in time to sign up for a slot.

So, a solution to this problem could be to change the time and/or
day that we do No Shame.  I realize that you don't have absolute
control over this, but what about moving the show to midnight or
doing a weeknight at 10?  Or even sunday.

Amie

Time: Mon, 05-Nov-2001 23:34:13 GMT     IP: 66.25.174.28

Oh, how embarrassing!  I did almost the same peice as someone
else.  At least they were at different shows, and months apart.

I have always wanted to do this piece but I always thought that
people might think I was being lazy or whatever and that it wasn't
worthy.  So I had Jericho (last name, Thorp) address that fear at
the end of the piece, to great effect, I think.

I was surprised, too, by the absolute silence in the piece.  I
didn't know what to expect from this audience, but I was prepared
for just about anything.

I enjoy exploring silence.  I've done it before, but in scarier
circumstanses.  I bored the audience to tears for almost 7 minutes
then made them sit in absolute darkness AND silence for a minute
and then I had people bang on things, tickle them with feathers,
and generally fuck with their perceptions while it was dark.  And
yes, there were some violent reactions from the audience of the
physical variety.  But mostly people were just scared.

I love theater.

Amie

Time: Tue, 06-Nov-2001 15:54:42 GMT     IP: 198.214.104.55

I don't have any particular suggesstions for No Shame right now, 
but I would like to chime in by thanking Shannon and the rest of 
the people involved with the show--performers, audience, etc. I 
have had virtually no involvment in theater (unless you count 
the time when I was supposed to be in the chorus for my middle 
school's production of Grease, but didn't show up because I hate 
that f#@!ing play) and most of my comedy has been accidental. 
But I have found No Shame to be a very welcoming environment for 
someone as green as me and I have enjoyed both performing and 
watching. Having a job that can be quite mind-numbing, its nice 
to have the opportunity to prove that not all of my creative 
juices have been sucked out. Hope to see y'all in January. 

-David

Time: Tue, 06-Nov-2001 17:36:16 GMT     IP: 65.210.98.91

Hey, I agree, if I had my way nobody would pay, but the real 
world don't work that way.  And the weird thing is that people 
don't seem to value what they get for free very much.  Put a 
little money into something and then you have a measure of 
committment.

When I started No Shame at Iowa in 1986(so I think I have a 
pretty good idea myself of "What it is all about") nobody paid 
anything because we all stood in a parking lot looking at a truck.

We didn't pay anything when we moved indoors to the theatre 
either, but they eventually started making us pay $100 a week to 
use the space, so we had to charge something, and since the 
entire community was involved in the venue, we all shouldered the 
cost.  We set the price at a buck, and almost always made rent 
plus around $25 to put toward an off campus production fund and 
scholarships for writers.

When you do No Shame in an off campus environment you have a lot 
of issues to consider which all cost money and are not state 
supported like a university theatre.

True, you can say that your No Shame brings in other people to 
the theatre, but if you can't find $5 to support your own no 
shame, they probably can't count on you to go see anything else 
there either, can they?

At Charlottesville, we charge $5 and had to fight a battle to   
lower the standard ticket price of $7 to $5 for late night 
venues.  The thing is, the space we perform in costs the theatre 
around $150 a week just to maintain, considering usual costs like 
electricity, heating, insurance and other incidentals.  I'd love 
to charge only a dollar, but I just don't think No Shame would be 
able to continue to use the space if we did.  

I'm really begging people not to think of it as paying to play.  
When you say you won't pay $5 to see if people like your piece, 
you're really missing the point.  You're paying $5 so that this 
incredible and unique venue can keep going.  You are paying $5 so 
that other people can have the same opportunities you had.  You 
are paying $5 so you can see the OTHER performers do THEIR work.

If the audience has to pay and performers get in free, that's 
kind of like getting paid to play, which isn't what no shame is 
about either.  And no matter what, with performers getting one 
thing and the audience getting a different deal, there is a 
seperation between them that flies in the face of what No Shame 
is about, which is community building.  

If you do $5 a week for a month, its less than cable, less than 
you'd spend going to a movie, less than a carton of Cigarettes, 
less than a lot of stuff and you get a real dividend on the 
ticket price.  You get a place where you have total freedom to 
perform, learn, teach, grow--

I guess I see it as a matter of priorities.  What is No Shame 
worth to you?  What are you willing to personally do to make sure 
that you have a place to perform, not just that you have 
something to perform.  Maybe one of the reasons we have such a 
committed base of audience and performers in Charlottesville is 
exactly because they are the ones who make a weekly investment in 
it.  Most of our staff, including me, pay even though we don't 
have to.

Really really sorry to hear that you don't come to No Shame 
unless you have a piece of your own.  Maybe your financial 
situation is that dire, if so, I'm really sorry for harping about 
money.

And I don't even live in Austin, so what you do with your own No 
Shame is up to you guys.  Shannon asked for advice, and advice is 
worth what you pay for it...just like anything else, I guess.

Todd

Time: Tue, 06-Nov-2001 17:49:36 GMT     IP: 65.210.98.91

Sorry--I just re-read your post Amie--

Dang!  That's pretty cold, that you would protest having to pay a 
ticket price but only if your protest cost you no more than a 
dollar per performance to demonstrate?  

Dang.

I'm actually kind of speechless about that.  What would the title 
of these protests be?  Amie's Petulant Huff?

I guess I have to say one more time that you saying paying a 
ticket price represents "something to lose" means to me that you 
don't really get what this is about at all.  Its not like you buy 
a ticket for the No Shame Applause Lottery, and if you don't get 
it you lose and wasted your $5 or $1 or bus ticket to the theatre.

Dang.

This is theatre in Austin?

Dang....no wonder No Shame is having trouble down there.

todd

Time: Tue, 06-Nov-2001 18:20:00 GMT     IP: 65.210.98.91

Shannon, you may regret asking for my advice...  :)

Sorry Amie, if I was too hard on you about the ticket costs--we 
all care about what we care about...

Shannon--do you have designated staff people and production 
assistants?  People who really want to support no shame but 
honestly could not affort a ticket price whatever the cost, could 
assist with some of the production help.  Our staffers donate by 
buying a ticket, but its understood that they don't have to, and 
we routinely do checking to find people who would like to 
volunteer to do the following--no one person should do all of it:

1) Produce (make sure the event happens, be liason to the hosting 
theatre, coordinate staff and publicity)
2) Publicity (this is best if it is maybe someone who works at 
Hide Out and would be willing to use their contact info to 
publicize their event, with the producer making sure that all the 
info the publicity person gets is correct.  You might want to tap 
someone seperate to do the posters and so forth so that the Hide 
Out person only has to contact the press for you, you provide all 
the materials)
3) House Manager- person taking money at the door, totalling up 
the money, leaving it for Hide Out in a secure location or safe.  
4) Stage Manager - taking the order, making sure things are 
running according to plan, doing announcements and the order-the 
public face of no shame.
5) light board/soundboard op
6) three production assistants per night, each one in training to 
fill in for one of the other staff positions if the need should 
arise.  Production assistants are sort of theatre bouncers ready 
to take action if there is a disturbance or an emergency, also to 
help performers and writers to clear the stage between pieces and 
to clean up after the show.
7) Concessions-this money kept seperate from the door take, 
checking ID's for booze, etc.

All these people are contrubuting a valuable service without the 
benefit of needing stage time, unless they also do that.  They 
should be able to be comped for seats, regardless of whether they 
are performing.  Amie, if I haven't alienated her from afar, 
sounds like a good candidate for this since she really really is 
interested in No Shame but just doesn't have enough personal 
dough to add another unexpected expense.  PA's don't have to do a 
lot, but it sounds like they would be very useful in audience 
wrangling and directing people to this place or that.  And its a 
good way to train people to move up to the more heavy weight 
staff positions down the road--maybe even yours if you need a 
break from it.  Also make sure the Hide Out people know who your 
staff are--you don't want them to have any surprises with new 
people they don't know showing up.

How about making t-shirts with that screaming face (you Shannon?) 
on the front and STAFF on the Back of people who are staff?  You 
could sell non staff ones to help keep ticket prices low and 
advertise your venue and give t-shirts to staff people as a gift 
to show you really do value them.  Just ideas.

We are also toying with the idea of selling season passes in 
advance at a discounted price.  There's a lot of support for this 
idea in C'ville.

Time: Wed, 07-Nov-2001 00:46:13 GMT     IP: 66.25.174.28

Well, I'm not gonna argue the finer points of arts funding and 
those things with you, no matter how much you imply that I am a 
complete moron who doesn't care about No Shame.

What I will say is that you are correct in your observation that 
you don't really know the situation here in Austin.  You've never 
been here to see what we do, have you?  Therefore, what works for 
other No Shames in other cities won't always work for us, and 
vice versa.

So while it's nice that your No Shamers don't mind paying to 
play, it's also nice that some No Shamers in Austin really love 
the fact that there is a venue for us to try out new things that 
doesn't ask for a handout or charge a fee.  We have a couple of 
big theatre festivals here, MOM Fest and Frontera Fest, and both 
of those charge a modest fee to perform.  And you know what's 
funny?  THE OVERALL QUALITY OF THEIR SHOWS ISN'T ANY BETTER!  And 
they get lots of respect and funding.

I've paid to perform and I've been paid to perform and I've 
performed for free.  I've been in the trenches of this business 
for several years.  I know the score.  But ultimately I believe 
that the quality of art has to do with the enthusiasm and skill 
of the creator.  And that's something that money can't change.

So keep charging your performers.  It's obviously something that 
you have to do for whatever reasons.  But just know that I REALLY 
like the fact that Austin doesn't charge it's performers, and I'd 
advocate trying just about every other legal way of funding 
before I'd charge the performers here.

Amie

PS:  I like that title, "Amie's Petulant Huff"  Maybe that will 
be my next No Shame piece.

Time: Wed, 07-Nov-2001 02:40:04 GMT     IP: 172.186.116.29

I thought it was great that Clyde kicked those dudes.  What a 
memorable piece.  Maybe I'm giviing these guys too much credit, 
but I thought it was really "Theatre of Cruelty" with an 
Artaudian sense of provocation.  I certainly didn't enjoy the 
piece during its presentation, but I really appreciated it 
afterwards when people were all on the verge of yelling and 
throwing things.  To provoke such an intense response isn't easy--
 and usually done more effectively than with words (ask any of 
the guys who do those angry, hate-filled monologues which to me 
seem a bit lame-- sorry).  And when CLyde was kicking them!  
Awesome.  And then Taylor and the girl that Burt painted (sorry, 
I didn't catch her name but she was really cute) trying 
desparately to turn off the boom box and oculdn't!  Great stuff.  
It reminds me of the story of one of Artaud's productions which, 
after the play was over, they turned the lights to 100% and 
blared out a high-pitched noise and, relentlessly, kept pushing 
the volume until all of the audience had run from their seats and 
into their cars.

Time: Wed, 07-Nov-2001 05:45:37 GMT     IP: 128.83.113.140

I can see a) why you didn't like the media/terrorism piece and b) 
why it was made better by the visceral audience reaction up to 
and including kicks. I just didn't want to see anyone get hurt. 
But yeah, strong reaction from the audience is cool. As Todd R. 
says, as  a performer at NS you better be prepared for anything 
to come out of the audience, "from chicken bones to hand  
grenades." Now we'll have to include feet of fury.

As far as the angry, hateful monologues, I have to agree with you 
that they can be totally lame. I do need to clarify which one's 
you mean, however? I can think of three sort of distinct types 
which we've seen at NS this year, and there are some nuances as 
to why they're lame.

1)	I don't mean to pick on Noah, especially since he hasn't 
been coming to NS for a while. His monologues really offended a 
lot of people I think; the problem with them was he was trying to 
be funny and it just wasn't coming across. I'm not saying that 
his work was misunderstood. The underlying view of the world and 
relationship between the sexes just isn't funny and it's easy to 
be put off by that. In Iowa one time, this guy who had never 
performed there before tried to do some Andrew Dice Clay-style 
standup. This was in like 1991, 92 at the height of political 
correctness conflicts on campuses across the country. The guy got 
about three sentences into his routine and a woman in the 
audience shouted out "Wrong crowd, buddy!" and he pretty much got 
booed offstage well before his 5 minutes were up. It was awesome.

2)	The there was Travis Holmes's "Bitch in a Box". This 
piece was not trying be funny at all, it was generally trying to 
shock the hell out of people. I think it worked for the most part-
so much show that almost everyone hated the piece. Of all the 
pieces in Best of No Shame, it was maybe most on the fence for 
this issue, but we put it in because we didn't want to send the 
signal that hey, if you upset us, that's not good art. And it was 
the strongest piece that Travis had done all year. This sort of 
hit in the same way that Gonzo and Hung's piece did.

3)	Then there's the have your cake and eat it too piece, 
like Jordan's from last week. We get to see that the 
performer/writer fundamentally disagrees with the offensive 
content and that it's presented in an ironic fashion. But where, 
ultimately does that get us? This isn't a dig a Jordan, but it's 
pretty easy to drop in "cunt/faggot/nigger" and get some instant-
shock. I realize that Jordan's piece was an assignment to write 
an offensive scene, but I wonder what Jordan's playwriting 
teacher would have thought had he done something truly offensive, 
like maybe a piece about said playwriting teacher seducing Jordan 
and licking his balls in playwriting class. Now that would be 
really subversive.

So wow, I'm off in tangent land. What do you think?

Time: Wed, 07-Nov-2001 05:49:07 GMT     IP: 128.83.113.140

Greg,

I'm not advocating the creation of a 'core' group of performers; 
in fact I'm advocating the contrary. The thing that I'm proudest 
about what we've done with No Shame here in Austin is that we've 
brought together groups of people from different communities who 
might not have intersected that much beforehand. Last March, had 
you told the Vortex folks who come to No Shame that they would be 
a significant amount of time in the same theatrical space with 
amateur wrestlers and the guys from the Jury, they probably would 
have looked at you as if you were nuts. And the same goes for the 
Jury guys meeting Laurie Ann or Hung or whomever. My friend Dave 
from work would never have seen Caroline Sutton do butoh.

Now, I don't want to toot my own horn here too much, but I think 
a lot of this happened because I kept pestering every person I 
know to check out the show. And even people I didn't know-I 
emailed Ratgirl out of the blue, ditto Liz Belile, etc.

Now, as Amie said in her post, she tells tons of people and they 
don't come. But I don't think that discourages her from still 
doing it and that's great. I realize that other people aren't 
going to pester as many people as I do because hey, they've got 
other projects at any given time that might be taking priority. 
But this last show, you yourself brought two different folks to 
the show-Tim and Brad. If they bring two people the next time 
they come, and those people bring two new people, etc etc. See 
what I'm saying? There's not a threat of exclusion then because 
there's no center at all, just a web of people with equal 
ownership of the forum.

Time: Wed, 07-Nov-2001 05:52:09 GMT     IP: 128.83.113.140

Have you people checked out this web site? Lee's got seven 
hundred years worth of potential No Shame material up here and 
it's all hilarious. Go there.

Shando

Time: Wed, 07-Nov-2001 14:13:49 GMT     IP: 64.12.104.182

Amie--no disrespect intended at all, and I'm only offering advice 
because Shannon asked for it.

I am only telling you what works here, what works there is a 
mystery, but Shannon wouldn't have asked for the advice if 
everything was working hunky dory.

And although I don't think you will ever agree with this 
distinction of words, I am not charging performers, I am charging 
audience.  Performers who sit in seats are audience when they are 
not performing.  Our performers think that's cool, and are fine 
with it, but it was that way from the start, so I can understand 
people in other no shames where that hasn't been the case from 
the beginning seeing it as a tough pill to swallow.  

And I don't know how desperate the situation is for funding, or 
how real the distinction between audience and performer is by 
virtue of the some pay and some don't rule--but from what Shannon 
is posting there are some problems down there and if No Shame is 
going to keep being there for you to care about, which you 
obviously do, then some solutions need to be found.  

I don't know what they are, I'm just trying to help. Maybe its 
impossible to make the leap of faith it takes to see your ticket 
not as a tax or a fee, but as a contribution to your own 
theatre.  I dont' know, its not my place to convince anyone of 
anything, I'm just offering my ideas, and never intended to imply 
you were a moron or that you didn't have a devotion to the 
venue.  Anyway, both our positions are pretty clear now, and like 
we say up here in virginny, its your theatre, nake it what you 
want.
 

todd

Time: Wed, 07-Nov-2001 21:18:37 GMT     IP: 198.214.101.119

Hey peoples,

This is reminding of those heady days back in June when the Jury 
was doing the Ratgirl Expose, the Blue High Machine was gearing 
up for Days of a 1000 Masks, and I was having a hard time 
remembering under which circumstance I was communicating with 
people, remembering which persona I was talking to and even 
which persona I was communicating as (was I Shannon of Bible 
Belt?).

Anyway, there's been a lot of discussion here in the Austin 
boardroom about No Shame, but I've also been communicating 
individually with a lot of old Iowa City people and there's been 
a big discussion transpiring on the Room 41 list serve (a little 
like the RAT list serve but it's made up of University of Iowa 
theater alums and No Shame veterans). Jeff Goode, who maintains 
this website had some thoughts which I thought you would like to 
take a look at.

Here's the link:

http://www.noshame.org/iowacity/archive/goode.htm

Time: Thu, 08-Nov-2001 01:05:03 GMT     IP: 168.191.184.95

It's been interesting figuring out what No Shame actually is 
and how it relates to the history of other No Shames.  I'm not 
sure I get the writer/actor thing, unless they were writers 
showing up with scripts that actors did.  I probably wouldn't 
come to that.  I showed up because the Chronicle made it 
sound like a performance/performance art oriented venue.  
Which is generally where I like to be cause I don't fit into most 
poetry settings and I'm not an actor though I do dance 
sometimes (fronterafest,fronterafest,fronterafest!)

I think making each location meet local needs is what makes 
something a success.  I tend to be drawn to more open 
ended settings where there is a good local crew that's open 
to new things.  When I got to San Francisco in '89 (said the 
old man) all the art scenes were very cliqueish (sp?) and the 
poets were kind of grumpy and ugly for the most part and I 
wanted to hang with a different crowd.  I got over the 
cliqueishness  but only by dancing in the company of 
somebody who was deep into the scene I wanted to be in.  
Maybe that was for the best cause I'd stopped writing poetry 
by then.

The thing about No Shame that I didn't realize until partway 
into the evening is that it is an open mike with mostly actors 
who bring a theater school aesthetic to whatever they do.  
Honestly that's what seems to define the boundaries of the 
work.  Im a lot of ways I thought the strongest piece was the 
anthrax piece because it wasn't an acting thing, though I don't 
like feeling physically threatened or having stuff blown on me.  
But otherwise, the sound level was appropriate without being 
too loud for me, it created a dense aural environment, the 
piece was reasonably short, and the message wasn't 
particularly didactic, more of a sensory experience than a 
"play."

I think the fact that people come out of a theater setting 
means than performance standards are rather high and 
people tend to think through all the details.  Also some of 
them may even rehearse beforehand.  I'm curious about 
responses to my work since I've only heard Shannon's.  I 
wonder if the fact that I don't look at the audience when I'm 
reading bothers people since everybody else does, like good 
actors do.  Otherwise, I choose carefully beforehand, my 
timing is decent and I let audience response dictate the 
pauses.  But it's still pretty much a spoken word kind of thing.

I don't mind not knowing beforehand where I'll be till I show 
up.  I'm not sure how much I'd pay to perform though I don't 
like to pay to play.  I certainly wouldn't object to $2 but I'm 
unemployed so I'm not as open with cash these days.  I 
though the five minutes would be too restrictive but people 
seemed to be able to accomplish a lot.  Maybe that helps 
focus things.  I do think that if a handful of people were 
allowed to sign up earlier, sort of featured performers but still 
following the basic five minute format, that might help solidify 
a regular show.  I also think finding some help for Shannon 
would make sense.  I don't think Shannon needs to be 
responsible for separating similar acts.  Things have a way 
of working themselves out.  If the performer is good the 
audience adjusts.

I could see returning with work that might fit the general 
aesthetic a little better while still pursuing my interests.  I 
think that's one way that a core group setting a tone for an 
event can be useful without it necessarily being inbred or 
overly restrictive.  I would hate to see it become more like an 
open mic poetry reading or musical thing but that doesn't 
seem to be where it's going.

Anyway, I've said enough.
cs

Time: Thu, 08-Nov-2001 05:18:46 GMT     IP: 128.83.113.161

I could see returning with work that might fit the general 
aesthetic a little better while still pursuing my interests.  I 
think that's one way that a core group setting a tone for an 
event can be useful without it necessarily being inbred or 
overly restrictive.  

Couldn't have said it better myself, Clyde. Of course cores or 
regualars or whatever are going to develop at any venue--I just 
think exclusion sucks and wouldn't want a core to solidify to the 
point that people like yourself who are comming out for the first 
time feel left out or unheard. Which I hope you didn't.

Ok, more thoughts will be forthcoming on a variety of things. 

Laters.

Time: Thu, 08-Nov-2001 06:50:50 GMT     IP: 64.12.104.28

Well, to start off with, the exercise was actually in an attempt 
to purge a lot of what you're talking about here: offensiveness 
for offensiveness' sake and to understand exactly what the 
thought process is that goes into deliberately placing shocking 
and offensive elements into a script to induce a certain reaction 
and what a fine line you walk when you do, because you might get 
the reaction but if you're just slapping it on to the play 
instead of genuinely and carefully crafting it you'll only 
alienate the audience and worse the story will suffer for such an 
extraneous element. We had a huge discussion a couple of times 
about everyone trying to sound hip or cool or subversive by 
having gay characters or drag queens or gay humor in every single 
fucking one of their scripts. It gets tedious, and if it's not 
honest then it's oftentimes worse than offensive: it's bland. I'd 
assume the same holds true for any stereotype.  Now, with the 
full length play i'm writing right now, i'm not trying to 
incorporate any offensive elements but i'm expecting many 
religious and political conservatives (as well as fans of boy 
bands and bubble gum pop culture and a few literary and/or 
cinematic snobs here and there) to be somewhat upset. But hey, we 
leave in a victimization society and someone's always looking for 
something to get offended by (i was actually talking to a guy the 
other day who was personally offended by the "pretentiousness" of 
non-superhero comic books, i kid you not).

As to my scene itself...i wanted to couple the usual nauseous 
reaction (though, under certain circumstances, our own discomfort 
actually leads to some comedy coming through) of such rampant 
hate speech with some truly sickening and visceral visuals. Which 
is why he wears those specific clothes and uses an antique rifle 
instead of an uzi. An uzi or automatic weapon or something, he 
could mow everyone down and be done with it...i wanted his hate, 
his violence to be something slow and methodical, something he 
relishes in. I wanted this character to be reviled and hated 
because of what he was and what he did. But beyond that, 
transcending just the usual "hey, look, the heart of darkness!" 
of these pieces, i wanted to finish it with something that while 
still dark was also very positive and hope filled. Thus the final 
sequence, which would come across a lot better i think visually 
than me reading it while choking back bile over the last five 
pages...the victims arise (death is not the end), they kiss him, 
(forgiveness and love are the only true weapons against hate), 
then dip their hands in their own blood and paint him with it
(something so primal and powerful, and he is now tainted and 
marked with it like Cain), stripping away his clothing and 
leaving him naked, blood stained and weeping as they walk with no 
fear and no regret into the light of salvation (hatred is its own 
hell...he is left bare and alone in the world, with no more of 
his delusions or fears or insecurities to shield him and he sees 
how truly pathetic he is). I wanted a final image/sequence that 
was redemptive and spoke to those higher ideals without totally 
forgiving him because he can't forgive himself.  All right, it's 
no American History X, but i'm rather proud of it. Also, i don't 
usually try to defend or explain my pieces, but i felt like with 
the topic it was necessary to reiterate just what i was trying to 
do with my piece: use hate to preach love. If anyone would like 
to share any further critiques (or, perhaps in a rare case 
somewhere, praise) for this piece, i'd love to get some feedback.

Time: Thu, 08-Nov-2001 07:08:23 GMT     IP: 66.68.82.76

First off, I want to say how upset I was not to be with you all 
on the last No Shame of the year. I had been battling sore 
throat -&- bronchitis for 2 weeks and when the night came, I just 
didn't feel recovered enough to do the skit I'd planned with 
David -&- Shannon--The one that HAD been slated for two weeks 
earlier. Another complexity was my husband returning from his 
carnival tour of 5 months. I had dreams that we BOTH could show 
up and enjoy the last show, but, it was not to be. It sounds 
like a dynamite show from all the posts and reviews in the 
Boardroom. I wonder if our skit would've even FIT!

So, I'll share my opinions on policies in hopes for the growth 
and development for this special idea that's been burgeoning 
since Spring at the Hideout. These opinions have been formed 
after reading all the posts and the comments about the No Shame 
form in the other cities and their struggles. I think it's 
plesantly ironic to get this much activity in the Board Room, 
now that we're going on hiatus. This is what we needed all 
along, to bounce ideas and opinions and justifications and 
defenses off each other.

One theme that really hit hard with me was the statement that 
you never cancel a show. The audience has to rely on the group 
that No Shame ALWAYS has a show at the hour and date advertised. 
The show must go on. I've been there when No Shame was 
cancelled, both times. Yes, we did have spectators in both 
instances that we had to disappoint.

I definitely agree with the idea of delegating the 
responsibility of putting on the show each time so that so much 
of the burden does not always fall on Shannon and his regular 
helpers. I'm impressed with the rise of the Iowa City group that 
grew over many months with NO PUBLICITY. I doubt if in Austin we 
can get away with that, although I recall the week we did have 
an overflow crowd in the upstairs Cabaret occurred after we'd 
had NO NOTICE in that Thursday's AusChron issue. I still say 
that consistent publicity should be inviolate: notices in every 
single publication that will take our listing for each No Shame 
show, not only for performers but participants, as well. That 
means flyers that stay posted at the Hideout itself, as well as 
every theatre callboard in Central Texas.

I think the admission of $5 is okay. I do think there's credence 
to the statement that Saturday night poses possibly a schedule 
handicap that other nights wouldn't present, especially in light 
of the dense parking and traffic concerns at that time of the 
week. There have been just a few shows where we did have a gross 
gate that would cover a $75 space rental if we were being 
charged for it. According to Shannon, the box office take is 
split, with the Hideout not demanding a minimum return from No 
Shame. I think this is admirable and quite lucky for us. It's 
nice to think that the bar proceeds make a nice pile on top of 
the box office so that the Hideout doesn't LOSE by letting the 
No Shame gang tread the boards there. I sure can relate to the 
issue of not having the funds all the time to pay for 
refreshments and for admission and any parking costs. It 
would've been a hardship for me many of the Sat. nights to pay 
all that.

I think that performers should pay, as well as buy refreshments, 
and those that can't pay $5, should have a "fund" admission paid 
from a kitty that can build up for just such purposes. It would 
be nice to think that when the artist were more flush, he/she 
would replenish the kitty. I'd hate to think an artist couldn't 
participate for mere money reasons. I do feel that cups of water 
should be provided for all performers who request them, gratis.

I still like the idea of the alternate Saturdays, but, I 
question the frequency or schedule during Fall football season. 
I get the impression that it hurts the box office and/or 
participation if we perform on a home game night. It seems there 
are too many things that would lure people away from No Shame on 
such nights. I think it would be better to time it on "away" 
Saturdays. It seems to be such a madhouse downtown on home game 
nights regardless of the Tower being orange or not.

It would be helpful to develop a printed roster of No Shamers, 
too, that can be shared with participants. There's been many a 
time that I've wanted to ask a question of someone, but couldn't 
reach them until I started keeping a record of the e-mail 
addresses from the Board Room, or Shannon's broadcast messages. 
But, even so, I still couldn't get a response back from that, at 
times. Maybe some people don't WANT to be bothered, but, 
everyone has a choice whether or not to be included on a roster.

I have cherished this chance to talk about risky things in front 
of a live audience. I cannot say what's in the offing for me, 
but, if I can possibly do so, I will be back to No Shame. I wish 
you Happy Holidays -&- break a leg!

Laurie Ann

"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible." -- 
Frank Zappa

Time: Thu, 08-Nov-2001 15:57:42 GMT     IP: 152.163.206.196

Don't be too concerned about writers with actors or people with a 
theatre school aesthetic, No Shame is meant to be a home to ALL 
varieties of original performance, which includes poetry, 
interpretive dance, primal scream set to bongos, actual 5 minute 
plays with scene changes, magicians, mimes, clowns, songs, music, 
dance, improv, comedy, whatever as long as its 3-5 minutes and 
original material, it doesn't matter what it is, so long as the 
people doing it believe in what they are doing.

Todd

Time: Thu, 08-Nov-2001 22:43:47 GMT     IP: 198.214.101.119

Amen brother.

One of the things that should make us particularly proud down 
here in Austin is the number of different kinds of acts we've 
had. The dance component has been particularly strong, much 
stronger than it was at my tenure in Iowa City. And the video 
capapbilities at the Hideout have allowed for a ton of short 
films, although last week we missed out on, because of techincal 
difficulties, what would have been our best video yet, Julie 
Stryker's Erotic Aquatics.

So keep it coming poets, dancers, jugglers, bean- and egg-
walkers, etceterites.

Time: Thu, 08-Nov-2001 23:05:51 GMT     IP: 198.214.101.119

I agree with Jordan that it would be cool to get other people's 
opinions on specific pieces besides just my own little reviews. 
Oh, and Jordan, I didn't dislike your piece, I just was using it 
as an example of a certain kind of offensiveness that's 
relatively easy to do (although I hadn't thought about the mean-
spirited, slow, and methodical nature of death as depicted in 
your piece) and to see if Greg was in fact thinking about your 
monologue or something completely different.

Anyway, thanks those who've chimed in on the various challenging 
pieces of the evening (Jordan's, the Anthrax Brothers'). What 
about the other stuff? 

And what do those people from whom we haven't heard think?


What say you Joplin? Benner? Liz? Courtney? Hung? Gonzo? Jessy? 
Shameless Jeff Amos? Mikey D? Ann? Ratgirl? Jobber Ratgirl? 
Janina? Jeremy? Bill's Turn? Burt? Brandyn? Yasmin? Travis? 
Allison? Chelsea? Shana? Korey? Caroline? James? Noah? 
Stephanie? Clay? David? Peter? Bob? Maggie? Ace? Julie? Matt? 
Sean? BubbleBoy? Bean-walking Michael? Megan? Chili? Chandy? 
Madame Mabry? Snuggles/Nature Boy?

Wow, what a cool list of people I just put together.

See you soon,

Shannon

Time: Fri, 09-Nov-2001 00:12:24 GMT     IP: 64.92.153.41

Shannon,
I firmly believe that you could definitely get some help out of 
some of the regulars at No Shame...somebody handling tickets, 
somebody handling signups, maybe somebody on standby in case prop 
assistance is needed, maybe a few fluffers, I dunno....hell, 
perhaps this could be a way to involve people who are more shy 
about performing in a format like No Shame......
-travis

Time: Fri, 09-Nov-2001 00:21:29 GMT     IP: 64.92.153.41

Wasn't there also talk (and maybe it even happened) of an 
informal gathering to brainstorm ideas and collaborate on No 
Shame pieces and otherwise discuss theater and art?  I know a lot 
of the people I talk to about No Shame, people who are actors and 
are perfectly at home on a stage, just say something like "I 
wouldn't know what to do."  It's kind of odd, or maybe it's not, 
but when you tell people they can do ANYTHING, yes ANYTHING, and 
all the rules are dropped, there's suddenly no border to follow, 
no script, nada, people get kind of freaked.  I don't know if the 
idea of the brainstorming session was some kind of by invitation 
only deal, but I think that it would be something great for those 
who really want to keep No Shame going in Austin.  There is no 
reason, NO REASON why No Shame cannot thrive in a town like this, 
and why it can't lead to other new creations outside of No 
Shame.  

Time: Fri, 09-Nov-2001 01:43:12 GMT     IP: 64.12.101.159

Well, i'd have to say my favorite pieces of the evening were This 
Song Makes Me Cry (Courtney, the Pixies and The Authority...it's 
the simple things in life that bring us such joy), Tassy Madison 
(cute AND disturbing...i got a bargain!), Life in Origami (when 
Ace is in a good mood, he's one of the funniest people on the 
planet) and Song for Jesus.  Medium is the Message gets an 
honorable mention for eliciting the strongest reaction and being 
the piece that stuck with me the most. The anthrax bit may have 
been somewhat of an "easy shock" ending...i thought the rest of 
the piece was unsettling enough on its own. And while i do like 
when performers get involved with their audiences, when that 
interaction turns to violence then i think you've crossed a line.

And i didn't think you hated my piece, Shannon (i'd understand if 
you did...though i would have you give me your justification in a 
Bill Cosby voice). Yeah, it was really easy offensiveness. I 
wasn't going for complex or intellectual offensiveness, because i 
wanted this to hit you in the gut not poke you in the head. And 
thinking back on it now, i think i got just the reaction i was 
hoping for. Still, love to hear other thoughts (not that i don't 
love Shannon, who is the smartest man ever).

Time: Fri, 09-Nov-2001 17:30:39 GMT     IP: 128.83.101.43

hear ye hear ye
first of all---cheers shannon for including moi on yr cool people 
list. thump thump goes my heart. 
yay for no shame! it is a unique form of theatre that is not 
always entirely comfortable (ie: anthrax invasion, silent coffee 
gurl...) and sometimes downright offensive (...rifle-toting bible 
beaters..) but i can always count on it for a cognitive 
workout.......
last weeks show was stellar---some really funny shit in there and 
some really risky stuff that i loved. the creative juices were 
definantly flowing and i'm shore everyone's gonna miss it. may 
january come around speedily..
i do sorta agree with the price thing being a bit hefty though. as  
a student that sold her soul to the corporate coffee world to pay 
rent (barnes and noble guilty)----$5 is heavy. i reckon the show 
could really draw a larger audience with a lower price. and if 
that ends up being an issue with the hideout---i bet performers 
could cough up a dollar or two as well. i mean---that would kinda 
be a blow if performers couldnt get in free but you gotta do what 
you gotta do to keep the space and attract a larger crowd AT THE 
SAME TIME. and somebody mentioned in an earlier email that they 
reckoned it was a bit xclusionary---which is a little bit true---
but no shame is still in its nascent stage and i reckon with a wee 
bit o' pr---it will start attracting larger and larger audiences. 
it seemed like last week was more varied than previous weeks. i 
think. i've been known to be wrong. once.
but i dig this feedback thing---every time i get to hear my own 
head rattle---i'm ecstatic. 
shannon---yr doing a great job mate and i totally appreciate yr 
dedication to it. if you ever need help with some organisational 
aspects i'm happy to offer my skills. i have really really great 
handwriting.....
vive la no shame!!!!
b

Time: Fri, 09-Nov-2001 22:54:22 GMT     IP: 198.214.101.119

I'm going to post this as a new message so it will pop up at the 
top of the board but it's really a response to a few things that 
Travis said.

First, yes there was discussion of brainstorming meeting, etc 
and no it would never be intended to be by invite only. Amie and 
Courtney and I got together one Saturday afternoon a while back 
but I had emailed a ton of people who I thought would be 
interested. I'll probably keep doing this, but there is 
absolutely nothing preventing people from getting together en 
mass to strategize and scheme themselves. This is perhaps 
unfortunate language to use nowadays, but ideally No Shame works 
with lots of little cells doing their own thing and periodically 
colliding and exchanging talents fluidly without any kind of 
supervision. So hey, everybody start your own Saturday afternoon 
No Shame coffee klatch and dream big. Nest show, go up to 
someone you don't know but whose piece you perhaps liked and ask 
them to do something with you.

Second, the whole actor reluctance thing. Amie's brought this up 
with me as well. This speaks perhaps to Jeff Goode's post 
recently and his section about cultivating writers for No Shame. 
When actors say they wouldn't know what to do, tell them sure 
they would. Try something out. How do you know you're not a 
talented writer if you don't try? It's a non-judgmental format. 
Dare to fail, baby. We'll catch you if you fall. Heck, there are 
probably tons of actors out there who would make wonderful 
playwrights if they gave it a shot. And then you become a multi-
threat theater talent in that you can write and act, just like 
Ratgirl or the Loaded Gun Theory folks or Lee Eddy or whoever 
else you care to think of.

But I do understand the reluctance of people who don't consider 
themselves writers to tread the boards. This is where the all-
aspects-of-theater training that No Shame promotes comes in. 
Many of us run or are starting up theater companies. Part of 
your job as  head of a company is to select scripts and maybe 
even commission scripts, and then find a director and a cast to 
realize them. No Shame can be a training ground for that aspect 
of theater.

Here in Austin we have a couple of really good resources which 
we haven't really tapped much. One is the universities-UT, St. 
Ed's, etc. There are tons of people writing for classes at both 
the undergrad and grad level. Find one and commission a script 
from them. They don't have to be in it of course if that's not 
their thing. The second resource is Austin Script Works. This 
town has playwrights coming out the wazoo. Now not all of them 
in ASW are going to be interested in or have the time to write a 
script for No Shame, but some of them would be. Commission a 
script from one of them, cast it, and voila, now there's a bunch 
of actors who wouldn't otherwise be participating doing their 
actor thing at No Shame. If anyone wants contact info on people 
in ASW who might write a script for you, let me know.

OK, that's all for now.

The Great Shandoni

Time: Fri, 09-Nov-2001 23:01:38 GMT     IP: 165.97.10.201

Dear Fellow Artists et the Shamu Sho,

Eye liks itt.

I hep owit iff'n (ass de Ratgirl sez) yu kneads mee tuse.

I pay de Stoogie muni iff'n (ass de Ratgirl sez) I kneads tuse. 
Dat Shawin felo tole mee I cudnit yous de littul munies 
innymors. I guts too yus de big munies now ore hee caul de 
paliss.

Eye sowi I nut bin der ladeli. I wuhs fluffing et de Stoogie sho 
end din I gut de laytix wash awl obur mi buddi, sose I hed too 
gits de kourtisan shots.

I guts luts uv nu idears end peeses foure de nekst Shamu Sho! I 
mis yus awil!

Lubs,

Your Fellow Artist,

Ratgirl

Time: Sat, 10-Nov-2001 02:49:30 GMT     IP: 128.83.57.146

Hey one thing I forgot to say. Yes, there's a long history of 
people developing longer, extra-No Shame pieces using NS as a 
workshop and laboratory. So bring those scenes from your five-act 
masterpiece on in. We want to see them.

Ciao,

Shan-k-zardoz

Time: Sat, 10-Nov-2001 20:28:50 GMT     IP: 24.149.25.102

Hi Shannon and others,

Got your message on our boardroom, so here's a few ideas...

First of all, persistance is the key. This is our second year of 
existence, and we're just now beginning to be something worthy 
to write home about. we had a stretch last spring where we only 
had 4 or 5 scripts a show for a month or two. dont be frustrated 
at the dry spells, they went away.

Do plaster ad campaigns around the area. we advertised the shit 
out of our best of no shame show, and for the first time in our 
little history, we packed our auditorium.

If you're not already doing this, hit the colleges hard. they 
are hungry for experience. in the past i have sent out mass 
emails to every theatre major, creative writing major, and music 
major. also, talk to professors about going to speak to classes 
about a regular opportunity to perform. most times, they will 
let you, and sometimes, the profs will show up too.

We also took the iowa city idea of having a no shame board, 
which really helps out. if you can get 4-5 people who will 
lighten the orginization of the evening, it always runs 
smoother. plus, if shannon, or another board member gets busy 
and cant make a show, you can still have it and know that 
everything gets done that should.

those are a few suggestions, ill try to post more as they come 
to me.

Time: Mon, 12-Nov-2001 07:18:08 GMT     IP: 66.68.82.76

When you talk about commissioning scripts for NS, how does that 
fall in with the idea of original pieces that are performed by 
the writers? I had thought that's what it was, but, if you have a 
writer and then you cast the performers to act in the piece, 
where is that being original as compared to doing any 5-minute 
piece from any source? Is it that no one has performed it before 
or what? I remember the monologue about the Great One performed 
by an actress but it was written by the playwright who wrote it 
(from rm 120 theatre) but did not appear except to introduce the 
excerpt. Maybe a clarification of the sources of materials would 
be appropriate. Are we just saying, anything that has not been 
published or performed before, or if it were improvised at 
another venue, we would be just as glad to watch it? 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Laurie Ann Poole

Time: Mon, 12-Nov-2001 13:55:47 GMT     IP: 128.83.176.64

Hi!  My name is Megan Gogerty, and I've been lurking a lil' bit.  
I, too, am an alum from the Iowa City No Shame (and ran the thing 
from '94-97), and since moving to town, have performed at Austin 
No Shame exactly once.

Onto my two cents.  My comment has nothing to do with whether to 
charge performers or not.  Mine is about the ticket cost in 
general.  I think they should be way cheap, as cheap as we can 
swing 'em.  Here's my anecdotal story:

When I was working in a theatre in Mpls, I was launching a one-
gal show and had to determine how much I wanted to charge folks 
to get in.  My initial commie impulse was to charge as little as 
possible.  I wanted as many people to see my show as possible, 
and I didn't want some dumb thing like admission cost to keep 
people away.  

But I ended up charging $10 a pop, and here's why.  The guy who 
ran the theatre said, "If you charge people $2, they're going to 
expect a $2 show.  If you charge them $10, they're going to 
expect a $10 show.  People want quality, and they're willing to 
pay for it.  So if you charge a hefty amount for your tickets, 
you're going to raise expectations for what kind of show you're 
giving them.  A professional show is a more expensive show.  Now, 
if you raise their expectations and then don't deliver, you're in 
big trouble.  But you've got to ask yourself, what is your show 
worth?"

I thought that was pretty sage advice, in a savvy marketing, 
psych-out-the-audience kind of way.  So, does that mean I'm 
advocating a hefty admission cost for No Shame?

Absolutely not.  The opposite, actually.  I think we should 
charge $1, with $.99 nights on holidays.

Here's why:  No Shame is not professional.  The more you charge, 
the more people expect.  And if you come to No Shame to 
experience consistently quality theatre, you're going to be 
disappointed.  This is no comment on any specific performers; as 
I've said, I've only been to the Austin forum once, so what the 
hell do I know about the local performers?  I'm just speaking to 
the medium.  No Shame is about experimentation.  It's about 
daring to fail, and sometimes, that means actually failing.  And 
that's great.  That's what makes it so great.  It's grab-bag 
theatre, which means sometimes you get a gem of a piece, and 
sometimes you get garbage.  In fact, it's been my experience 
that, all things being equal, most pieces are going to fall in 
the "unfinished, needs work" category.  That's totally cool, 
because people aren't going to bring their Broadway plays to No 
Shame.  They're going to bring their quirky, "Does this work?" 
pieces.  Sometimes, the answer is "Nope, it sure doesn't."

So if you charge $1, people are more willing to sit through 
experiments gone awry.  If you charge them $5, they're maybe less 
likely.  

Also, we have to keep in mind who our audience is.  Late night 
show, short quirky pieces...not too many blue-hairs gonna be 
coming.  (I mean old ladies, not punks.  Bring on the punks!)  So 
No Shame is naturally going to gravitate towards the younger 
crowd, and the outskirts-of-society crowd.  These are not people 
who own yahts, usually.  So the cheaper it is, the more we 
attract a recurring group of folks from the street urchin sect.  
Which is way cool.

Phew!  Okay.  that's alls I got.  Dig in!

Time: Mon, 12-Nov-2001 16:04:07 GMT     IP: 165.97.10.201

Dear Fellow Artists et de Shamu Sho,

I wunts too bees own de Bored uv Creechurs iff'n (ass de Jabba 
sez) wees hes won.

I guts luts uv Shamu Sho eggspeariens end awso I promiss too 
shos up too ebbry sho too doo wurks like sweaping end taking 
muni end yeling et de lawid peepuls too shut up.

Iff'n (ass de Jabba sez) wee iz woting, pweez wote fur mees.

I bee gud.

Lubs yus,

Your Fellow Artist end Canibul fur Bored uv Creechurs uv de 
Shamu Sho,

Ratgirl

Time: Mon, 12-Nov-2001 16:08:11 GMT     IP: 165.97.10.201

Dear Fellow Artists et de Shamu Sho end Shanun, Cheef Shamu,

Shanun, I numinate yus too bees de Cheef Shamu uv de Shamu Sho, 
end porpoise dat wee hevs a Bored uv Creechurs abloated eeder bi 
de Cheef Shamu ore bi dee woting uv de prepuces.

Rasputinly,

Your Fellow Artist,

Ratgirl

Time: Mon, 12-Nov-2001 16:15:17 GMT     IP: 165.97.10.201

Dear Fellow Artists et the Shamu Sho,

I seecund de Hungrible Ratgirl's numinashun uv de Shanun too bees 
de Cheef Shamu.

Uv curse, Ratgirl tauks funi, sose mebbe wee shud transleg thet 
tittle entu sumding mur hungrible, like Chef Shame ore sumding 
muir elegint-sowning like dat (itt awmust sowins Fwinge).

Wif grate bumbleness end rasburries,

Your Fellow Artist,

Ratgirl

Time: Mon, 12-Nov-2001 17:57:45 GMT     IP: 198.214.101.119

The parameters of No Shame don't exclude ORIGINAL, NEVER BEFORE 
SEEN material in which the writer himself or herself doesn't 
actually perform. Now most often what happens is the author 
appears in the piece as well, but it doesn't have to be that 
way. Some good material used to come out of No Shame in Iowa 
City (and Chicago and probably other places) where the author 
wrote a monologue or scene for a particular actor (or actors) 
and then watched from the audience to see how well it looks and 
to absorb audience reaction without the added layer of being on 
stage. That how Jeff Goode's play The Eight was developed 
(which, by the way I'll be producing at the Hideout, December 14 
and 15, mark your calendars). The only injunction is that the 
work be original. How this differs from doing already published 
pieces is that if you do a monologue from David Mamet, he could 
sue your ass for not getting the rights to perform it in front 
of a paying public. And since No Shame is geared toward 
experimentation, why would you want to see David Mamet (or 
whomever) there anyway?

Like I said, most authors are going to end up being in their own 
pieces. I offered the five-minute play commissioning idea as 
another way to encourage new people to come out to No Shame, 
specifically a) people who think of themselves primarily as 
actors to find ways that they can be part of the fun without 
having to write something themselves (although the goal is to 
get everyone writing), and b) writers who haven't been to No 
Shame to come check out the forum. Because I can't think of an 
unpublished and produced playwright who wouldn't come watch his 
or her work being staged, even if for only 5 minutes.

Time: Sat, 17-Nov-2001 05:02:53 GMT     IP: 207.218.222.89

I wholeheartedly second the idea of moving the show to an "off"
night.  Sunday, Monday, Tuesday nights seem to woefully
underutilized in the Austin theatre community.  Most people are
either in a show or trying to catch one or two other shows that
are only running a few weekends. You lose the performers, you
split the theatre-going crowd.
 
Plus?  Gain easier parking and the people who sigh woefully at the
idea of fighting Sixth Streeet weekend traffic (cars or people). 

~Annie M.

Time: Sat, 17-Nov-2001 05:20:10 GMT     IP: 207.218.222.89

I think a $5 ticket price is fair and in line with other open
mike/open performances in town. I don't think admission price is
the issue as much.
 
I like that the performers get in free.  Pay to play has bit of
"ick" on it -- it's just a slippery road to start down.  However,
if you do have the need charge performers, I'd suggest you make it
cheaper for performers.  A buck.  But I do think, yes, it does
encourage people to perform and some neat stuff has come out of
that -- some has failed, but isn't that the point?

Also, to consider -- does (could) any money go to charity around
town?  People are still paying to see a show, but maybe performers
"entrance fees" goes to help fund "The Advocate" (the homeless
newspaper)?   Then again, it's a goal of mine to raise money for
others with any show I produce. I don't much of my own to give, so
I take other people's money instead . . .  
~Annie M.

Time: Sat, 17-Nov-2001 05:27:50 GMT     IP: 207.218.222.89

From the other side of the fence - I heard time and again from
HOdown potential cast members and friends/potential audience that
they would love to be there but that particular day they had a
conflict. Therefore it would be 2 months before they could be
there, which is long enough for folks to forget about it. . . So
there's always that potential to consider, too.

If you do go to once a month (and stay on top of publicity, which
I'm willing to help with), I highly recommend keeping it
consistent.  Like the last Monday of each month, or every full moon.

Hee -- I like the idea of every full moon.

~Annie M.

Time: Mon, 19-Nov-2001 21:49:35 GMT     IP: 146.6.111.115

Shannon and others - 

Have you made any decisions yet about the nuts and bolts of No 
Shame 2002 (admission, frequency, off-nights, etc.)?  I just 
wanted to second somebody's opinion about frequency.  I think 
the more often and the more regular, the better.  Make a routine 
out of it, blah blah blah.  

Also, as a performer, I have no problems paying to get in.  I 
also have no problems with not paying, not getting in, and still 
being allowed to perform.  That scenario requires a green room, 
which the Hideout doesn't have (does it?).  Theoretically, 
performers who didn't want to pay but still wanted to perform 
could hang out in the coffee bar downstairs until it was their 
turn to perform, but that would require a stage manager/Kermit 
the Frog person to call out, "Two-headed Monster's up next," or 
whatever.  Considering the myriad of performers, is this type of 
thing even feasible?  And does the stage manager want to be 
burdened with tracking down the performers every five minutes?  
I don't know.  If I were the stage manager, I probably 
wouldn't.  But it's an idea.

- Megan

Time: Tue, 20-Nov-2001 21:55:51 GMT     IP: 66.68.125.249

I don't know if anyone is still checking the board but I wanted
to tell you guys about a screening for a short movie/film/video
that I'm in. It's Dec. 1 at 4:30 pm at the Alamo Drafthouse
central. It costs $5. I shoot guns and kick asses.
Courtney

Time: Sun, 25-Nov-2001 00:08:42 GMT     IP: 64.4.115.157

Got a message from Shannon on our Charlottesville No Shame board, 
so I thought I'd check out your board. Nice to see such response 
to your site. We are not to that level of reaction yet...

As our local man Todd says, there is support for the season pass 
here among the regulars (and why not? A year of No Shame for 
$99.99 is a bargain compared to the $250 or so that it would cost 
at $5 a pop), and I would suggest something similar for you guys. 

As a freelance illustrator, I constantly run into problems when I 
do work for free. If someone's paying for a job, they buy in and 
pay attention to what I'm telling them. When I work for free, 
there is no such respect. If people are paying for a thing, they 
respect it more. And if they are just coming to perform and then 
leave, well... I'd say they are missing the opportunities that No 
Shame presents...

In our case, a season pass should allow the luxury of going to 
performances once they own the pass "for free", while also feeling 
they've bought in.

We are lucky to have such great people here, but we are not 
filling the house regularly yet. Best Of went swimmingly, but the 
word is not yet out...

I would recommend the Door Prize very strongly.
The number of good pieces written for a Door Prize is pretty high, 
and they would not have even existed without such a goad. 
Everything from prosthetic legs to film cans to antlers can 
inspire something new. To someone who hadn't written in years and 
never performed, No Shame is as good as it gets.

We look forward to Reprise/Encore/Amnesty Night where all and 
sundry are invited to re-perform pieces that they enjoyed doing at 
No Shame before.

I'm also looking forward to a rotating batch of pieces from the 
different No Shame cities. What fun to do pieces from Austin and 
think that Iowans are performing stuff from C'Ville.

An uber-No-Shame gathering might be fun too...

Cheers,
       Lee