Time: Sat, 01-Sep-2001 16:56:24 GMT     IP: 128.255.189.101

So, is there going to be an order for last night's show here? 
Until then, anyone have any thoughts about the show?

Time: Mon, 03-Sep-2001 00:18:47 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.138

No there will not be an order.  No there are no thoughts had 
by anyone about the show.

Time: Mon, 03-Sep-2001 14:50:40 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.118

Thinks about the show!  Stinka Arlen!  Stinka Dan!  No Stinka me!

Love,
Mose.

Time: Tue, 04-Sep-2001 05:13:05 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142

Why single out Arlen and Dan for being so terribly stinka?  There 
was lots of terrible stinka.  There was some good stinka, too, 
like at the end of the show the stinka was particularly swell.  
Did Dan perform?  I don't remember Dan performing anything.  Was 
Dan invited to perform?

Time: Tue, 04-Sep-2001 20:42:48 GMT     IP: 209.56.60.2

::Stinka Arlen!  Stinka Dan!  No Stinka me!
:Why single out Arlen and Dan for being so terribly stinka?  

This is joke, Huboob. The real Mose wasn't even at the show. (Nor 
was any sort of Dan, real or otherwise.) You must laugh at the 
peoples' jokses, Hooboo! You must not say, "The information this 
joke gives is innacurate." No.  

Time: Wed, 05-Sep-2001 06:20:57 GMT     IP: 128.255.202.213

... that this Friday's show is gonnna' rock da' hiz-ouse! 

Time: Wed, 05-Sep-2001 15:05:53 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.233

Shit! The order had been in my shirt pocket since Friday. Sorry 
for the delay.

The order, for August 31st, 2001 (performed on the ped mall):

1) "Any Given Situation" by Jamal River

2) "The Great Hypno" by Steve, Ben, and Alexxx

3) "Johnny Correspondent" by Alyssa Bowman

4) "The Garveys" by Paul Rust

5) "Loveletter from a Seeing Eye Dog" by Nozebone the Band

6) "The "Archie" Comic Strip From Tues, May 11, 1982" by Bob 
Montana (adapted for the stage by Arlen Lawson)

7) "It's What's Inside That Counts" by Aprille Clarke

8) "The Drinking Alternative" by Chris Stangl

9) "Welcome to Iowa!" by Neil "Balls" Campbell

And that was it! See you Friday!

Balls

Time: Fri, 07-Sep-2001 11:17:26 GMT     IP: 24.4.166.160

So how was it?  Did the audience get into it, or were they all 
just walkin' on by wondering who the freaks were?  Were any 
momsndads totally offended, or was there nothing there for them to 
be offended by?  Funny funny?  So-so?

Some of us forgot to go and still want a late, vicarious fix.

-Adam

Time: Sat, 08-Sep-2001 07:22:47 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.72

No Shame Theatre
Order September 7, 2001

Announcements/Order:  A Clarke, N"B" Campbell

1. "The Commandies, Part 3:  `The Lavender Hyena,'" by Aaron 
Galbraith. [N"B" Campbell, M Cassady.  N"B" and M exchange 
energetic blasphemies; comedy sketch]

2. "The Dark," by Ronnie Wright.  [R Wright.  R reads a mostly-
rhyming poem about identity and pain; poetry reading]

3. "Chataqua #4_On the Upcoming Release of Attack of the Clones" 
by James Erwin.  [J Erwin.  J discusses the evolution of George 
Lucas's filmmaking and the probable quality of the upcoming 
Episode 2; monologue]

3.5 "How Stella Got Her Poop Back," by Al Angel.  [A Angel, J 
River; A is magnetically attracted to J's poop, despite his 
horror; comedy mini-sketch]

4. "A Moment in Life," by Willie Barbour.  [W Barbour, A Clarke, 
??_this is sad because I talked to her for a long time and now I 
have to confess that I don't remember her name; W likens human 
male sexual aggression to the activities of various forms of 
wildlife, including dogs and lions; comedy monologue/sketch]

5. "Truth Story," by Nozebone the Band. [N Clark, M Hansen.  
Nozebone song featuring Melodica and Backpacker's Guitar thingy; 
musical performance]

6. "Talking to Your Kind," by Paul Rust.  [M Thompson, P Rust, T 
Sherwood, N"B" Campbell.  Paul, Paul's evil clone, and the true 
Paul observable only through audio tape each wreak their own 
personal brands of havoc on the audience.

7. "Carparts -&- Eggshells," by King Toad.  [J River, A Angel, N 
Clark(?)] Hit song from the new King Toad album!  Musical 
performance]

8. "Desert Pepper," by Arlen Lawson.  [A Lawson; a baby climbed up 
a palm tree_or did it?  Monologue]

9. "In a Haunted Hibernation," by Olympia Washington.  [N Clark.  
N drinks a mug of some liquid with a coffee filter over his face; 
guitar noise/music plays from a recording.  Drinking performance]

10.  "'The Act or Process of Falling into Decay,' a Hymn " by Al 
Angel [Al_I apologize if that's not exactly how the title should 
be] [A Angel, J River, N Clark, M Cassady, P Rust, M Hansen, ?.  
Chant-chorus song; musical performance]

11. "Nothing:  A Definition -&- Recommended Use," by Aprille Clarke 
[A Clarke, M Hansen, J Erwin.  Alternating monologues and sketches 
about funny and sad; sketch]

12. "Gang Bang Tang (What the Astronaut's Fucked to the Moon):  
Part Two:  The Beginning," by Spencer Griffin -&- Neal Sachman -&- 
Tina Sherwood.  [S Griffin, M Cassady, A Galbraith, M Brooks, N"B" 
Campbell, ?.  Guys trade insults, and Mark-Paul Gosssaaslaialeir 
shakes things up a bit; comedy sketch]

13. "Gilbert Gottfried:  A Chronicle of a Hero," by Seth Brenneman 
[S Brenneman.  Gilbert Gottfried, more versatile than we ever 
knew; monologue]

14. "The Three Kinds of Pain," by Neil "Balls" Campbell.  [N"B" 
Campbell.  N"B" intersperses descriptions of 3 sorts of pain with 
examples and racism; multi-level monologue]

15. "BLACK FOREST," by Chris Stangl.  [C Stangl; man recounts a 
mushroom-hunting adventure in the Black Forest that ended in 
circulatory-system-related toenail trouble; monologue]

Time: Sat, 08-Sep-2001 22:10:03 GMT     IP: 216.243.220.117

???=Toni Wilson.
S'there.

Time: Sun, 09-Sep-2001 00:39:41 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142

Alright, so I really don't have time to be doing this, but it 
turns out I have decided to, anyway.

No Shame Theatre September 7, 2001

   This was a great and awesome No Shame, I think, and I wish 
that No Shame was always like this.  There was, yeah, a good 
amount of Sketch Comedy, enough to half-justify the horrific 
comparison No Shame is accustomed to getting, "It's a Saturday 
Night Live type of show, except with (fill in blank according to 
your bias)," BUT there was enough deviation, neat unconventional 
music, performance art, even poetry to make for a neat, varied, 
and not boring evening.  Also, the par for the night in terms of 
quality was set pretty high.    

1. "The Commandies, Part 3: `The Lavender Hyena,'" by Aaron 
Galbraith. [N"B" Campbell, M Cassady. N"B" and M exchange 
energetic blasphemies; comedy sketch]

   This was comedy funny!  It was "Welcome to No Shame!  It is 
too late for you to be mistaken about what you've come to see!"  
It was a response to PG-13 Ped-Shame?  The N-word was not in the 
script!

2. "The Dark," by Ronnie Wright. [R Wright. R reads a mostly-
rhyming poem about identity and pain; poetry reading]

   Rhyming poetry no.  No rhyming poetry, stop!  However, 
strange, awed, soft but intense delivery and the sense that it 
was genuine made this interesting and attention absorbing.

3. "Chataqua #4_On the Upcoming Release of Attack of the Clones" 
by James Erwin. [J Erwin. J discusses the evolution of George 
Lucas's filmmaking and the probable quality of the upcoming 
Episode 2; monologue]

  This was great fun, but paled in comparison to the fun had when 
Chris Stangl made me say "Attack of the Clones" to James the 
previous week at The Mill.  That was terrific and, statistically 
speaking, you missed it.  
   This, what No Shame saw, was a terrific faux-rationalization 
of Episode I that honestly got me thinking in the way that, yes, 
a bullshit conspiracy theory gets me thinking.  

3.5 "How Stella Got Her Poop Back," by Al Angel. [A Angel, J 
River; A is J's poop, despite his 
horror; comedy mini-sketch]

   Pee Fart the sketch!  And great!  And people behind me made 
shocked noises at the half-appearance of Jamal's butt, as though 
they had never seen that butt before.
   Have all you people bought Pee Fart magazine from Chris or 
Jamal yet?  And if not, why not?  It's only a dollar, jackbutt!

4. "A Moment in Life," by Willie Barbour. [W Barbour, A Clarke, 
T Wilson_; W likens human 
male sexual aggression to the activities of various forms of 
wildlife, including dogs and lions; comedy monologue/sketch]

   Willie said a lot of words and I stared at every one, 
marveling at it.  I have once or twice made the remark about 
Willie's No Shame fare, "Well, he writes good prose."  This time 
Willie took hold of my brain and would not release until he was 
done.  The dog nose at the end, while cute and fun, I think 
diminished this.  I divide the monologue/sketch into before the 
nose and after, and the before was better for me.
   It is good to have Willie back.

5. "Truth Story," by Nozebone the Band. [N Clark, M Hansen. 
Nozebone song featuring Melodica and strumstick; 
musical performance]

   I can not hear the words to this Nozebone song well.  The ones 
I do hear are neat.  The music is very neat.  I said to Nick 
Clark, "This is my favorite musical Nozebone song"  and Nick 
Clark said to me, "Then I wish I'd played it better."  People 
were laughing at this and, while they have laughed at Nozebone 
songs before, I am even more intensely curious about what they 
were laughing at here.  Could they not tell that there was 
absolutely nothing funny about the attack of this song, and 
nothing in it that could have been misunderstood as intended in a 
funny way?  I do not understand.

6. "Talking to Your Kind," by Paul Rust. [M Thompson, P Rust, T 
Sherwood, N"B" Campbell. Paul, Paul's evil clone, and the true 
Paul observable only through audio tape each wreak their own 
personal brands of havoc on the audience.]

   This sketch was funny, but funnier before the clones.  Neat 
jokes came after, though.  The presence of the radio as a part of 
the sketch, no longer just to facilitate.  Then,  "My essence is 
so great_ it can only be transported to you on this 
audiocassette."  Neat and interesting and funny for that, but 
less enjoyable than Paul being an "asshole" to the audience.

7. "Carparts --&-- Eggshells," by King Toad. [J River, A Angel, N 
Clark(?)] Hit song from the new King Toad album! Musical 
performance]

   There are some great things on Down With the Ship.  This song 
was one of those things.  Also, Jamal's live versions of his 
songs are always incredible and you wish he would release an 
album of live performances, except maybe they wouldn't record 
well or something.  Whatever.  I couldn't hear the guitar well 
this time, though I can bet that Al was playing it well because I 
had the opportunity to hear them rehearse it and Al did play it 
well.  However, the startling intensity of Jamal's delivery made 
this performance magic and the most fun I had all night, I 
think.  I'm not sure.  It was a great night.  It's up there at 
least.
   I am listening to Squashed as I am writing this, basically for 
the first time, though I have heard bits of it before.  It is 
great.  You should buy Squashed and Down With the Ship from 
Jamal.  Also How to Decompose.  And, if you've got another five 
dollars, Skin Deep.

8. "Desert Pepper," by Arlen Lawson. [A Lawson; a baby climbed up 
a palm tree_or did it? Monologue]

   The story is I wrote a monologue then performed it.  Take 
that, shit-for-brains!

9. "In a Haunted Hibernation," by Olympia Washington. [N Clark. 
N drinks a mug of some liquid with a coffee filter over his face; 
guitar noise/music plays from a recording. Drinking performance]

   Nick Clark in pain was a hurt-me kind of thing to watch.  I 
wasn't sure as I was watching it if Nick had expected to be in 
the kind of pain he was in.  I knew he would finish, of course, 
and I thought that this was terrible if he had not been expecting 
pain.  This is not to say that the piece was not interesting and 
good and a part of why this night was cool to me.  In fact, my 
genuine concern for his welfare might have been a part of what 
made it for me.

10. "'The Act or Process of Falling into Decay,' a Hymn " by Al 
Angel [A Angel, J River, N Clark, M Cassady, P Rust, M Hansen, ?. 
Chant-chorus song; musical performance]

Great, Great, Great!  My pants shook at the unexpected greatness 
of this.  Al puts down his guitar, the instrument he is best at, 
and manages to pound out the best song he ever wrote, or the best 
song I ever heard of his wrote what for got to think sense.  The 
best Al ever!

11. "Nothing: A Definition --&-- Recommended Use," by Aprille 
Clarke 
[A Clarke, M Hansen, J Erwin. Alternating monologues and sketches 
about funny and sad; sketch]

   The sketch is good, but I know the sketch will be good.  And 
James is good, but I know James will be good.  I do not mean to 
dismiss these things, but to me the thing that breaks me is that 
Mark doubles, triples his part in performance.  I have seen Mark 
be wonderful on video.  I have remarked that Mark is something to 
see on video.  But it has also in the past been remarked on this 
board, not by me, though I agreed, that, with a few notable 
exceptions, Mark had some weakness in delivering the No Shame 
material, to the point where his sketches read better than they 
performed.  Here my jaw drops at just how funny Mark is.
   Come to think of it, his delivery has been wonderful in the 
past, as well.  But I don't know how else to make significant 
what he did here without leaving the preceding paragraph intact.  
So take that.
   Like I said, Aprille's sketch was swell.  And both she and 
James were swell.  I just don't have anything more to say about 
that.
   P.S. I thought of something.  The nostril thing was a mean 
thing to do.  And I suppose t

Time: Sun, 09-Sep-2001 00:41:25 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142


11. "Nothing: A Definition --&-- Recommended Use," by Aprille 
Clarke 
[A Clarke, M Hansen, J Erwin. Alternating monologues and sketches 
about funny and sad; sketch]

   The sketch is good, but I know the sketch will be good.  And 
James is good, but I know James will be good.  I do not mean to 
dismiss these things, but to me the thing that breaks me is that 
Mark doubles, triples his part in performance.  I have seen Mark 
be wonderful on video.  I have remarked that Mark is something to 
see on video.  But it has also in the past been remarked on this 
board, not by me, though I agreed, that, with a few notable 
exceptions, Mark had some weakness in delivering the No Shame 
material, to the point where his sketches read better than they 
performed.  Here my jaw drops at just how funny Mark is.
   Come to think of it, his delivery has been wonderful in the 
past, as well.  But I don't know how else to make significant 
what he did here without leaving the preceding paragraph intact.  
So take that.
   Like I said, Aprille's sketch was swell.  And both she and 
James were swell.  I just don't have anything more to say about 
that.
   P.S. I thought of something.  The nostril thing was a mean 
thing to do.  And I suppose that means it worked.

12. "Gang Bang Tang (What the Astronaut's Fucked to the Moon): 
Part Two: The Beginning," by Spencer Griffin --&-- Neal Sachman --&-- 
Tina Sherwood. [S Griffin, M Cassady, A Galbraith, M Brooks, N"B" 
Campbell, A. Lawson Guys trade insults, and Mark-Paul 
Gosssaaslaialeir 
shakes things up a bit; comedy sketch]

   Dude, I was totally in this sketch!  You didn't see me, or 
something?
   I liked it a lot and laughed, but, from back stage and not 
really having read anything but my part, and also from being kind 
of dumb, I was totally oblivious to the whole offensive nature of 
what was going on.  It's strange to me how I could have missed 
it, and now I don't get to be analytical about whether this was 
done with ironic intent or not.  I should ask these people who 
wrote it.

13. "Gilbert Gottfried: A Chronicle of a Hero," by Seth Brenneman 
[S Brenneman. Gilbert Gottfried, more versatile than we ever 
knew; monologue]

  Too much set up to an entertaining impression of the G man, or 
Double G as I call him.  1. The impression was funny   2. The 
intensity with which the actors were fooled by Seth's distraction 
was funny.  The rest was weaker and could have used a trim, could 
have lost a few pounds.  Much like I could use a trim and could 
stand to lose a few pounds.  And much like Seth Brenneman could 
stand to lose a few pounds.  Just kidding there, tubby.

14. "The Three Kinds of Pain," by Neil "Balls" Campbell. [N"B" 
Campbell. N"B" intersperses descriptions of 3 sorts of pain with 
examples and racism; multi-level monologue]

   Good like Neil is Good.
   Moving on, What the fuck?  Did you hear about this thing?  
This thing that_
   OK, so like telling a racist joke because you think that 
people of other races are worthy of ridicule is bad.  I will 
agree with you there.  I'm not going to argue with that because, 
well, I'm not racist.
   There is a difference, though, at least I think and please do 
correct me if I'm wrong, between that and between telling a joke 
about racism, playing a racist character, making fun of how 
terrified Mid Westerners and to an only slightly lesser extent, 
all Americans and probably the world are of even listening to 
something that might seem racist, making fun of how, I, Arlen 
Lawson, will freely say all known swears in front of a Theatre B 
filled over capacity and try often to offend your sensibilities 
until you laugh from it, but earlier in this post wrote "the N-
word."
   I go under the assumption, and once again might be wrong, that 
nobody who performs regularly at No Shame is an actual factual 
racist.  So, when one of them says something "offensive" onstage, 
it is generally my assumption, most often clarified by the 
delivery, that the "joke" was told ironically.  It is the 
hypothetical offense that is funny.  Look, it is a longstanding 
No Shame staple to try and offend the audience because being 
offensive is funny.  And, with an increasingly jaded audience, 
three sketches this evening appear to have made use of the one 
thing that is still sharp in our ears.
   And I don't think that there is anything wrong with playing 
with that.  I think racism is ridiculous, by which I mean worthy 
of ridicule.  Are you offended by this?  Then do you defend 
racism?  Or do you not get irony?
   Okay, maybe the fact that the No Shame audience is by and 
large white does muddle this and give it the sense of looking 
both ways before telling a racist joke, which is a dirty thing, 
and like a rape joke in a frat house.  Maybe a more racially 
diverse No Shame audience would make this kind of thing more 
clear.  But who controls the diversity of the audience?  I can 
tell you it's not me, because I wouldn't let any women in.
   While I can't vouch for the intent of every No Shame writer, I 
think I can honestly say that Neil's references to race were self-
conscious jokes about racism.  And if you were seriously 
offended, then the news is you are the punch line.  

15. "BLACK FOREST," by Chris Stangl. [C Stangl; man recounts a 
mushroom-hunting adventure in the Black Forest that ended in 
circulatory-system-related toenail trouble; monologue]

   Chris dazzles.  His images are splendid.  His descriptions of 
them are honey and blood.  I don't know what that means.  This 
time, yes, his delivery was not as good as usual, but still good.
   The part about the mushrooms in the crevice of the split tree 
was good.  The toenails were made horrific and I did cringe, The 
bending of the nail.  I can't clearly remember if it was 
described or if I added it in my brain, but there were tangles of 
tissue between toenail and toe, and this, which I'm pretty sure 
was in the monologue and not my mental addition, worked.  The 
forest was solid and wonderful.  I can't remember if the duff 
(sp?) soaking with blood was as solid, so it is my guess that it 
was not.
   I forget how the two people knew each other.  Was that 
important enough to make more clear?  And I almost missed the why 
thing at the end.  I assume somebody did miss it.
   Those are things I stretched to find because I have decided to 
try and make up for Chris getting short-changed in these 
reviews.  I liked this monologue.  I think it was a good finish 
to a great evening.
   

Time: Sun, 09-Sep-2001 18:45:24 GMT     IP: 24.5.238.138

Smap,

I also have a show on KRUI, and while it does not have a 
name or a theme song and although it airs at the far less 
convenient hours of 1 am to 4 am on Tuesday mornings 
(Monday nights), it will soon be bringing you the music of 
King Toad.  Hooray?  Hooray.

Merideth

Time: Sun, 09-Sep-2001 19:12:16 GMT     IP: 24.5.238.138

I am posting about this again because my previous post 
inexplicably went straight to the bottom where no one will 
see it.

Hey!  After much pestering of Jamal and only a little magical 
influence over the KRUI music staff, I have got King Toad 
into heavy rotation at that station.  Which 89.7 fm.  The 
official KRUI debut of King Toad should be on Tuesday, 
possibly during my shift, which is 1 am to 4 am.  

You listen!

-Merideth

p.s. Ben High is much to thank also.  So is King Toad being 
so very good.

Time: Mon, 10-Sep-2001 03:12:20 GMT     IP: 205.244.163.1

Was I s'posed to be hurt by th' coffee?  Yes.  I don't believe 
there were guitars in the song (Red, Black and Green by 
Pharoah Sanders - courtesy of Al) though I could be wrong.  
Couldn't hear the lyrics to Truth Story?  Read them on the 
Nozebone website.

Time: Mon, 10-Sep-2001 04:33:02 GMT     IP: 128.255.195.97

A couple quick comments on a few pieces.

3. "Chataqua #4_On the Upcoming Release of Attack of the Clones" 
by James Erwin.  [J Erwin.  J discusses the evolution of George 
Lucas's filmmaking and the probable quality of the upcoming 
Episode 2; monologue]
This was my favorite piece of the night.  Star Wars is such a 
widely popular series that it's hard to write anything about it 
that doesn't sound like something one may have heard before.  But 
James Erwin hit a fresh angle with good delivery and I found it 
quite entertaining.

4. "A Moment in Life," by Willie Barbour.  [W Barbour, A Clarke, 
??_this is sad because I talked to her for a long time and now I 
have to confess that I don't remember her name; W likens human 
male sexual aggression to the activities of various forms of 
wildlife, including dogs and lions; comedy monologue/sketch]
I've got to disagree with Arlen's view of this pieces quality 
diminishing after the dog-nose appeared.  In the last year, I've 
seen Willie turn out many pieces with beautiful prose and imagery 
that can best be delivered by picturing what he's saying.  
Bringing out a comic prop was unexpected and successfully 
produced a good natured laugh while illustrating his point.

5. "Truth Story," by Nozebone the Band. [N Clark, M Hansen.  
Nozebone song featuring Melodica and Backpacker's Guitar thingy; 
musical performance]
I couldn't hear you guys at all, and I wasn't sitting that far 
back.

8. "Desert Pepper," by Arlen Lawson.  [A Lawson; a baby climbed 
up 
a palm tree_or did it?  Monologue]
It made me laugh, and then it made me sad.  Normally, I can't 
really guess where Arlen will go with one of his monologues.  
This time, however, I somehow knew the baby would end up staying 
in the tree.  And that's why I was sad about laughing at his 
jokes.  It may not be what Arlen intended to have his piece be 
somewhat predictable- but it gave me this laughing with a guilt 
trip reaction that I most associate with some of Aprille's 
monologues.  And that's typically a good reaction.  It was like 
one of those candies that's sweet, but it's got a terribly sour 
core and you have to live with all or nothing.

Tom

Time: Mon, 10-Sep-2001 16:43:33 GMT     IP: 216.243.220.117

3. "Chataqua #4_On the Upcoming Release of Attack of the Clones" 
by James Erwin. [J Erwin. J discusses the evolution of George 
Lucas's filmmaking and the probable quality of the upcoming 
Episode 2; monologue]

 This was great fun, but paled in comparison to the fun had when 
Chris Stangl made me say "Attack of the Clones" to James the 
previous week at The Mill.  That was terrific and, statistically 
speaking, you missed it.  
  This, what No Shame saw, was a terrific faux-rationalization 
of Episode I that honestly got me thinking in the way that, yes, 
a bullshit conspiracy theory gets me thinking.  

Arlen-

Remind me to tell you sometime why the CIA had Jimi Hendrix 
whacked.

James

Time: Mon, 10-Sep-2001 22:40:34 GMT     IP: 128.255.108.220

When is info meeting for undergrad playwrights?

Time: Tue, 11-Sep-2001 18:08:16 GMT     IP: 152.163.201.59

Has anyone heard anything from Dan Brooks? I know he doesn't 
live near Manhattan, but I wanted to be sure.

michael rothschild

Time: Tue, 11-Sep-2001 22:46:46 GMT     IP: 128.255.52.155

Before I start my review, I want to say that everyone (writers, 
performers, and especially audience members) should write some 
sort of review - whether you think your opinion is valuable or 
not. Although No Shame can be just good Friday night 
entertainment, it's also a nice workshop for artists. This 
web-board allows such feeback and consequently, better quality 
pieces. So yeah, write reviews.

1. "The Commandies, Part 3:  `The Lavender Hyena,'" by 
Aaron Galbraith. 
I, too, thought this piece was a reaction to WOW's "PG-13 No 
Shame." Like the tired metaphor goes, "If a pendulum swings one 
way, it's gotta swing the other..." or something like that. Out of 
all the pieces, this was the best one to open with - bam, 
motherfucker! Dig the reference to JC Luxton, too.

2. "The Dark," by Ronnie Wright. 
The best part about this was the delivery matching the material. 
Loose, easy, melancholy. I could complain that he didn't speak up 
enough, but it was actually a good trick. It worked with the 
poetry AND forced you to listen carefully.

3. "Chataqua #4_On the Upcoming Release of Attack of the Clones" 
by James Erwin.  
This piece's content was a little boring to me. After all, it's 
been over two years since "Episode One" came out. In addition, 
when you're a nerd like me, you've already heard the "Attack of 
the Clones is a bad title" argument a thousand times on the 
Internet. Despite this, however, James did a nice job of only 
using these subjects as a basis to hang other ideas on (i.e. 
George Lucas' downfall, hidden Hollywood stereotypes, fan boy 
psyches). I guess what can be learned from all this is... if you 
talk about older subjects, say something that's currently 
applicable and it'll work.


3.5 "How Stella Got Her Poop Back," by Al Angel. 
Funny sketch. Brilliant title. Leslie Gore.

4. "A Moment in Life," by Willie Barbour. 
My favorite part of this was how Willie hung out in the back 
during the beginning. As a viewer, you knew he was watching the 
action like yourself and that was intriguing. Then, when he 
stepped forward, you knew there'd be a commentary. It was 
interesting though because he didn't just step out from behind 
the curtain and start talking. And then finally, he became a 
character. Spectator, commentator, character - kinda neat.

5. "Truth Story," by Nozebone the Band. 
Does anyone else hate people who are on stage only because they 
are guitar virtuosos or amazing singers? "Wow. Big deal. You can 
play a solo. I'm going home." 
Well, that's why Nozebone is so great. They are on stage because 
they are just as valuable as anyone else and have something 
important just as impportant to say. Cheesy as it sounds, everyone 
has the right to be on stage, singing their story. It's a right, 
goddammit!
Of course, not everybody agrees. And that's fine. I can 
understand how it's not everyone's cup of tea and it makes them 
feel uncomfortable. It's just that for some people, watching 
people share their feelings is uncomfortable.  And watching people 
struggle with instruments is even more uncomfortable. So, people 
laugh as a way to regain comfort. Such is the tale of Nozebone the 
Band.

Guess what? I gotta' eat. And since I'm at a library computer, I 
don't have a disk to save this all and continue later. As a 
result, the review's going up incomplete. I'll finish later 
tonight though.

Time: Wed, 12-Sep-2001 23:49:17 GMT     IP: 205.244.162.22

Dan?  Mose?  How are you?

Time: Thu, 13-Sep-2001 03:29:24 GMT     IP: 152.163.201.59

Dan and Mose are fine. I've heard from people who've talked to 
both of them, so I've heard hearsay. Which is the only way I seem 
to hear things.

michael

Time: Thu, 13-Sep-2001 07:33:13 GMT     IP: 205.244.161.159

In case anybody was wondering, No Shame WILL in fact take place 
this week.  Consciously or no, art is always a response to the 
world around us, even if that art happens to manifest itself in 
any number of odd or irreverent ways at No Shame. At a time like 
this, more than any other, we on the board feel we would be 
committing a serious misdeed if we were to prevent artists from 
having a free forum in which to present their work.  Keep your 
eyes open, kids.  The art you'll see at this week's No Shame 
(and elsewhere) will be far more revealing than any news story 
or talking head.

Neil 

Time: Thu, 13-Sep-2001 15:16:59 GMT     IP: 128.255.111.110

Dear writers, performers, and audience members,

After some discussion and consideration of cancelling 
Friday's show due to the nature of current events, the board 
has come to the conclusion that Friday's show will continue 
as scheduled.

This is not out of insensitivity to those affected by Tuesday's 
events, directly or indirectly.  Rather, we feel it is important to 
provide a forum for artistic expression, especially in times of 
such heightened emotion.  Some writers, performers, and 
audience members might feel more comfortable skipping 
this Friday's show, and that is an option we respect.  
However, others might find it more beneficial to do their best 
to continue with life as normally as possible.

Writers should in no way feel obligated to address the 
issue, but on the other hand, such material would be 
welcomed.  Nor should writers feel censored, as if jokes 
that would normally be acceptable at No Shame are 
suddenly off-limits.  As per tradition, anyone who shows up 
at No Shame should be prepared to deal with things that 
may offend him or her; now is not the time for anyone to 
decide what is an appropriate or inappropriate form of 
artistic expression.

I look forward to Friday night's show and hope to see you in 
Theater B.

AC

Time: Thu, 13-Sep-2001 17:16:29 GMT     IP: 128.255.202.213

Here's my second part. I didn't complete it on Tuesday night like 
I said I would. I went to see Mates of State instead. They're 
good. Check them out. Anyway...

7. "Carparts --&-- Eggshells," by King Toad.  
Probably my favorite live King Toad performance I've seen. What I 
liked best was the conversational aspect of the lyrics. Now, I 
know that "conversational" gets thrown around a lot to describe 
singer-songwriters' words, but what was different (and great) 
about this was... it was conversational, but it was from a very 
absurd conversation. So it was like hearing a crazy man 
ranting... conversationally. 
(number of times the word "conversational" was used in this 
review: 39).

8. "Desert Pepper," by Arlen Lawson. 
Arlen's secret handling of the prop during this piece was a keen 
move. It set up a weird form of suspense. As the story unraveled 
this mystery about the baby, there was still this unexplained 
aspect of the prop. 
Anticipation was not only present in the prop use, but also in 
the writing. Arlen did a really strong job of setting up 
expectations and avoiding them or reconstructing them. For 
example, he went from "I'm a hero" (which would have been a 
typically strong ending) to going back to this horrible/wonderful 
image of a baby skeleton.

9. "In a Haunted Hibernation," by Olympia Washington.  
Intriguing image. I just wish it would have been tighter-formed. 
It went on a little too long.

10.  "'The Act or Process of Falling into Decay,' a Hymn " by Al 
Angel
Since I was in this piece, it's hard for me to gauge what it 
sounded like it to an audience, so I'm not going to review it 
in "audio terms." Lyrics-wise, however, it's tribal repetition 
was very neat. 

11. "Nothing:  A Definition --&-- Recommended Use," by Aprille 
Clarke 
In regards of Mark's performing skills, it's all about what the 
writer wants. Mark is very good at appraoching lines differently 
and delivering them in his own voice and from his own 
perspective. As a result, the words may not come out as what the 
writer necessarily intended. This is scary for some writers and 
exciting for others. Although this means Mark may not get A LOT 
of parts in pieces, he certainly does present something unique 
for the viewer when he does.

12. "Gang Bang Tang (What the Astronaut's Fucked to the Moon):  
Part Two:  The Beginning," by Spencer Griffin --&-- Neal Sachman --&--
Tina Sherwood.  
I'm trying to figure out why this was funny. It was. I'm not 
denying that. I just want to know why.
I think it has something to do with various "teen" stock 
characters being in the same space. By having 50's teen street 
thugs say 80's teen movie insults until they are met with up a 
early 90's teen show star, you get similar characters (of 
differing periods) interacting it and that's bound to be humorous.
By the way, I am the "?" in the credits. 

13. "Gilbert Gottfried:  A Chronicle of a Hero," by Seth 
Brenneman 
Unique, fun writing marred by an emphasis on detail (i.e. why the 
mother had this kid). The details weren't clear enough (in 
performance), so I couldn't follow what was going on and the joke 
was lost. There were some nice gems in this though (i.e. best 
joke of the night - "baby's body under man's head.")

14. "The Three Kinds of Pain," by Neil "Balls" Campbell.  
In the beginning, I was wary. I thought Neil was going to keep 
going back and forth between characters like his "Thunder Town" 
piece. I didn't want him to repeat himself. It was a relief then 
when he stuck to the 2nd character through most of the piece and 
simply used the first character as a way of enhancing the second. 
In the end, it turned out to be a smart move.

15. "BLACK FOREST," by Chris Stangl.  
Chris is a great actor. His voice, presence, and instincts are 
really strong. That's why it's so depressing to see him just sit 
on stage and read like he did with this piece. Although his words 
are undoubtly strong and could work in books or radio, we're in 
theatre. It's both writing and peforming. And there's more to 
performance than just voice and lights. However, this piece only 
used those two aspects as a way of expressing his words. I'd like 
Chris to do more.

I realize that this review is turning into a passive-agressive 
mix of both praise and dislike, so hopefully it doesn't just come 
out sounding neutral. 

Time: Thu, 13-Sep-2001 19:34:03 GMT     IP: 128.255.55.108

I found out that Josh Howard is fine, in case anyone else was 
wondering.  Has anybody heard anything about Justin Rose or Kelli 
Rae Powell?

-n

Time: Fri, 14-Sep-2001 00:38:28 GMT     IP: 205.244.167.87

I've heard through the grapevine that Kelli is fine. Dan also 
said that everyone he knows is fine, which I assume includes 
Justin.

Neil

Time: Fri, 14-Sep-2001 02:10:01 GMT     IP: 24.4.166.160

Following is a list of various Iowa theatre alumni, friends, and 
others with Iowa theatre connections who reside and/or work in 
New York City.  Most of them have been heard from.  I'm not sure 
what efforts have been made to contact the ones we haven't heard 
from yet, but of course communications are difficult in affected 
areas so there's just no way to know at this point.  In any case, 
hopefully many of you will find reassurance here.  This is surely 
not a comprehensive list; please chime in if you've heard from 
anyone else.

People who have not yet checked in:
Joan Bender
Thea Cooper (was employed in World Trade Center)
Jake Johnson
Leah Ryan
Robb Barnard (typically traveling with theatre companies)

People who have checked in or who have been successfully 
contacted by others:
Lori Anderson
Greg Armknecht
Toni Beshara
Dan Brooks
Mark Bruckner
Christian Cartano
Frank Cermack
Craig Chesler
Craig Childress
Diane Dawson
Sandra DeLuca
Robin Dicker
Sandy Dietrick
Mary Beth Easley
Frank Ensenberger
Hillary Gardner
Julia Gibson
Marci Glotzer
David Guerdette
Mose Hayward
Josh Howard
Chad Jacobsen
Joshua James
Reid Jensen
Sean Judge
Sheela Kangal
Mattie Kennedy
Peter LaBruciano
Kyle Lang
Mandi Lee
Anne Marie Luthro
Ellen Melaver
Tom Moseman
Sally Nacker
Kelli Rae Powell
Laura Quinn
Jen Rives
Justin Rose
Shanta Small
Diana Son
Scott Taylor
Traci Timko
Ullian family
Kimberly VerSteeg
Ben Zolno

From Sean Judge in an email on Tuesday:  "I can smell the fire 
here in Park Slope, and have been pretty shaken up about it.  And 
to make matters even more bizarre...I had a dream last night that 
woke me up at about 7:30am about being in the WTC during an 
explosion, and it was then that I decided to sleep in a little 
more...making me late for work.  Thanks to whatever powers that 
be...and my heart goes out to all those affected by this."

Time: Sat, 15-Sep-2001 07:48:09 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.163

Sorry for the slight sketchiness; the titles were no help.

No Shame Theater 
Order 9/14/01

0.5 "Topical Comedy Monologue No. 1:  I Wish I Was a Dog," by Neil 
"Balls" Campbell_N"B" Campbell [N"B" makes jokes about World Trade 
Center disaster; comedic monologue.]

1. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Paul Rust_P Rust, A Lawson, A Clarke, 
C Stangl.  [Low-quality tv reruns are very boring, while various 
feelings regarding the flag and government and terrorism are very 
interesting; comedy sketch]

2. "Hideo Don't Play Her Nomo," by John_Jake, John.  [Two guys 
rap(?) about absence of Japanese baseball player in Tommy 
LaSorda's presence; comedy performance]

3. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Steve -&- Bradley_Steve, Juggly Brad.  
[Air band segues into juggling act; juggling skill performance]  
P.S. Steve is handsome and talented, equally so to Brad.

4.  "The Penis Passion Play:  A Response to a Talking Vagina, or I 
Wish I Was a  Dog, a classic Vagina Envy Story," by William 
Barbour_W Barbour, Toni ??.  [From various perspectives, W 
discusses his feelings toward his penis; T discusses a more 
clinical angle; comedy sketch]

5.  "Skit for NO SHAME theaatre:  Concierto en Buildingo Teatro," 
by Jake_Jake, John.  [Two guys speak italspanglish about penis 
size, fatness, etc.; comedy sketch]

6. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by James Horak_J Horak [a scene involving 
a dead guy in an airport overlaps with memories of a late cousin; 
dramatic monologue]

6.5 "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Bill McKenna -&- Seth Brenneman_B 
McKenna, S Brenneman, some other nudies, P Rust.  [People reenact 
a sexy commercial in sexy semi-nudie ways; comedy sketch]

7. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Arlen Lawson_A Lawson [an old bearded 
man eats flies in his margarine while another man contemplates the 
implications of his knowledge; dramatic/comedic monologue]

8. "I Wish I Am a Dog," by O'God-on. I have no idea.

9. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by King Toad_AJM River, A Angel, N Clark, 
P Rust?. [With recorded accompanyment, participants make musical 
sounds; sound performance]

10. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Aprille Clarke_A Clarke.  [Woman has 
man in butt, fears arrows, drowns kids; comedic/dramatic 
monologue]

11. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Christopher Okiishi_C Okiisni.  [C is 
so hot.  Is it enough?  Comedic/dramatic monologue]

11.5   "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Alyssa Bowman_M Cassady.  [Mosaic 
dies and everyone is so glad; comedy sketchito]

12. "I Wish I Was a Dog_so I had a chance at your mom!" by James 
Erwin_J Erwin, A Lawson, A Burton [J gets hurt, AL plays air 
guitar, AB speaks German; comedy sketch]

13. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Al Angel.  Sorry, don't recall.

14. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Neil "Balls" Campbell_N"B" Campbell.  
[N"B" plunks change in water and tells stories; comedic monolgue

15. "I Wish I Was a Dog, or The Punch -&- Judy Show," by Chris 
Stangl_C Stangl.  [C physically swings around a big knife sword 
thing and discusses the workings of comedy; physical monologue]

Time: Sat, 15-Sep-2001 13:57:49 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.221

Mike Schmidt is accounted for.

Time: Sat, 15-Sep-2001 14:09:17 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.221

:8. "I Wish I Am a Dog," by O'God-on. I have no idea.

an apt summary:

-A   Lawson, J Erwin, A Angel, J Horak. [Beagle, Gorbachev, 
Inky and Onion experience multiple failures of 
communication; 4 way Platonic dialectic]

Time: Sat, 15-Sep-2001 16:19:11 GMT     IP: 205.244.161.22

Normally, I'm none too picky about these sorts of things, but I 
feel that the description of my first piece from last night 
(0.5 "Topical Comedy Monologue No. 1:  I Wish I Was a Dog," by 
Neil "Balls" Campbell), should be changed from "NB makes jokes 
about World Trade Center disaster" to "NB makes jokes about 
response to World Trade Center disaster."  I'm sure Aprille 
meant no harm by her description, but in writing the piece I 
made very sure that I kept focused on criticizing the response 
itself, and not the actual event, and I would hate for someone 
to read the description and get the wrong idea.

Okay, that's all. Thanks.

Neil

Time: Thu, 20-Sep-2001 01:10:15 GMT     IP: 208.129.184.68

hey someone do a review please

Time: Thu, 20-Sep-2001 04:52:44 GMT     IP: 128.255.202.75

This is Paul. I wasn't going to do a review this week until 
someone else did. I didn't want to seem like Johnny Interview. 
However, since no one else has and "Walter" (from "Welcome 
Freshman?!!!") is requesting one, I'll do it. Yes... I... WILL!

0.5 "Topical Comedy Monologue No. 1:  I Wish I Was a Dog," by 
Neil "Balls" Campbell [N"B" makes jokes about World Trade 
Center disaster; comedic monologue.]

As Neil mentioned in his post, he satirized the public's 
reaction, not the actual tragedy itself. This was a smart move. 
Not only in terms of "not pissing people off," but also b/c it 
can make an impact. By watching this, people can re-think their 
behavior. This, I think, is the whole point of satire. 
Conversely, if he would have satirized the victims, there would 
have been no venue for the audience to progress.   

1. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Paul Rust - P Rust, A Lawson, A 
Clarke, C Stangl.  [Low-quality tv reruns are very boring, while 
various feelings regarding the flag and government and terrorism 
are very interesting; comedy sketch]

I wrote this. 
Oh, and Jamal River was in this, too. He was the paperboy.

2. "Hideo Don't Play Her Nomo," by John_Jake, John.  [Two guys 
rap(?) about absence of Japanese baseball player in Tommy 
LaSorda's presence; comedy performance]

Nice to see new faces. I believe they were, right? Correct me if 
I'm dong - I mean, wrong. This was silly and funny. If these guys 
work out their nervousness and find something to do w/ their 
bodies during a piece, they could be really fun to watch.

3. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Steve --&-- Bradley_Steve, Juggly Brad. 
[Air band segues into juggling act; juggling skill performance]  

I like that Bradley finds a new way to present his tight jugglin' 
skills. If he didn't, it'd be the same ol', same ol'. So, this 
piece's inclusion of a partner and a throwback to my seventh 
grade music days was very appreciated. 

4.  "The Penis Passion Play:  A Response to a Talking Vagina, or 
I Wish I Was a  Dog, a classic Vagina Envy Story," by William 
Barbour_W Barbour, Toni ??.  [From various perspectives, W 
discusses his feelings toward his penis; T discusses a more 
clinical angle; comedy sketch]

Interesting concept. Having a woman onstage to balance out the 
male-ness was a smart move. I would have preferred this to be 
shorter, however. Perhaps a couple of the different penis 
segments could have been condensed into one?

5.  "Skit for NO SHAME theaatre:  Concierto en Buildingo Teatro," 
by Jake_Jake, John.  [Two guys speak italspanglish about penis 
size, fatness, etc.; comedy sketch]

Read my review for number 2. It applies. Applies my lipstick! Ha! 
Ha! Ha!

6. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by James Horak_J Horak [a scene 
involving a dead guy in an airport overlaps with memories of a 
late cousin; dramatic monologue]

I liked this piece's structure (i.e. the dates and times), but it 
was just too long and needed more blocking. As a result, I grew 
disinterested and didn't care when I was supposed to.

6.5 "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Bill McKenna --&-- Seth Brenneman_B 
McKenna, S Brenneman, some other nudies, P Rust.  [People reenact 
a sexy commercial in sexy semi-nudie ways; comedy sketch]

This could have been a basic "Ha Ha! They's makin' fun of what's 
on tha' tee-vee" sketch, but it wasn't because Bill and Seth 
really layered this piece w/ absurdity, new spins, and of course, 
semi-nudity. They took what could have been a forgettable parody 
and made it something interesting to watch.

7. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Arlen Lawson_A Lawson [an old bearded 
man eats flies in his margarine while another man contemplates 
the implications of his knowledge; dramatic/comedic monologue]

There's something really refreshing about Arlen's recent work. 
For awhile, I thought it was a little too doom-ridden. It was 
hard to even enjoy some of his pieces b/c he was refusing to let 
the audiences enter his world. Now (more than ever), his pieces 
have this great vibe: he invites the audience into his home and 
then sits them down on the couch his cat just pissed on. In the 
end, this really works b/c then the gore's much more shocking 
when it finally comes. You weren't anticipating it.

8. "I Wish I Am a Dog," by O'God-on. I have no idea.

Yes, this was a little forgettable. Um. Sorry. I can't think of 
anything to add. Maybe a laser show at the end would have made it 
memorable.

9. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by King Toad_AJM River, A Angel, N 
Clark, P Rust?. [With recorded accompanyment, participants make 
musical sounds; sound performance]

To answer the "?," I was not in this. That was Neil Campbell, I 
believe. Again, I have no critical anaylsis for this. It was a 
little too long, but wasn't this intentional? Wasn't Jamal 
recording this for an album or something? Lemme know.

10. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Aprille Clarke_A Clarke.  [Woman has 
man in butt, fears arrows, drowns kids; comedic/dramatic 
monologue]

I liked how Aprille intellectualized poop jokes. Don't get me 
wrong. I always thought poop jokes had some sort of intellectual 
capacity, but it was nice to see this evolve from a crap gag to 
an examination of this summer's Andrea Yates situation.

11. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Christopher Okiishi_C Okiisni.  [C 
is so hot.  Is it enough?  Comedic/dramatic monologue]

Chris mixed charm and smarminess quite effectively. He knew when 
to lay it thick and when to back it off. This is basically just 
great acting. The serious ending didn't pack much of a punch for 
me though. It could have, but it was right next to Aprille who 
used the same technique and as a result, Chris' ending seemed 
already done. Not Chris' fault, but it still happened nonetheless.

11.5   "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Alyssa Bowman_M Cassady.  [Mosaic 
dies and everyone is so glad; comedy sketchito]

Neat idea. Shortnes (and its brother, sweetness) only added to it.

12. "I Wish I Was a Dog_so I had a chance at your mom!" by James 
Erwin_J Erwin, A Lawson, A Burton [J gets hurt, AL plays air 
guitar, AB speaks German; comedy sketch]

The beginning's physical comedy opened this piece up nicely. 
Everything else (i.e. the rockstar dreams and the german creams) 
only complimented it. 

13. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Al Angel.  Sorry, don't recall.

Nothing jogs my memory. If a summary is put up, I'll remember it 
and review it.

14. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Neil "Balls" Campbell_N"B" 
Campbell.  [N"B" plunks change in water and tells stories; 
comedic monolgue

The use of pennies was a cool idea. It served as a material/aural 
punch to every joke. This piece also included the best joke of 
the night - the Mel Brooks comedy/tragedy line. I still think 
about it and smile. I am right now. Seriously. Help me. I'm dying.

15. "I Wish I Was a Dog, or The Punch --&-- Judy Show," by Chris 
Stangl_C Stangl.  [C physically swings around a big knife sword 
thing and discusses the workings of comedy; physical monologue]

Of all the Chris Stangl pieces I've seen, this was the best. The 
memorization, the props, the delivery. When an actor presents his 
ideas as being well-thought-out, you can't help but feel engaged 
in the material. And the subject matter was terrific. His 
irreverance towards what's considered "funny, classic comedy" 
really hit the mark. Chris did the difficult, but much-needed 
task of all contemporary comedy... destroying what past 
generations believed was funny.


That's it. You, too, should write a review. I talked to your 
parents and they want you to. They also want me to quit ending 
sentences with prepositions.

Also... to anyone who gives a damn, I won't be at No Shame this 
Friday. I'm going to Chicago. My absence will be this fall's 
second greatest tragedy.

Time: Thu, 20-Sep-2001 16:11:59 GMT     IP: 129.255.164.175

Mike--post up the details about "The Brother's Askew"!

Time: Fri, 21-Sep-2001 05:39:11 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142

Dear No Shame Theater,

 
Review 9/14/01

   So, I wrote a review on Saturday and was going to post it, 
but also didn't want to be the guy who wrote the reviews.  Plus 
I reread it and it was very self-absorbed "This piece that I was 
in made me think this about myself, and I wrote me about my me-
view and my me."  This is an actual excerpt from that review!!!  
I redrafted.  It's still a bit self-absorbed.  Here it is.

   Also, somebody else should write a review.  Everybody.  I 
want to hear what you think about ME!!!!



0.5 "Topical Comedy Monologue No. 1: I Wish I Was a Dog," by 
Neil 
"Balls" Campbell_N"B" Campbell [N"B" makes jokes about response 
to World Trade 
Center disaster; comedic monologue.]

  This was funny and a terrible, terrible way to begin the No 
Shame.  (Please note that I said terrible with a smile.)  The 
next piece was going to be in a similar vein.  I wasn't sure how 
well the audience would take the back to back irreverence coming 
at the top of the show.  It turns out they took it wonderfully.  
   Separate point, now.  Separate point.  It seems that Neil is 
wonderful at topical comedy, first at Ped Shame, then here.  And 
he says the right things.  And they're entertaining.  And, 
Christ, do I always sound this stupid and fucked-up in the brain 
when I write reviews?  But, what my point is:  Who thought 
anybody could be good at topical comedy?  Who thought it?  It 
wasn't me, buddy.  Well, it turns out that Neil is good at it, 
great at it.  And, yes, college kids are dumb, but every single 
Man on the Street type person on the news has been dumber.

1. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Paul Rust_P Rust, A Lawson, A 
Clarke, 
C Stangl. [Low-quality tv reruns are very boring, while various 
feelings regarding the flag and government and terrorism are 
very 
interesting; comedy sketch]

   So, yeah, this was funny and fun.  It was terrifying to be 
in, on account of, despite ever visible scripts, much of the 
audience thinks that No Shame is improv theatre.  Once more, the 
audience had much more fun than I'd hoped it would.  All was 
well.  
   This was full of great, mean-spirited jabs at how people are 
stupid.  Maybe this has been a theme in Paul's things.  I don't 
know.  I haven't really noticed until now.  I'm sure it could 
have been.  In this instance, it was, of course, fueled by how 
Americans are saying dumb and scary things everywhere the 
television camera aims.

"Somewhere, a bald eagle is crying_ and its tears are red, 
white, and blue."

   Today, my dad forwarded me an inspirational, patriotic poem 
written in the style of Dr. Seuss.  It contains this:

-&-#61656; The Binch hated U.S! the whole U.S. way!
-&-#61656;  Now don't ask me why, for nobody can say, 
-&-#61656;  It could be his turban was screwed on too tight.
-&-#61656;   Or the sun from the desert had beaten too bright 

   And I was very sad because I love my dad.  If anybody wants 
that entire poem, you can give me your email address and I will 
forward it to you.

2. "Hideo Don't Play Her Nomo," by John_Jake, John. [Two guys 
freestyle rap about absence of Japanese baseball player in Tommy 
LaSorda's presence; comedy performance]

   Hideo Nomo.  Tommy LaSorda.  There exists a comic strip that 
shows Odie with his mouth full of Garfield's intestines, coupled 
with a forgettable caption.  Now, this is funny to you,. 
regardless of the caption, because that's Garfield and his 
stomach's all opened up and that's Odie and his mouth is full of 
Garfield's intestines.  But what if you didn't read the comic as 
a kid?  And what if Garfield and Friends wasn't a part of your 
Saturday Morning?  What if the only place you'd ever seen those 
two crazy fuckers was rowing a canoe on your friends' glassware?
 And that's the only place I've seen those other crazy fuckers, 
Hideo Nomo and Tommy LaSorda, rowing a canoe on my friends' 
glassware, on account of I don't like sports.  It would be funny 
to see Hideo Nomo with a mouthful of Tommy LaSorda's intestines 
though, but that's just because intestines are funny and eating 
them is also funny.
   

3. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Steve --&-- Bradley_Steve, Juggly 
Brad. 
[Air band segues into juggling act; juggling skill performance] 

   Juggle that fun!  I like to watch juggling Brad, I'll grant 
you_ but TWO juggling Brads?  Who can handle that much fun?

4. "The Penis Passion Play: A Response to a Talking Vagina, or I 
Wish I Was a Dog, a classic Vagina Envy Story," by William 
Barbour_W Barbour, Toni ??. [From various perspectives, W 
discusses his feelings toward his penis; T discusses a more 
clinical angle; comedy sketch]

   I liked this piece a lot.  "My penis is my village."  Wrap 
your entire identity up in a part of your anatomy.  Experience 
the entire world filtered only through it.  This is my advice to 
you.  When a piece of art comes along, think to yourself, "But 
how does this align with my anatomy?"  Judge the world that way.
   On the other hand, No Shame has a sort of boys' club feel to 
it, I am led to understand, and I'm not sure how much this 
helped it.  Females at No Shame so far this semester: Aprille 
Clarke, Toni ??, Michelle Thompson, and Alyssa Bowman.  Toni and 
Michelle haven't written anything, and Alyssa hasn't performed.  
I wonder how this affects would-be female No Shame 
writers/performers and if we have missed out on somebody great 
as a result.  I was led to believe that Carolyn Jacobson would 
be attending No Shame regularly this semester.  Was I 
misinformed?
   

5. "Skit for NO SHAME theaatre: Concierto en Buildingo Teatro," 
by Jake_Jake, John. [Two guys speak italspanglish about penis 
size, fatness, etc.; comedy sketch]

   Was this actual improv?  The apology at the end hurt me 
inside.  Yeah, it was not fun, but it was brave.  I'm trying to 
imagine a No Shame that is actually a forum where people can 
experiment with theatre in a risk-free environment.  Mind you, 
No Shame is neat the way it is, but a place where people can 
experiment with theatre in a risk-free environment it is not.

6. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by James Horak_J Horak [a scene 
involving 
a dead guy in an airport overlaps with memories of a late 
cousin; 
dramatic monologue]

   You can't review a genuine story.  Or I can't.  Please, if 
you can, write a review.  I can say that the honesty of his 
sorrow, yes, did move me.  I can talk about the airport story, 
which was great.  I can talk about how James Horak bought me 
toast at the Village Inn.  Also Great!

6.5 "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Bill McKenna --&-- Seth Brenneman_B 
McKenna, S Brenneman, some other nudies, P Rust. [People reenact 
a sexy commercial in sexy semi-nudie ways; comedy sketch]

  Comedy as one idea plus the audacity to commit it.  This once 
again leaves me unable to review.  I liked it.  You liked it.  
It was funny.  We could totally see that man's butt!  That man?  
Paul Rust.

7. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Arlen Lawson_A Lawson [an old 
bearded 
man eats flies in his margarine while another man contemplates 
the 
implications of his knowledge; dramatic/comedic monologue]

   I will say it before anybody else does.  "Arlen Lawson loves 
to compare awful things to vaginas.  This coupled with his 
obvious misogyny earlier in this `review' says bad things about 
his attitude toward women, and means he is a bad person you 
should not let your daughter marry."
   

8. "I Wish I Am a Dog," by O'God-on. I have no idea.

   Fun.  Nick is the kind of person who would write in that the 
actors wait for the audience to do something before the sketch 
continues.  So it seems rational to a person not to turn a 
page.  This is why the page did not turn.  Those people were 
supposed to get up.  They did not! Blame them!

9. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by King Toad_AJM River, A Angel, N 
Clark, 
N. Campbell. [With recorded accompanyment, participants make 
musical 
sounds; sound performance]

Horrible, horrible, laugh-a-minute audience.  I will beat you 
with a stic

Time: Fri, 21-Sep-2001 05:42:03 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142



7. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Arlen Lawson_A Lawson [an old 
bearded 
man eats flies in his margarine while another man contemplates 
the 
implications of his knowledge; dramatic/comedic monologue]

   I will say it before anybody else does.  "Arlen Lawson loves 
to compare awful things to vaginas.  This coupled with his 
obvious misogyny earlier in this `review' says bad things about 
his attitude toward women, and means he is a bad person you 
should not let your daughter marry."
   Also, nowhere in the piece was there any mention of that old 
man having a beard.
   

8. "I Wish I Am a Dog," by O'God-on. I have no idea.

   Fun.  Nick is the kind of person who would write in that the 
actors wait for the audience to do something before the sketch 
continues.  So it seems rational to a person not to turn a 
page.  This is why the page did not turn.  Those people were 
supposed to get up.  They did not! Blame them!

9. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by King Toad_AJM River, A Angel, N 
Clark, 
N. Campbell. [With recorded accompanyment, participants make 
musical 
sounds; sound performance]

Horrible, horrible, laugh-a-minute audience.  I will beat you 
with a stick!  Do you not get music?  Do you not get cool sounds 
as music?  Do you not see that Jamal is not wanting you to 
laugh, maybe angry at you for laughing?  Why maybe angry?  
Because the piece is about what's in your ears, not what's in 
your eyes, not the meaning of words, just the sound of noises 
and you totally fuck up that noise with your laughing as though 
it was funny.  That laughing was not intended as part of the 
sound experience, but you still put it in my ears.  How could 
you?
   These are not Jamal's words.  I am the total jerk, here.  Aim 
your "When the fuck did you get pretentious?" right this way, 
baby, and I will answer, "Actually, quite a long time ago."

10. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Aprille Clarke_A Clarke. [Woman has 
man in butt, fears arrows, drowns kids; comedic/dramatic 
monologue]

   I like the piece, but the wordplay is too thick for me.  
Wordplay as plot progression is, yes, maybe cool, maybe very 
cool, especially when it results in what is, in fact, a tight 
little story, one that you can not imagine having come out of 
it, but which, in fact, did, much as you might not be able to 
imagine a man coming out of a butt, even though, to hear Aprille 
tell it, he DID!  What was I saying? Oh yeah, the device is 
cool, and Aprille's own, though I think Douglas Adams uses  
something similar to a lesser extent_ It's been a while_  
Aprille has used this, her thing, in similarly startling ways 
before and with an increasing degree of intensity lately (This 
is my sense of things, but I could be mistaken) but it is really 
not to my personal taste.  Quentin Tarantino writes bad 
dialogue, I think, but the presence of it and to such a degree 
lends intensity to the blood.  And this is great and it makes me 
happy that the dialogue is there. I just wish it was better.  
Likewise, a pun is, with very little exception, a terrible 
thing.  Its effect in the piece is great, but I have no way to 
finish this sentence.  I totally fucked up my comparison.  Do 
you still get a sense of what I'm talking about?  Do you have 
any idea why I felt the need to bring up Douglas Adams or 
Quentin Tarantino?  Or Garfield and Odie, for that matter? 

11. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Christopher Okiishi_C Okiisni. [C 
is 
so hot. Is it enough? Comedic/dramatic monologue]

   Here is an accidental case in which the night's title fit the 
piece.  Chris, himself, noted this.  I am not as brainy as you 
think.  Chris has lost a lot of weight and this monologue made 
you notice, had you been totally blind, like me, and not noticed 
before, made you obsess on it by the time he was done, staring 
and thinking to yourself, "Wow_"  This happened to you.  I 
remember.  The piece was neat.  I liked it.  The ending was also 
neat, but seemed a bit like an afterthought and not really 
integrated into the rest. 
 
11.5 "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Alyssa Bowman_M Cassady. [Mosaic 
dies and everyone is so glad; comedy sketchito]

   Ha!  Mike Cassady!  Ha!  Alyssa Bowman!  Ha!  I Wish I Was a 
Dog!  Ha!  Mosaic all dead!
   Alyssa, you're funny!

12. "I Wish I Was a Dog_so I had a chance at your mom!" by James 
Erwin_J Erwin, A Lawson, A Burton [J gets hurt, AL plays air 
guitar, AB speaks German; comedy sketch]

   I wish to see this from the audience.  Let us.  I had fun.  I 
missed getting the intensity of James from the correct angle, 
though.  James' performance intensity sells everything he does.  
You cast him in your next No Shame piece.  He acts flattered, I 
bet.

13. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Al Angel. Sorry, don't recall.

  The question is, when is art not art?  And when is not art 
not?  And not is when art when.  That's a different question 
entirely.  And is not art when something is an idea?  Does the 
art happen now?  Will it ever happen?  And does art matter when 
something bigger than art happens?  And if that question were an 
art performance piece, would it shrink in embarrassment?
   Stick it to the man, Al!  Stick it to the man!

14. "I Wish I Was a Dog," by Neil "Balls" Campbell_N"B" 
Campbell. 
[N"B" plunks change in water and tells stories; comedic monolgue

   I wish I was a dog comes up in a piece intentionally.  Ears 
perk up.  I wish and I drop a coin into a water.  I don't 
remember much else about this.  I don't remember the stories.  I 
can not help you.  It was good at the time.

15. "I Wish I Was a Dog, or The Punch --&-- Judy Show," by Chris 
Stangl_C Stangl. [C physically swings around a big knife sword 
thing and discusses the workings of comedy; physical monologue]

   So, yeah, there's the Chris makes an interesting thing on 
stage that you don't get to look away from.  This is what Chris 
does.  He is good at it.  He can do it with just words or he can 
do it with words and some moving.  And where does he get time or 
brain to work this out?  And how much time, in minutes, does he 
spend rehearsing?  You know_ all that_
   But, what does stand out?  Well, Chris took something that 
would have been an inside joke between him and his friends, the 
line "I wish I was a dog" being the greatest thing in the world 
and to be found on Kook's Tour, a television pilot for the Three 
Stooges return to television seen by absolutely nobody except 
those people to whom Neil Campbell has shown his copy, and 
Chris' description of it in the piece being all the explanation 
needed, took it and made important use of it on a night when it 
had become a joke to the entire No Shame audience.  And I will 
confess that I don't know if he planned it or not.  I don't know 
exactly how the "I Wish I Was a Dog" as title thing got started, 
exactly who suggested it, who loved it.  It is my assumption 
that Chris's piece was written after it and in response to it.  
And I am left wide-eyed and in awe as Chris, either as 
manipulator or opportunist, turns the entire night of No Shame 
into an integral part of the wonder of his piece. 
   And how the fuck does he do it?
Stand-out pieces:  The sword snap thing, of course, the 
turtleneck head.
Weaker pieces:  The delivery of the last line or so seemed 
hollow and left a sour taste on my fingers.   But how could you 
change the delivery now, or make any changes.  What good is a No 
Shame review?  Write one anyway.

Arlen

Time: Fri, 21-Sep-2001 05:49:28 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142

15. "I Wish I Was a Dog, or The Punch --&-- Judy Show," by Chris 
Stangl_C Stangl. [C physically swings around a big knife sword 
thing and discusses the workings of comedy; physical monologue]

   So, yeah, there's the Chris makes an interesting thing on 
stage that you don't get to look away from.  This is what Chris 
does.  He is good at it.  He can do it with just words or he can 
do it with words and some moving.  And where does he get time or 
brain to work this out?  And how much time, in minutes, does he 
spend rehearsing?  You know_ all that_
   But, what does stand out?  Well, Chris took something that 
would have been an inside joke between him and his friends, the 
line "I wish I was a dog" being the greatest thing in the world 
and to be found on Kook's Tour, a television pilot for the Three 
Stooges return to television seen by absolutely nobody except 
those people to whom Neil Campbell has shown his copy, and 
Chris' description of it in the piece being all the explanation 
needed, took it and made important use of it on a night when it 
had become a joke to the entire No Shame audience.  And I will 
confess that I don't know if he planned it or not.  I don't know 
exactly how the "I Wish I Was a Dog" as title thing got started, 
exactly who suggested it, who loved it.  It is my assumption 
that Chris's piece was written after it and in response to it.  
And I am left wide-eyed and in awe as Chris, either as 
manipulator or opportunist, turns the entire night of No Shame 
into an integral part of the wonder of his piece. 
   And how the fuck does he do it?
Stand-out pieces:  The sword snap thing, of course, the 
turtleneck head.
Weaker pieces:  The delivery of the last line or so seemed 
hollow and left a sour taste on my fingers.   But how could you 
change the delivery now, or make any changes.  What good is a No 
Shame review?  Write one anyway.

Arlen

Time: Sat, 22-Sep-2001 00:36:52 GMT     IP: 205.244.162.244

I can tell you something about a movie premiere. There's a 
movie, called THE BROTHERS ASKEW, and it was written and 
directed by Mike Cassady and myself.  It also features such No 
Shame all-stars as Arlen Lawson, JC Luxton and Chris Okiishi! 
And music by King Toad!

As for the premiere, it is Saturday, September 22nd, at 8:00pm, 
in room W10, in the Papajohn business building. It is FREE! Be 
there.

Balls

Time: Sat, 22-Sep-2001 07:42:53 GMT     IP: 12.75.179.84

As each week passes more and more people come to No Shame. What 
are the chances that it could be moved into a larger space, like 
Mabie Theater for instance?
Just a thought.

Time: Sat, 22-Sep-2001 08:10:21 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142

As each week passes more and more people come to No Shame. What 
are the chances that it could be moved into a larger space, like 
Mabie Theater for instance?
Just a thought.

   No Shame doesn't work in Mabie.  Need proof?  Attend Best Of.  
I think Theatre B filled to capacity is the best place for No 
Shame.  Maybe if there was ever enough of a crowd for No Shame to 
entirely fill Mabie, it would be great, but a No Shame size crowd 
in a Mabie space seems tiny.  And a tiny audience in a large room 
makes for a weak, weak show.  There's this integral energy 
exchange between audience and performers that just works in a 
crowded B.  Maybe a _slightly_ larger theatre would be better, 
but I don't know where such a theatre is.
   So, with no Aprille this week, who will post an order?  Stangl 
doesn't have an internet.  And with no Paul Rust this week, who 
will write the first review?  I sure won't, but somebody should.

Arlen

Time: Sat, 22-Sep-2001 13:54:55 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.34

Fairchild! Fairchild! Fairchild! Fairchild!...Fairchild?

Time: Sat, 22-Sep-2001 17:45:52 GMT     IP: 172.186.101.197

If I could add a tiddly widdle bit to Arlen's well-made point: 
Mabie pretty much sucks with any size audience, though smaller is 
much badder.  Sights and sounds just don't carry well from that 
stage, as the sound gets swallowed up in the huge space and the 
audience is sitting just enough further away to diminish the 
intimacy factor that makes Theatre B so wonderful.

Also, O Pioneers! has a huge damn raked stage in Mabie for the 
next four weeks.  Chances are likely, though, that we'll still 
have to relocate to Mabie from B later this semester and part of 
next spring because of mainstages using B at those times.  Boo!

Aaron

Time: Sat, 22-Sep-2001 20:54:06 GMT     IP: 205.244.162.137

No Shame Theatre
Order September 21, 2001

Announcements/Order:  A Galbraith, N "B" Campbell

1. "Your Penis is MY Village" by Erin King. [NB Campbell, M 
Cassady, C Okiishi. NB reads Peter Pan to M, M wishes for 
faeries to appear, and, to the horror of them both,  Okiishi 
does so. Notable for Campbell and Cassady ruining the piece by 
forgetting Okiishi has a line and instead spending two minutes 
screaming and rolling around.] 

2. "I Wish I Were Dog" aka "Chop Suey" by Steve and Brad. 
[Steve, Brad. S -&- B discuss how they came to love juggling, then 
the juggling commences!]

3. "Your Aim is Off" by Silas Cricky-Cracky. [M Cassady. Cassady 
repeatedly says "Hey" to the audience.]

3.5. "My Best Friend's Poop" by Al Angel. [AJM River, A Angel. 
Two friends compare fecal quantities.]

4. "Opus 15 -- Hymn for the Silent Fool" by W Barbour. 
[Monologue dealing with overweight man's response when the woman 
he loves asks him if he thinks she's fat.]

5. "James and James on a Desert Island" by James and James 
(Horak and Erwin, respectively). [J Horak, J Erwin.  Horak and 
Erwin are stuck on a desert island, Horak wants Erwin to sex 
him.]

6. "Formula Plots Part 1: Blatant Corporate Advertising" by Tom 
Kovacs. [T Kovacs, Q Dinglylingy, X Rothschlipper.  T rails 
against the Coca-Cola corporation's insidious advertising 
tactics, schills for Pepsi.]

7. "Your Rent is Due" by Jose Calcutta -&- Silas Cricky-Cracky. [C 
Stangl.  C tells audience it's time for lunch, attempts to get 
them to leave theatre.]

8. "Fleshy Chambers" by Arlen Lawson. [A Lawson. Seven-year-old 
boy kills frog, and feels that God punishes him for it.]

9. "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told" by John Hague. [J Hague, 
J Erwin, Z Mizzymazzy.  Hague reads short story that seeks to 
explain the necessary conditions for true love to exist, as J 
and Z act out the narration.]

10. "Whenever You Loved, You Were" by Mel Barnes-Staglia. [J 
Erwin. As a Mr. Coffee brews some java, J delivers stream-of-
consciousesque monologue.]

11. "Stack of Paper Cuts, A" by Spencer Griffin. [T Sherwood, W 
Barbour, S Griffin, NB Campbell. S rambles on in an attempt to 
describe T, and NB stacks papers, as T is attacked by her boss 
(W).]

12. "Three Stories About Love" by Al Angel. [A Angel, A 
Galbraith, T Sherwood. Three short scenes dealing with three 
various forms of love.]

13. "As the World Turns" by erin king. [E King, C Stangl, J 
Horak, S Griffin, T Kovacs, A Galbraith, NB Campbell, M Cassady, 
A Lawson, Some Guy.  E envisions world politics if they 
resembled the politics of junior high schoolgirls.]

14. "The Mystery of the Cosmos" by Neil "Balls" Campbell. [NB 
Campbell. NB goes through history of man's attempts to 
understand the universe, ponders what's next.]

15. "Mouthful of Dirt" by Chris Stangl. [C Stangl. C tells of 
rescuing the Devil from a lobster trap, and the Devil's 
subsequent attempts to get him to eat dirt.]

And that, my friends, was that.

Time: Sun, 23-Sep-2001 04:46:46 GMT     IP: 128.255.175.158

askew brothers is a good movie.  here's a review.  of no shame, 
not of the movie.  i already said it was good.

1. YOUR PENIS IS MY VILLAGE:  it was supposed to end about 45 
seconds earlier.  balls and thundertits are just a couple of 
crrrazy guyys!

2.  I WISH I WERE A DOG:  i would never let anyone juggle big 
knives between my legs . . . fully clothed.  i really enjoy these 
guys' acts.  keep bringing it.

3.  YOUR AIM IS OFF:  hey.  hey.  hey.  hey.  it's all about 
inflection.  i liked the audience participation.  inspires me to 
try to include the whole theatre in something.

4.  JAMES AND JAMES ON A DESERT ISLAND:  i most enjoyed the 
marxist information clump in this skit.  other than that, it was 
a little slow and drawn out.

5.  TOM KOVIE'S CORPORATE SKIT:  smart. so who paid up? coke or 
pepsi?

6.  YOUR RENT IS DUE:  if the theatre hadn't been so crowded, i 
would have gone to lunch. i was never really sure if chris wanted 
us to leave or not though.  nice.

7.  FLESHY CHAMBERS:  this is my most favorite arlen piece ever. 
 it was funny and beautiful and gave me nightmares.

8.  THE GREATEST LOVE STORY: really good idea, but poorly put 
together.  the actors scrambled to fit motions to the narration, 
barely keeping up at times.  or maybe it was the pessimistic 
opening announcement about not getting into the workshop that 
confused me.  but i liked the story.

9.  WHENEVER YOU WERE LOVED, YOU WERE: the coffee pot was 
distracting.  i don't remember much more.

10.  STACK OF PAPER CUTS:  i liked the set up, the casting, the 
story, and spencer's monologue about the boy jumping off that 
high place thing was great.  great last line.  well done.

11.  THREE STORIES ABOUT LOVE:  wasn't this alternatively titled? 

13.  HYMN FOR THE SILENT FOOL: (forgotten from earlier)  some 
very poignant lines.  good points about not asking pointed 
questions.

14.  MYSTERY OF THE COSMOS:  very intelligent.  great last line. 
 i liked the history lesson.  one of my favorites.

15.  MOUTHFUL OF DIRT:  reminds me of a short story by stephen 
king.  nice touch with the wet pringles.  i wonder if the devil 
really would talk like that.  

Time: Sun, 23-Sep-2001 15:49:46 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.33

Where is 3.5, huh?  Your favourite thing all night?  Huh?  You 
did not even mention it was there, you liked it so much.  Oh, but 
I miss the review of it...

:11.  THREE STORIES ABOUT LOVE:  wasn't this alternatively 
titled? 

No.  And THIS tripe hardly counts for a review, either.  I feel 
that I'm being slighted.  I am aparantly not even worth a one-
thought sound bite.

Why do you hate me so?

--Al

Time: Sun, 23-Sep-2001 16:11:54 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.147

1. "Your Penis is MY Village" by Erin King. 
      Made really adorable use of an obvious wordplay and 
Chris as the 'token' gay man at No Shame.  This seemed like 
an ideal way to start off the evening.

2. "I Wish I Were Dog" aka "Chop Suey" by Steve and Brad. 
      Too much talking, not enough juggling.  What juggling 
was there was super-fun .  Good music too.  Nice turntable.

3. "Your Aim is Off" by Silas Cricky-Cracky. 7. "Your Rent is 
Due" by Jose Calcutta --&-- Silas Cricky-Cracky. 
       In comparison, I liked the second piece a lot more.  Not 
just because Stangl's facial expressions and overblown 
gestures made the repetition have more character.  No.  The 
phrase "It's time for lunch" is an invitation.  It's an offer to the 
members of the audience.  Hey is just kind of rude and 
interruptive.  Also, thesecond piece required a kind of 
audience participation m ost audience members are not 
willing to offer.  So it was a bigger challenge to the audience, 
but one which indicated concern for the audience's well 
being.

3.5. "My Best Friend's Poop" by Al Angel.
      The kid next to me said in a voice sounding very much like 
a character from 'Beavis and Butthead' (I haven't seen the 
show enough to know which voice goes with which 
character) "That was, uh, well written.".  I wished I had more 
of an emotional capacity for physical violence at that point, 
because that was a moronic comment.  If anybody who 
reads this is stupid enough to wonder why, email me.  I'll be 
happy to explain it to you.

4. "Opus 15 -- Hymn for the Silent Fool" by W Barbour. 
      Willie's sex monologues are taking on a depth that 
borders on literary.  That's cool, since some of the earlier 
ones came off as a bit prurient.  But at the same time, the 
earlier ones had an un-selfconsciousness about them, a 
candid innocence that made me uncomfortable in the best 
way.  That was here too, but that literary quality did some 
masking of it.

5. "James and James on a Desert Island" by James and 
James 
      I don't believe I ever would have picked Horak and Erwin 
as an ideal comic match, but the teaming up paid off here, 
and this piece was genuinely enjoyable without being 
gut-busting funny.

6. "Formula Plots Part 1: Blatant Corporate Advertising" by 
Tom 
Kovacs.
      I think I've seen three Kovacs pieces in which somebody 
gets groped.  Maybe it was only two.  While the text of the 
pieces certainly never endorses sexual harassment, Tom 
has been asking his friends to get up and fondle each other.  
Does this work for him?  I haven't felt it working yet.  Does 
this work?  Sometimes - "Excerpt from Spap Oops" made 
hilarious use of unexpected groping, "S'ghetti Meets Balls" 
made horrific use of horiffic groping.  But I feel like the 
groping here was not used judiciously.   Aprille Clarke often 
has situations of bizarre pseudosexual contact in her pieces, 
but no actual people make contact on stage.  Generally, 
pseudosexual contact produces a strong audience reaction, 
and if the piece doesn't make direct use or address of that 
reaction, something gets lost.  "Spap Oops" made a joke out 
of the discomfort of the actors, and "S'ghetti" made a joke out 
of the strangeness and vileness of the activity itself.  Kovacs' 
uses seem to avoid dealing with the fact that the actors 
themselves are onstage actually groping each other's actual 
physical bodies in actual theatre B.

8. "Fleshy Chambers" by Arlen Lawson. 
      This sure was sad.  A gun is always a loaded image 
(pun!).  But having one in this piece was satisfying without 
requiring that it actually go off in the physical space of the 
theatre B.  Sort of a sense that the weapon onstage was 
disarmed by the violence and sadness in the story, which far 
exceeded what the prop gun could have portrayed.  Bravo to 
this.

9. "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told" by John Hague.
      I'm sorry that I couldn't see what was going on, since I 
was busy setting up for my piece.  I loved the line that love 
always ends in heartache or death.

10. "Whenever You Loved, You Were" by Mel Barnes-Staglia. 
      Well, it was supposed to be more of a "old person 
forgetting what he was talking about" monologue than a 
"stream of consciousness".  This was my belated entry to the 
Memory Play Project.  Onstage we hear a man completey 
forgetting anthing and everything of meaning, and in the 
audience we have aromas - coffee brewing, citrus peeling, 
ginger grating, incense burning, rose oil dripping.  Smell is 
supposed to be the most memorable sense, so I don't know 
if this was a contrast anyone 'got' or not.  So I explained it 
here.

11. "Stack of Paper Cuts, A" by Spencer Griffin. 
      The less I understand Spencer's work, the more I enjoy it.  
There was a sense here that there was some unspeakable 
horror undelying things that you could only laugh about.  
Nervous laughter is one of the most valuable things a writer 
can learn to evoke, in my opinion, and I congratulate Spencer 
on doing so.

12. "Three Stories About Love" by Al Angel. 
      I understand a reluctance to publish  a subtitle that 
includes the 'n' word, but anyone who isn't a moron should 
know why such language was invoked in that title.  Now for 
the piece...  This piece represents a really fruitful union of the 
compassionate Al, and the dirty gross Al writing that has 
come out of No Shame over the years.  Actually, that pretty 
much sums it up.

13. "As the World Turns" by erin king. 
      A widening of the scope of the formula employed in 
"Chemistry Sucks".  This would, perhaps, have been more 
interesting if the activities of the countries resembled actual 
international politics more closely.  Or it might have just been 
lame.  Seeing all those fellas on the stage trying to portray 
middle school girls was kind of a sad reminder that there's 
not hardly any women doing the No Shame these days.  So, 
thanks, Erin King, for being here and writing stuff.  The 
comparison - nations to middle school girls - was both apt 
and hilarious, though it was a bit dependant on the actors' 
ability to carry it off, which was not always evident.

14. "The Mystery of the Cosmos" by Neil "Balls" Campbell.
      Neil's misreading of history are always hilarious, and 
while thios seemed to borrow m ore than a little from that 
pan-o-water thing, it came off as fresh and funny.

15. "Mouthful of Dirt" by Chris Stangl. 
      I was wondering what kind of accent Chris was trying to 
do, and when he finally said the word 'Maine', it got me 
thinking.  I had heard a report on NPR that Maine lobstermen 
were being asked to quit lobstering, since there would be no 
market for lobsters without airplanes to ship them all over the 
country, but it turns out Maine lobstermen are an obdurate 
bunch, and nothing will stop them from lobstering.  This was 
what I thought of when Chris' lobsterman revealed that he 
could never refuse a cold one.  The tenacity of a Maine 
lobsterman is a defining characteristic, and maybe this piece 
was using satan as a metaphor for current events, and a 
tenacious Maine lobsterman as a metaphor for a certain kind 
of response.  Maybe I'm an idiot and I need to quit listening to 
NPR.

Time: Sun, 23-Sep-2001 20:09:46 GMT     IP: 24.178.150.8

1. "Your Penis is MY Village" by Erin King. 
Energetic way to start off the evening. Not sure if I enjoy the 
fairy joke_but maybe that's because I'm a big ninny. 

2. "I Wish I Were Dog" aka "Chop Suey" by Steve and Brad. 
I truly loved their inside jokes about no shame. I wonder how 
long it will be before they run out of juggling tricks. 

3. "Your Aim is Off" by Silas Cricky-Cracky.
A one (or I guess two since this format was done twice this 
evening_so maybe it's a one) evening joke.  A good one, though. 
More on this later_

3.5. "My Best Friend's Poop" by Al Angel. 
Poopy poop poop and poopity poop poop. Oh, and poop.

4. "Opus 15 -- Hymn for the Silent Fool" by W Barbour. 
I enjoy that Willie is sticking to his style, which I do enjoy. 
Somehow Willie is able to take rather basic plots (guy likes 
girl, guy cant tell girl he loves her) and make them interesting 
and poetic. Favorite line: "I know about fat and she's not fat." 

5. "James and James on a Desert Island" by James and James 
(Horak and Erwin, respectively).
I thought the James Duo played off each other well but at the 
same time I don't know if it would be too difficult to play off 
Erwin in this piece. Erwin had the funny lines and Horak just 
had to sit there and take it_which, in fact, he may not have 
done an incredible job of considering he was laughing more than 
some of the audience. It was obvious he was enjoying himself, 
however, and that was fun to watch.

6. "Formula Plots Part 1: Blatant Corporate Advertising" by Tom 
Kovacs.
I found this somewhat uncomfortable to watch. I'm not sure. And 
I felt really bad for the kid who got the Coke can rammed 
against his forehead. Why choose a subject that is a "formula 
plot" but then not take a new spin on it? For the future, Tom, 
during your performance don't look at Stangl for reassurance or 
approval. He'll like it or he won't. If you are only writing for 
other people's approval (isn't everybody perhaps?) than you wont 
get anywhere. Maybe that's not your intent but that's what I see.

7. "Your Rent is Due" by Jose Calcutta --&-- Silas Cricky-Cracky.
Okay. Here's my gripe. It's not with the piece at all. In fact, 
I really enjoyed the piece. But why does the audience feel the 
need to involve itself? One guy was saying, "preach on, brother" 
and waving his hands. If I were closer to him I would've punched 
him in the face_with a knife. I don't understand why the 
audience feels it is acceptable to add their two cents during 
some pieces but not others. Yo audience (this is including 
everyone in the theatre, not just non-performers because some 
performers do this most), keep your mouth shut. Would you yell 
during a serious monologue? No, so give other pieces the same 
respect. Ahh_yuck.

8. "Fleshy Chambers" by Arlen Lawson. 
One of my favorite pieces by Arlen. One thing that I felt was a 
great little nugget of_goodness was how the character commented 
on the fact that he had seen his faceless mother in the closet 
before and it was nothing new. Maybe that wasn't the case, but 
for some reason, that's why I heard. I loved that little hidden 
gem. Those things make Arlen's pieces so engaging.

Time: Sun, 23-Sep-2001 20:11:09 GMT     IP: 24.178.150.8

9. "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told" by John Hague. 
As the description said, it was a short story. I'm sure I 
would've liked it if I read it_but watching it was quite 
unpleasant. Don't try and take one forum (the short story) and 
transform it to another (performance theatre) just by adding a 
few props and people walking around mindlessly. Dialogue is 
good, give it a try. Or have your actors prepared for what is 
going to happen. If you had just read the piece as a certain 
character I think it would've been more entertaining_but the 
actors distracted from the piece greatly. So what I'm saying is 
go all the way or stay at the starting line because halfway 
doesn't cut it for me.

10. "Whenever You Loved, You Were" by Mel Barnes-Staglia.
The coffee smelled good but I have to be honest and say the 
piece didn't keep my attention. This was most definitely (and 
potentially only) due to the fact that my piece was next. I 
apologize.

11. "Stack of Paper Cuts, A" by Spencer Griffin.
I wrote this twenty minutes before I showed up to stand in line. 
So I did some quick revisions at home and didn't read it over 
until I got onstage. This is not something I will do in the 
future. The thing that got cut out which I forget about was that 
Willie and Tina's characters were married. Not that big of a 
deal but it was in the original. Would love to hear anything and 
everything about how it looked from the audience.

12. "Three Stories About Love" by Al Angel. 
I really enjoyed watching this piece. I hope it wasn't because I 
was relieved to not worry about mine anymore. I really like Al's 
dialogue and his presence on stage. Is it just me or when 
someone types "Al" do you immediately picture Al as a giant A1 
sauce bottle coming to attack all that is No Shame and spread 
delicious juices on all of us?

13. "As the World Turns" by erin king.
In the same genus as erin's Chemistry Sucks piece. I don't think 
this worked as well because of its reliance on dialogue. The 
humor in Chemistry Sucks was its strange actions and cutesy 
dialogue at the end. This piece was too much dialogue and the 
action couldn't be played too the fullest because of how 
important and necessary the dialogue was to hear. Maybe this was 
my fault as England. I suck.

14. "The Mystery of the Cosmos" by Neil "Balls" Campbell. 
I found this to be Classic Campbell. Using a serious background 
plot and impassioned serious dialogue highlighted with zany bits 
of tidbits. I think it's a classic comedy move to say something 
like "I hope she doesn't break my heart_or my penis." And Balls 
can pull it off so well and make it fresh each time.

15. "Mouthful of Dirt" by Chris Stangl. 
The thing that I really loved about this piece was that Chris 
seemed to be enjoying himself. I think I've made this point 
before but here it is again. Sometimes I feel that Chris doesn't 
engage the audience enough. That's not the right words. Chris 
can be too standoffish in his pieces. But in this piece he was 
laughing at his own jokes_and not in a conceded way but in a way 
that said, "hey, this is fun." And that's what I like best.

Time: Sun, 23-Sep-2001 20:21:56 GMT     IP: 24.182.66.31

Will someone write a review of this movie here?  Will this movie 
be screened again?  When? Where?

Time: Sun, 23-Sep-2001 20:57:14 GMT     IP: 24.5.238.138

You say:
"I wrote this twenty minutes before I showed up to stand in 
line. 
So I did some quick revisions at home and didn't read it 
over 
until I got onstage. This is not something I will do in the 
future. The thing that got cut out which I forget about was that 
Willie and Tina's characters were married. Not that big of a 
deal but it was in the original. Would love to hear anything 
and 
everything about how it looked from the audience."

I knew they were married, and although I cannot remember 
how I knew this, it seems impossible to me that anyone 
would have thought otherwise.

Time: Sun, 23-Sep-2001 21:00:59 GMT     IP: 24.178.150.8

good to know. thanks.

Time: Sun, 23-Sep-2001 21:49:39 GMT     IP: 205.244.167.81

I knew it too.

Time: Mon, 24-Sep-2001 01:25:10 GMT     IP: 172.148.247.212

Says Spencer:
7. "Your Rent is Due" by Jose Calcutta --&-- Silas Cricky-Cracky.
Okay. Here's my gripe. It's not with the piece at all. In fact, 
I really enjoyed the piece. But why does the audience feel the 
need to involve itself? One guy was saying, "preach on, brother" 
and waving his hands. If I were closer to him I would've punched 
him in the face_with a knife. I don't understand why the 
audience feels it is acceptable to add their two cents during 
some pieces but not others. Yo audience (this is including 
everyone in the theatre, not just non-performers because some 
performers do this most), keep your mouth shut. Would you yell 
during a serious monologue? No, so give other pieces the same 
respect. Ahh_yuck.

Says me:
    While "preach on, brother" might be a lame comment to utter 
during a piece in the opinion of Spencer, me, and possibly 
others, I do not think the audience should feel they are NEVER 
allowed to talk or participate during a piece.
    No, none of us would yell during a serious monologue, because 
we're all grown-ups and we know better.  However, not all pieces 
are serious monologues.  Granted, by and large almost all pieces 
operate under the assumption that the audience will listen 
attentively, perhaps laugh, perhaps groan, but otherwise respect 
the performers by sitting quietly.  There are exceptions to this 
rule, such as when JC kept asking a guy in the third row if he 
could buy his shirt from him, or when Jamal told the audience 
that anyone who wanted should come on stage and show their butt 
and then set an egg timer to five minutes and sat on a table and 
waited, or three years ago when George Anastasiou nonverbally 
invited the audience to join him in a huge dance party on stage, 
or such as the two pieces last Friday.
    Practically the entire audience was responding in various 
ways to Mike yelling "Hey" during piece #3 which led to several 
nice moments of interaction between audience and performer, such 
as when Mike lifted his hand to silence the rest of us so he 
could single out one girl.
    Also note that Chris was as much as begging everyone to 
follow him out into the hallway, though all he said was "It's 
time for lunch".  Is it funny when no one goes and he gets 
upset?  Yes.  Can he rely on no one joining him?  No.  Does it 
ruin the piece if someone does offer to join him?  No.  He simply 
plays off of them by shoving them out the door so he can continue.
    I realize your problem was with people's oral responses and 
perhaps not necessarily with the ones who walked out on stage, 
but my point is that when a performer is doing a piece that is as 
blatantly suggesting the audience respond as pieces #3 and #7 did 
last Friday, they should be prepared for anything, because they 
have just invited the whole audience to involve themselves, 
whether they really wanted them to or not.  And if they're good 
performers, they will react to what the audience gives them and 
make it a part of the piece, just as Chris and Mike did.

-Aaron

Time: Mon, 24-Sep-2001 02:14:14 GMT     IP: 24.178.150.8

four things:

one.
why am i posting so much lately? damn me

two.
i completely agree with the eloquent stubble. for me, it was more 
bothersome when audience members would add their little jokey 
jokes because they think they are funny and not the simple idea 
of audience participation

three.
the phrase "ahh...yuck." can be interpretated as "ahh...i'm not 
really getting my point across effectively but i am sick of 
thinking about it so...yuck"

four.
i love my pants (but do my pants love me?)


-Captain Spencer and the Gruesome Griffins

Time: Mon, 24-Sep-2001 03:01:03 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.171

I think that the audience should do whatever they feel as
necessary.  I remember reading about how in the earliest days of
no shame theater, (the pickup truck days) if someone in the
audience didn't like what you were doing, they'd boo or throw
bottles.  The idea is for there to be NO SHAME in doing anything,
whether one is performing, writing, or watching from the cheap
seats.  This is why No Shame is such a unique venue; no one is
expected to conform to any predetermined mode of behavior.  And,
while most of the audience nowadays does sit quietly and applaud
at the end, I am glad that someone DID stand up and interact in a
piece which was intended for interaction.  I think we need more
pieces like the "Silas cricky cracky" pieces in order to remind
the audience that this is not a conventional theater setting and
that they are just as much a part of the performance as the people
on stage.

Time: Mon, 24-Sep-2001 05:46:16 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142

  Man, that Thread thing is dumb.  I wish Date would work.  I 
don't know why it doesn't so much.  I want it to stop not 
working.

   If you want to make sure that your post is read by me and by 
people who work like me, you should take care to click on Post 
New Message rather than Post Reply.  At least until this whole 
Date thing blows over.

Arlen

Time: Mon, 24-Sep-2001 16:55:47 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142

No Shame Theatre
September 21, 2001

1. "Your Penis is MY Village" by Erin King.

OK, except it wasn't ruined at all by this scream thing.  In 
fact, it was made better.  Imagine it without this long, 
bewildering scream.  Imagine "You called?"  Brief Scream, 
blackout.  Is that cool?  In performance, the scream changed 
from "I am afraid of homosexuals" to "What the fuck are we doing 
and why?"

2. "I Wish I Were Dog" aka "Chop Suey" by Steve and Brad. 
[Steve, Brad. S --&-- B discuss how they came to love juggling, 
then 
the juggling commences!]

-Juggling knives over an open crotch.  

-The juggler, while obviously incredibly talented, has messed up 
from time to time in the past.  

-He drops one.

   This could not have been set up better if it were planned.  I 
will agree that I wish there had been more juggling.

3. "Your Aim is Off" by Silas Cricky-Cracky. [M Cassady. Cassady 
repeatedly says "Hey" to the audience.]

   Was it expected to work this well?  I'll never know.  How 
could I?  It's impossible.  This was very fun.  I can't remember 
if I said "Hey" back.  Did I?  I'll never know.

3.5. "My Best Friend's Poop" by Al Angel. [AJM River, A Angel. 
Two friends compare fecal quantities.]

   Funny like a poop in the mouth is always funny.  Also, it 
raises interesting questions about destiny.  And if you are 
destined to eat your friend's poop, or kill your father, try as 
you might to avoid it, you WILL EAT THAT POOP!  
   I'm glad that Al is doing the poop sketches, now.  But who 
will carry the torch when Al decides to stop?  You will, my 
friends.  We all will.

4. "Opus 15 -- Hymn for the Silent Fool" by W Barbour. 
[Monologue dealing with overweight man's response when the woman 
he loves asks him if he thinks she's fat.]

(To the tune of Alouetta)
Willie Barbour, Willie Willie Barbour.  Willie Barbour.  Willie 
Willie Yeah

   I don't have anything to say about this piece.  It was neat 
to listen to.

5. "James and James on a Desert Island" by James and James 
(Horak and Erwin, respectively). [J Horak, J Erwin. Horak and 
Erwin are stuck on a desert island, Horak wants Erwin to sex 
him.]

   I can't remember the good lines, but there were quite a few.  
Very amusing.  Very fun.  Should there be another 
collaboration?  As sure as their names are James.  Sigh.
   James Horak laughs onstage and it is fine, cute, a part of 
the charm of the piece.  At least I hope, because I used to 
laugh on stage all the time and probably still do from time to 
time.  And, besides, No Shame is fun!  Get it?  Fun!!!

6. "Formula Plots Part 1: Blatant Corporate Advertising" by Tom 
Kovacs. [T Kovacs, Q Dinglylingy, X Rothschlipper. T rails 
against the Coca-Cola corporation's insidious advertising 
tactics, schills for Pepsi.]

   Oh, Tommy Boy, fondle and grope.  Oh, Tommy Boy, do it.  Next 
week I will write a piece in which Tom Kovacs MUST be anally 
penetrated by yours truly and all volunteers, with all parts 
visible so as to avoid any cheating.  It will be integral to the 
piece that this happen.  You will cry at how beautiful it is.  
   The truth is I will not really write this piece, but you 
should.  Take it.  That idea belongs to you, now.
   Wait!  Did I mean Tommy Boy the movie?

7. "Your Rent is Due" by Jose Calcutta --&-- Silas Cricky-Cracky. 
[C 
Stangl. C tells audience it's time for lunch, attempts to get 
them to leave theatre.]

   I didn't get to see most of this, but I heard it and it 
sounded funny to me.  I am sure that the objective was to get 
people to leave, and this is why I cooperated right quickly.  I 
hoped it would encourage others to follow suit, being the first 
one and all.  I think, maybe, the fact that I was holding what 
was my own script may have confused people.

8. "Fleshy Chambers" by Arlen Lawson. [A Lawson. Seven-year-old 
boy kills frog, and feels that God punishes him for it.]

   You know what I would like to see on the No Shame stage for a 
change is a monologue that STARTS pretty funny and then ENDS all 
sad.  That would be a clever little switch-up.

9. "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told" by John Hague. [J Hague, 
J Erwin, Z Mizzymazzy. Hague reads short story that seeks to 
explain the necessary conditions for true love to exist, as J 
and Z act out the narration.]

   Not a short story, though.  It is an essay with an anecdote.  
Except, A) I did enjoy the experience and B) I'm not trying to 
classify it.  I'm just saying that, if not a performance piece, 
it was more an essay than a short story.  Whatever.  The 
presence of the actors in the piece did seem like a clumsy 
addition and not to fit.
   One more thing is, because there are lots of people in the 
world and several of these people have ideas, this point has 
already been made.  It was made eloquently here, though, and 
maybe I've heard or read somewhere that all stories have been 
told so if you're going to tell one, tell it well.

10. "Whenever You Loved, You Were" by Mel Barnes-Staglia. [J 
Erwin. As a Mr. Coffee brews some java, J delivers stream-of-
consciousesque monologue.]

   "Sensory thing" could replace "monologue," as well.  Nick is 
doing neat stuff this semester.  I am thankful for it.
   So, Alyssa, who sits next to me, started, like, peeling an 
orange, and I was all "Whoa, Alyssa, that's kind of_"  But then, 
when she finished peeling it, she didn't eat it.  Instead, she 
picked up another one and started peeling it and I decided, 
instead to think "Whoa, Nick, that's kind of_"  I saw and 
smelled the coffee, too.  I do not know about these other things 
mentioned.

11. "Stack of Paper Cuts, A" by Spencer Griffin. [T Sherwood, W 
Barbour, S Griffin, NB Campbell. S rambles on in an attempt to 
describe T, and NB stacks papers, as T is attacked by her boss 
(W).]

   So, yeah, this was great to experience, but, no, I did not 
understand what happened at the end.  I know a person who loves 
these certain movies even though she admits that she does not 
get them, and I have always thought this was dumb.  I still 
think it is dumb in fact.  BUT_ This was different, because_ 
well_   Well, I did get some elements of it, just didn't 
understand what happened at the end.  Nope, I'm still very dumb. 

12. "Three Stories About Love" by Al Angel. [A Angel, A 
Galbraith, T Sherwood. Three short scenes dealing with three 
various forms of love.]

   The title joke, which is gone now, made me laugh very, very 
hard.  The closing joke here made me laugh almost as hard.  It 
could have done without the last line, which, after the audience 
got the joke, was redundant, but how would a person have known 
this in advance?  I, myself, me, am continually underestimating 
the audience when I write and then shamefacedly delivering the 
joke the audience is already laughing at.

Time: Mon, 24-Sep-2001 16:56:51 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142

13. "As the World Turns" by erin king. [E King, C Stangl, J 
Horak, S Griffin, T Kovacs, A Galbraith, NB Campbell, M Cassady, 
A Lawson, Some Guy. E envisions world politics if they 
resembled the politics of junior high schoolgirls.]

   So, yeah, I didn't know how to be a junior high schoolgirl.  
Instead, I just acted dumb.  Women should add another tally to 
the count of wrongs I have committed against them and should be 
punished for.
   I agree that maybe the nations should have behaved like their 
nations might have before the switch to Junior High School 
girls.  It was still fun to act "loco" and "like a damn drunken 
Mexican" when pushing James Horak over.  Yeah, that was "mucho" 
fun.

14. "The Mystery of the Cosmos" by Neil "Balls" Campbell. [NB 
Campbell. NB goes through history of man's attempts to 
understand the universe, ponders what's next.]

   I am continually short-changing Neil in these reviews on 
account of, while I enjoy his pieces immensely, it is very hard 
to remember much about them later on.  All, then, that I can 
give, are my impressions of how I felt at the time.  As far as 
that goes, Neil gets my thumb.  Next week, I will take care to 
remember Neil's piece better.  

15. "Mouthful of Dirt" by Chris Stangl. [C Stangl. C tells of 
rescuing the Devil from a lobster trap, and the Devil's 
subsequent attempts to get him to eat dirt.]

   This was very neat.  The funny parts were fun.  And the 
thinky parts were think.  You know?
   Great things were the funny voice and the devil's ultimate 
means of getting him to eat dirt.  Those are the things that I 
found to be great.  The Pringles were funny but didn't seem to 
fit, much like I couldn't fit a giant penis anywhere on to that 
devil skull, no matter how hard I tried to picture it..

Time: Mon, 24-Sep-2001 17:02:35 GMT     IP: 128.255.195.97

3 Kovacs pieces in which somebody gets groped?  Sort of.  Just 
because something happens on stage doesn't always mean it's the 
main point of satire.  Must I refresh your memory and give you 
some idea what I was thinking?  I guess.

1.  Late first semester last year, Sam Negron and I co-wrote a 
piece called "Silence is Golden" that singled out and mocked his 
blindness and in the process became the first groping piece.  
After Sam tells a young lady that she smells pretty, he asks if 
she looks pretty ind feels her up.  Why?  If he can't see her, he 
can't tell what she looks like.  We both know lots of stories 
about the blind guy wanting to feel someone's face so he knew 
what they looked like.  Sam's done this to people as a way to get 
a visual image of them.  So we wanted to make a crude joke out of 
that common sentimental moment.  It was more of a "let's laugh at 
the blind guy" kind of thing, and if anybody other than a real 
blind guy were playing the role, I also would have seen it as 
offensive and pointless.

2.  Then March rolled along and Sam and I decided we'd do 
impressions of each other.  He did "The Curse of the Kovacs 
Clan," in which my family all died horrible horrible deaths.  And 
I wrote a diddy called "Blind Man's Bluff," where "Sam" 
supposedly lived his life by pretendig to be blind and had a boy-
who-cried-wolf kind of downfall.  Oh, and the same girl got 
groped in that piece- as a recycled joke.  We had pretty much the 
same conversation mentioned above and I stuck a sign on her that 
said "recycled joke."  Same characters, same plot- just because I 
thought it'd be an interesting twist on things.

3.  You all saw this week's piece.  I need not summarize or 
justify it.  By the way, it was an empty coke can and Jessie 
wasn't hurt at all.  If you felt sorry for him, then he did a 
really good job making that look painful.

In all of these pieces, the insensitive guy was later to recieve 
violent retribution- which ought to be enough non-verbal 
commentary on the subject.  An incensitive act leads up to a 
painful punishment.  Perhaps Spencer's just offended because I 
have had actual females in these roles (unlike in 'Sghetti Meets 
Balls.)

Enough self-explanation.
Tom

Time: Mon, 24-Sep-2001 21:58:04 GMT     IP: 128.255.175.179

Time for lunch was hilarious, but the middle two minutes could 
have been cut out.  

arlen's skit was good, but i don't remember it.

peter pan thing was really funny.

stengle's last skit was good, but made me contemplate my 
mortality more than I felt like at the time.  Good though.

Tom had an interesting look at the world of marketing.

Desert Island: Hilarious.  Well performed.

Greatest love story ever told: stopped listening twenty seconds 
through, didn't care.

juggling is always cool, especially for a buck.

Junior high girls representing the nations: very cool idea.

Where was the skit entitled, let's go to war and kill us some 
niggers i mean muslims?  Hilarious title, and i was really 
looking forward to it.  Did I miss it?

Peace out
quit being clicky--at least that's how y'all seem

Time: Tue, 25-Sep-2001 01:00:21 GMT     IP: 205.244.167.92

:quit being clicky--at least that's how y'all seem


I would appreciate an explaination of this, since it's a 
frequent criticism of NS regulars, and it makes not a great 
deal of sense to me.  Most NS regulars are really friendly and 
inviting, but totally nerdy and shy.  If you want to hang out and 
get to know us, you can be our friend!  We will not hate you 
because you're not in the club.  You can be in the club.  Just 
ask.  I cannot guarantee that we will all like you, but if you 
make an effort, most folks will make some attempt to 
reciporocate it.  This is true in real life too!  We like you, 
Mortimer.  We want you to be our friend.  Do you want to be 
our friend?  Circle one:       yes         no

Time: Tue, 25-Sep-2001 01:32:03 GMT     IP: 205.244.167.41

:In all of these pieces, the insensitive guy was later to recieve 
:violent retribution- which ought to be enough non-verbal 
:commentary on the subject.  An incensitive act leads up to a 
:painful punishment.  Perhaps Spencer's just offended because I 
:have had actual females in these roles (unlike in 'Sghetti Meets 
:Balls.)

:Enough self-explanation.
:Tom

There I times when I think that Tom Kovacks will actually get the 
point that someone is trying to make.  I am obviously a fool at 
these times.

The point, as I saw it--which stood out unobstucted to me--was 
this:  This sort of behavior is seems overwhelmingly to have been 
placed in these sketches not because they serve some sort of 
artistic or comedic vision but because Tom wants to touch girls 
and having a script and an audience makes it okay.  I know how 
this works.  All the participants agree on some level that "this 
is not really happening.  it's theatre."  But deep down they 
everybody knows this is bullshit.  Whatever the context, if you 
groupe someone, you groupe them.  Having a script does not mean 
that you are not feeling someone's buttock, but it allows you to 
let them believe that you are doing it for a "higher" reason than 
getting a cheap feel.  And I'm afraid all I can see in these 
sketches are cheap feels.  Cheap feels are far as the eye can 
see...

This has all been said before.  I am restating it so that nobody 
forgets it when I say: the "punishment" that inevitably comes to 
those who groupe in these sketches seems very clearly to me to be 
nothing more than a device used to further the sense of 
validating one's actions that comes with having said actions 
written on a piece of paper.  "The grouper" the character is 
always punished.  The grouper Tom Kovacks is never punished.  I 
am not saying that he should be.  As far as I know all of the 
girls grouped knew fully what they were getting into and did so 
of free will.  What I object to is the fact that Tom rejuects 
what I see going on in front of me without offering any 
further "proof" than to explain how he further justifies his 
actions to himself.   I don't give a shit who he groupes, but it 
bothers me that Tom is trying to delude us all the way he deludes 
himself.

If you dissagree with me, that is fine.  If you choose to refute 
me in this forum, that is great.  If you do nothing more than beg 
the question, as was done in the post I am replying to, you suck 
and I hate you.

Well, I don't really hate you.  I really love you all.  But you 
will still suck.

And I will post a message however I goddamn well fell like 
it!...  Arlen Lawson!

Love me, and love Arlen Lawson,
Al Angel

Time: Tue, 25-Sep-2001 05:34:11 GMT     IP: 128.255.202.75

Nick says...
I would appreciate an explaination of this, since it's a 
frequent criticism of NS regulars, and it makes not a great 
deal of sense to me.  Most NS regulars are really friendly and 
inviting, but totally nerdy and shy.  If you want to hang out and 
get to know us, you can be our friend!  We will not hate you 
because you're not in the club.  You can be in the club.  Just 
ask.  I cannot guarantee that we will all like you, but if you 
make an effort, most folks will make some attempt to 
reciporocate it.  This is true in real life too!  We like you, 
Mortimer.  We want you to be our friend.  Do you want to be 
our friend?  Circle one:       yes         no

I say...
I agree! In my opinion, most NS regulars got into No Shame 
because they are lonely, wholly depressed people who need a forum 
to connect w/ people. Interaction w/ others is what it's all 
about! Everyone should be everyone's friend!

Time: Tue, 25-Sep-2001 06:53:19 GMT     IP: 128.255.195.97

What you (Mortimer) have called cliquiness among No Shame 
regulars is simply is a group that exists and interacts because 
there aren't that many No Shame regulars.  That's by no means 
exclusive- it's just how the dice have seemed to roll.  We only 
tend to all get together once a week, and we enjoy ourselves.  
You're more than welcome to join us.  Come talk to us.  Say hi.  
Write a few pieces and join us.

Time: Tue, 25-Sep-2001 07:52:31 GMT     IP: 128.255.195.97

Fine, fine, Al.  I write that something becasue it's what 
suddenly pops into my head and I feel like writing that.  Were 
such crude public behaviors my goal, they'd somehow work their 
way into damn near every piece.

Why must I argue with you guys with this particular twisted, 
fucked up logic?  While these reviews are useful criticsim that I 
do consider in my future writing- many of the comments I've seen 
in the forum this week contain unfounded rather judgements about 
about Tom Kovacs himself derrived from a more subtle but also 
strangely biased point of view.

"This sort of behavior is seems overwhelmingly to have been 
placed in these sketches not because they serve some sort of 
artistic or comedic vision but because Tom wants to touch girls 
and having a script and an audience makes it okay"

Since your basis for these assumptions consists entirely of short 
pieces of theatrical bullshit, I have to disagree with you.  And 
since comments on pieces is the bulk of this forum, it's the 
pieces I reminded you about and gave to you for criticism- not 
the person who wrote them.  If the piece offends you (which it 
quite obviously has) write about how the piece offends you.  If 
you find a problem with me- tell me yourself.

Time: Tue, 25-Sep-2001 19:11:38 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142

   Good God Damn!!!!  Aaaaaiiiiggh!  Cock!  Cock!  Cock!
   It's like what if Lucy isn't taking the football away out of 
maliciousness?  What if she just can't figure out how to keep it 
in place?

This has been,
Arlen Lawson the Space-Alien From the Planet Mars

Time: Tue, 25-Sep-2001 23:56:17 GMT     IP: 205.244.161.59

Okay, so I wrote most of this before I read the exchange 
between Al and Tom.  Al, your summary of my criticisms of 
Tom's work is not wholly accurate, but I'll respect it as Your 
criticism, not necessarily agreeing (or disagreeing).  Here's 
my response to Tom's response to my review - already in 
progress.


Dude, did you even Read my review, or just scan for key 
words?  You say:

:Just because something happens on stage doesn't always
:mean it's the main point of satire.

Well, Duh.  I'm not criticising the point of your satire.  I don't 
care about the point of your satire.  I'm criticizing the fact that 
you're asking your friends to grope onstage, eliciting a strong 
audience response, and doing nothing with that response. 
AGAIN:
1.you're asking your friends to grope onstage, 
2.eliciting a strong audience response, 
3.and doing nothing with that response
Of these three, the second two are the most important.  
Commentary on insensetivity is not  any kind of refference to 
the actual physical human beings on the stage who are not 
characters in your story but are actual people who are 
standing there groping each other because you told them to, 
and the audience knows that whatever's going on in the 
story, the important thing is that you got your friends to fondle 
each other and WHY?

:Perhaps Spencer's just offended because I have had actual
:females in these roles (unlike in 'Sghetti Meets Balls.)

I made this criticism, and my name is Nick.  Listed clearly at 
the top.  Also, I mentioned "Excerpt From Spap Oops" in the 
same sentence as "S'ghetti" and that piece involved an 
'actual female'.  Also, my review never made any mention of 
anybody's sex in any of these pieces.

To summarize: Al, you are wrong in your summary of my 
review.
Tom, you are wrong in your summary of my review.

To summarize my review: The audience reacts strongly to 
seeing pseudosexual contact onstage:  the strength of this 
reaction TRANSCENDS the diegesis.  I don't say there is no 
artistic value to swallowing two bottles of Kava Kava, or 
groping your friend, or having your friend shoot you in the arm 
with a rifle, or burning blisters onto your face with a hot cup of 
coffee.  There is a great deal of artistic potential in these 
activities.  HOWEVER, their performance tends to pull the 
audience's attention toward the actors and away from the 
diegesis.  And my feeling is that Kovacs' work has yet to 
acknowledge the power of such stage activity.

Time: Wed, 26-Sep-2001 02:10:44 GMT     IP: 207.177.18.69

Despite the inherent lameness of asking about a piece I wasn't 
there to see, I was wondering what kind of preparation, if any, 
you did for "Your Aim Is Off".  

I'm asking this because, according to descriptions I've heard, 
this piece sounds like something very different from anything I'd 
do, and I get curious about what role preparation plays in 
different types of pieces.

Arlen's comment yesterday about how he always underestimates the 
audience made me think about this as well, because he's describing 
his writing as something that assumes a dialog with the audience, 
something I definitely do when I write. For me that's very time 
consuming, and risky, because I set things down that are hard to 
alter on stage if the audience doesn't respond as I expect.  
(Arlen's example was of him continuing to deliver a joke, even 
though the audience has anticipated it and is already laughing at 
it.  I definitely know that situation.) 

So how set was your part of the "dialog" of your piece?  Did you 
have ideas of where it would head?  Had you worked out specific 
bits beforehand?  Or were you relying on instinct alone, coming 
only with the basic idea and faith in your improv skills (a 
different kind of preparation).
 
(Interesting example of someone scripting something that might 
have looked improvised--Luxton's piece from last semester that 
involved trying to get an audience member to sell him his shirt.  
That piece was minutely scripted.  Kind of a choose your own 
adventure piece with the various possible responses from the 
audience member anticipated and accommodated.) 

Anyone else think about these things in relation to your pieces?  
I guess it's a control issue, really. How much can you control at 
a given moment?

Carolyn

Time: Wed, 26-Sep-2001 16:40:24 GMT     IP: 205.244.161.70

I am replying to Nick Clark and Tom Kocacks.  I realize that 
this probably bores the shit out of most of you.  I will not 
make another long post like this about this subject again.  Nick 
Clark promises.

NICK_
:Al, you are wrong in your summary of my 
:review.

I did not really mean to summarize your review, but to restate 
it in my own terms and to include my own interpretation. There 
were I few points you made that were not relevant to my strain 
of thought.  I apologize for my lack of clarity.  So.  When you 
make this point_

::Just because something happens on stage doesn't always
::mean it's the main point of satire.

:Well, Duh.  I'm not criticising the point of your satire.
:I don't care about the point of your satire.  I'm criticizing  
:the fact that you're asking your friends to grope onstage, 
:eliciting a strong audience response, and doing nothing with 
:that response.

_it gets me thinking why do it if not for the response?  My 
answer is in my previous post.

TOM_
:Were such crude public behaviors my goal, they'd somehow work 
:their way into damn near every piece.

Not necessarily.  I got a girl to kiss me onstage a couple of 
years ago simply because I wanted somebody to kiss me onstage.  
I have never done that since.

:Why must I argue with you guys with this particular twisted, 
:fucked up logic? 

You don't have to.  You obviously want to, regardless of the 
reason why.  And how is my logic twisted?  You really need to 
give me an example.  The only person I see resorting to 
illogical tirades is you.

:many of the comments I've seen 
:in the forum this week contain unfounded rather judgements 
:about about Tom Kovacs himself 

I made no judgments about you.  I made conclusions.  There is a 
difference.  When making conclusions, I try to remain as 
objective as possible.  Even so, they are fallible.  I never 
said they were not.  But I still feel they are correct.  I made 
JUDGMENTS about your wacky defensive comments.

:"This sort of behavior is seems overwhelmingly to have been 
:placed in these sketches not because they serve some sort of 
:artistic or comedic vision but because Tom wants to touch girls 
:and having a script and an audience makes it okay"

As far as I see it, this is still true.  So what?

:Since your basis for these assumptions consists entirely of 
:short pieces of theatrical bullshit, I have to disagree with 
:you. 

Why?!  All I was ever talking about was your short pieces of 
theatrical bullshit!  I never said anything that didn't directly 
relate to what you placed onstage in front of me and a couple 
hundred other people.  How can you dismiss my comments simply 
because they are relevant to the subject at hand?  That doesn't 
make any sense.

:it's the pieces I reminded you about and gave to you for 
:criticism- not he person who wrote them.

That's all I did.  But I will stray from that NOW.  My next 
conclusion: you take everything overly personally.  And then you 
over-react.

:If the piece offends you (which it 
:quite obviously has) write about how the piece offends you. 

I was not offended by the piece.  I was bored by the piece.  I 
thought this was clear.

:If you find a problem with me- tell me yourself.

You might find it hard to believe, but I was never trying to be 
mean, even as far as this post is concerned.  Honest, but not 
mean.  I don't have any problem with Tom Kovacks.  I only have a 
problem with the ignorant dismissive way you are handling this 
situation.  Please do not reply to this out of any negative 
impulses.  Please reply only if you have something to say.

Time: Thu, 27-Sep-2001 06:23:55 GMT     IP: 128.255.202.75

you know how the no shame webpage is a ".org?"
did you ever wonder if there's a "no shame.com?"
i did and here are the results...
a citizen's militant insanity!
www.noshame.com

Time: Fri, 28-Sep-2001 00:00:22 GMT     IP: 205.244.161.68

I remember the good ole days when www.noshame.com 
used to belong to Microsoft.  Anyone else remember those 
days?

Time: Fri, 28-Sep-2001 05:55:11 GMT     IP: 64.12.104.27

I went to the .com site. It's just a banner and some dude 
rambling about 9/11.

I do have a legit question though. Since I wasn't at No Shame 
(obviously) on the 14th (was too busy having an Emmy winning 
actor yell at me, but more on that later), what's up with the "I 
Wish I was a Dog" thing? Why was every piece given that name? Was 
it some sort of Dadaist conspiracy, an anti-war statement, or 
just a fucked up thing some people did? Or all three?

miko

Time: Sat, 29-Sep-2001 07:25:00 GMT     IP: 63.95.18.60

ORDER 9/28/01

1. "Schindler's Poop," by Al Angel_A Angel, AJM River.  A 
professes his belief in fairies and gets pooped on anyway; comedy 
sketch.

2. "Holy Shit, Brad!  My Balls Are Glowing!  And I'm Going to Poop 
in Your Mouth!" by I Wanna Be a Dog_Juggly Brad, Juggly Steve.  
Glowing balls make juggling so exciting; skill performance.

3. "Things that I Think Would Be Beautiful," by Michele Thompson 
with inspiration from Michelle Schlesseman_M Thompson, N"B" 
Campbell.  M talks about all the different ways babies can be 
beautiful; posing in flower pots is not among them; comedy sketch.

4. "Opus 20_The Recorder," by Willie Barbour_W Barbour.  W 
ruminates on "Happy Birthdays" past via sound recordings; dramatic 
monologue.

4.5 "Ernest Goes to_Over There," by Seth Brenneman -&- Stuart 
Stutzman_S Brenneman, S Stutzman.  SB, portraying Ernest, goes 
over there; comedy sketch.

5. "Don't Tell Mom, the Babysitter's Oedipus," by Mark J Hansen_M 
Cassady, P Rust.  M and P find various people/animals/things 
attractive and euphemize their desires; comedy sketch.

6. "Chevrolet Bel Aire," by Carolyn Space Jacobson_CS Jacobson.  
Woman discusses the circumstances of an uncle's death and her 
unpreparedness for it; dramatic monologue.

7. "Clyde Collides," by Paul Rust_P Rust, some other people, A 
Galbraith.  P talks about running, lots of other things, swimming, 
getting eaten by a shark; comey performance.

8. "Lines of Decay," by Arlen Lawson_A Lawson.  Man encounters 
Jesus (quite unlike a Care Bear) and finds himself part of a 
parable; dramatic/comedic monologue.

9. "A Moment of Silence for Those Who Have Passed," by Steve 
Heuertz_S Heuertz, P Rust.  Accompanied by recorded popular music, 
man reads a list of names of those who died in WTC attacks, gets 
sad; dramatic reading of list.

10. "Elbow the Letter," by Georgia Athens_N Clark, A Lawson, N"B" 
Campbell, A Galbraith, AJM River.  N announces letter 
combinations, AL and AG roll around, AJM and N"B" dance and say 
several lines; performance.

11. "Tie a Pink Ribbon, OR Why God Hates the French," by Aprille 
Clarke_A Clarke, AJM River, A Lawson.  AC is actually Allah and 
loves breast cancer and celebrities; AJM and AL think it's so sad; 
comedic monologue/sketch.

12. "Her Name Should Be," by Luke Pingel_L Pingel.  Though her 
name is unclear, a woman has emotional effects on a man; comedic 
monologue.

13. "Michael Rothschild Loves Spain and He Lived There for a 
Year!" by Silas Crombacha_N"B" Campbell, AJM River, C Stangl.  
N"B" is a little old lady who poops in inappropriate places; she 
gets a flag in her buttcrack for sure; comedy sketch.

14. "Broom Hilda," by Neil "Balls" Campbell_N"B" Campbell.  In the 
light of a stark bulb, N"B" tells the story of his destruction of 
a four-year-old Broom Hilda look-alike named Broom Hilda; comedic 
monologue.

15. "Trouble in Dog Island," by Chris Stangl_C Stangl.  In the 
form of several vignettes, C talks about different kinds of 
trouble in the brain (including a writing sample from second 
grade, illustration included); comedic monologue.

Time: Sat, 29-Sep-2001 15:00:12 GMT     IP: 63.95.18.65

ORDER 9/28/01

Here it is, 9 a.m. Saturday morning, and I'm wide awake.  Guess 
I'll review the show.

1. "Schindler's Poop," by Al Angel_A Angel, AJM River.  A 
professes his belief in fairies and gets pooped on anyway; comedy 
sketch.

I didn't see the poop sketch last week (if there was one), but 
this is a pretty funny series.  I'm still waiting to see if they 
reach the level of sophistication that Chris Stangl's drunk 
sketches did_not that they need to, necessarily, because everyone 
knows that drinking is way more sophisticated than pooping.  I, 
for one, miss the shock humor of Chris and Jamal's previous 
incarnations, so it's fun to be reminded of those days, and Al has 
been proving that he can do it well. 

2. "Holy Shit, Brad!  My Balls Are Glowing!  And I'm Going to Poop 
in Your Mouth!" by I Wanna Be a Dog_Juggly Brad, Juggly Steve.  
Glowing balls make juggling so exciting; skill performance.

Really great.  Juggly Brad's performances are always impressive, 
but this went to a level beyond, "See what a good juggler I am?  
Juggling's hard and I can do it and you can't."  Instead, this 
captured the previous element while working on an aesthetic level 
too_it just plain looked cool.  

3. "Things that I Think Would Be Beautiful," by Michele Thompson 
with inspiration from Michelle Schlesseman_M Thompson, N"B" 
Campbell.  M talks about all the different ways babies can be 
beautiful; posing in flower pots is not among them; comedy sketch.

Michele's stage presence is unusual and interesting.  The 
sweetness and sincerity of the beginning of her piece were 
charming when paired with the weird funniness of the  content.  My 
only criticism is that I would have cut the prop poster entirely.  
It pulled me out of the piece, because it clearly wasn't an Anne 
Geddes poster, and the same point could have been made simply 
miming a poster without bursting the world of the piece by making 
me think, "Hah, that is not really an Anne Geddes poster."  A rule 
that may or may not be of use:  unless it's crucial, leaves the 
props at home.  This was a small problem, though, and I look 
forward to seeing more evidence of Michele's weird brain.  

4. "Opus 20_The Recorder," by Willie Barbour_W Barbour.  W 
ruminates on "Happy Birthdays" past via sound recordings; dramatic 
monologue.

It was good that Willie used a concrete image (the audio tape of 
people singing Happy Birthday) to wrap his content around, or it 
would have just slid out into space.  He employed the technique 
well, but the piece somehow still wasn't as engaging as some other 
stuff I've seen him do.  It did seem heartfelt, though, and I 
appreciated the effort he put into constructing it.  Maybe it's 
because Willie is such an imposing physical presence_to see him do 
a piece that doesn't make use of that in some way (examples:  the 
irony of imagining Willie wearing nail polish, the accuracy of 
Willie seeming big and intimidating as a sex-hungry dog) feels 
like a let-down.  And by this I mean:  once you find something 
that works, never EVER try anything new.  Like a broken-down, 
useless piece of shit works.  

4.5 "Ernest Goes to_Over There," by Seth Brenneman -&- Stuart 
Stutzman_S Brenneman, S Stutzman.  SB, portraying Ernest, goes 
over there; comedy sketch.

Well_he sure did.  Obviously Brenneman can imitate unpopular 
celebrities (Gilbert Gottfried too).  The simplicity made for a 
good gag, and I was glad it didn't get drawn out any further 
(despite rumors that the script was 5 pages long).  It was the 
best punch line/visual I've seen from these guys.  I meant to 
write a review a couple of weeks ago about the underwear 
commercial piece, and my criticism of that was going to be lack of 
an original punch line.  In this case, though, the very punch line 
was a lack of a punch line_just SB wiggling his jaw around.  When 
I do that, it makes the insides of my ears tickle.  Does it for 
Seth?  Does it?

5. "Don't Tell Mom, the Babysitter's Oedipus," by Mark J Hansen_M 
Cassady, P Rust.  M and P find various people/animals/things 
attractive and euphemize their desires; comedy sketch.

As Balls whispered to me in the audience, this is the funniest 
thing Mark's written in a long time.  Cassady and Rust's high-
commitment performances_especially Cassady_gave this piece the 
energy it needed in order to provide a contrast with the end.  I'm 
getting a little bored with dog sex (I mean, who's not?) so I 
would have preferred something other than a German Shepherd, but 
the last line was priceless.  From now on I'm always going to 
think of Mark when I titty-fuck sunsets.

6. "Chevrolet Bel Aire," by Carolyn Space Jacobson_CS Jacobson.  
Woman discusses the circumstances of an uncle's death and her 
unprepared ness for it; dramatic monologue.

Beautifully written_well-crafted with an obvious attention to 
detail.  Carolyn has a commanding stage presence that fills up the 
stage and kept my attention throughout.  Ordinarily I get a little 
bored with monologues that don't do anything to engage my eyes, 
but this one worked on a purely literary level.  Maybe it's 
because I haven't seen Carolyn very much yet so her presence is 
still a novelty, but whatever, it works (and NOT like a broken-
down, useless piece of shit works).  The complexity of emotion and 
multi-layered quality of the details surrounding the uncle's death 
and his final revelations impressed me.

7. "Clyde Collides," by Paul Rust_P Rust, some other people, A 
Galbraith.  P talks about running, lots of other things, swimming, 
getting eaten by a shark; comedy performance.

Goddamn, I say.  This was one of the funniest things I've seen in 
all semester.  Paul's sheer physical commitment to the performance 
was one of the strongest aspects, but even yet, the combination of 
linear (though simple) story and nonsense were engaging and often 
hysterical.  I liked how he got more people on stage, and the 
blocking was creative, the way they went in a semi-circle as if 
Paul were running laps around them.  The character was a little 
empty_at the end it felt like maybe I would get a glimpse into 
another layer, but I didn't and it was ok.  I was too busy looking 
at whatever the hell was happening in that swimsuit.


8. "Lines of Decay," by Arlen Lawson_A Lawson.  Man encounters 
Jesus (quite unlike a Care Bear) and finds himself part of a 
parable; dramatic/comedic monologue.

The last line was lovely; it made me wish I'd paid closer 
attention during the bulk of the piece so I could have thought 
about it more and reinterpreted it within the frame of a parable.  
Maybe Arlen will post his script to the website.  Oh, that reminds 
me, while working this summer I learned a little bit about 
copyright law, and once anything is published in tangible medium 
(WWW included), in the eyes of the law, it is copyrighted (or is 
it copywrited?  Playwrited?  I can never remember).  This 
contradicts my previous impression that publishing something to 
the web was dangerous territory in terms of getting things 
published in the future.  So I think it's ok.  I'm not saying 
anything more out of revenge for the time Arlen reviewed my piece 
and talked about Mark the whole time.

9. "A Moment of Silence for Those Who Have Passed," by Steve 
Heuertz_S Heuertz, P Rust.  Accompanied by recorded popular music, 
man reads a list of names of those who died in WTC attacks, gets 
sad; dramatic reading of list.

This was the only piece of the night that actively annoyed me.  I 
mean, for one thing, if it's called a moment of silence, then it 
should be a moment of silence and not a thing where a guy talks.  
Anyway, I'm unclear as to what the mission of this piece was.  If 
it was to move us to be sad about the victims of the disaster, 
then it didn't work, because the actor's emotions seemed 
insincere.  The names were not expanded into humans at all_it 
might have been interesting if he'd researched some of those 
individuals and made them come alive for me.  Plus then there 

Time: Sat, 29-Sep-2001 15:01:55 GMT     IP: 63.95.18.65

and talked about Mark the whole time.

9. "A Moment of Silence for Those Who Have Passed," by Steve 
Heuertz_S Heuertz, P Rust.  Accompanied by recorded popular music, 
man reads a list of names of those who died in WTC attacks, gets 
sad; dramatic reading of list.

This was the only piece of the night that actively annoyed me.  I 
mean, for one thing, if it's called a moment of silence, then it 
should be a moment of silence and not a thing where a guy talks.  
Anyway, I'm unclear as to what the mission of this piece was.  If 
it was to move us to be sad about the victims of the disaster, then 
it didn't work, because the actor's emotions seemed insincere.  The 
names were not expanded into humans at all_it might have been 
interesting if he'd researched some of those individuals and made 
them come alive for me.  Plus then there would have been zombies.  
As it was, though, he read about 30 names.  What's extra horrifying 
about Sept 11, though, is that thousands of people died, not 30.  
He didn't use this information in a moving way.  This might sound 
callous, but 30 people die all the time.  Unless he makes me care 
about those 30 or so people whose names he chose to read, or unless 
the reading went on so long that he read all the thousands of 
peoples' names, it's not interesting or moving.  This piece needed 
something:  as it stands, it's not art, it's a list.  SCHINDLER'S 
LIST!  NOT!

10. "Elbow the Letter," by Georgia Athens_N Clark, A Lawson, N"B" 
Campbell, A Galbraith, AJM River.  N announces letter combinations, 
AL and AG roll around, AJM and N"B" dance and say several lines; 
performance.

This was one of the more engaging non-linear pieces I've seen in a 
while.  I liked Nick's presence on stage, and while I have a vague 
guess at what the letters he was announcing meant (just because I 
was looking at Balls' script over his shoulder while an Emmy-
winning actor lobbed carp at my face), even if I hadn't I think it 
would have worked.  Neil and Jamal's quasi-followable lines added a 
really interesting touch of texture, and it's always nice when 
people roll around.

11. "Tie a Pink Ribbon, OR Why God Hates the French," by Aprille 
Clarke_A Clarke, AJM River, A Lawson.  AC is actually Allah and 
loves breast cancer and celebrities; AJM and AL think it's so sad; 
comedic monologue/sketch.

Note to Willie:  I looked her up, and Holly is real.  She lives in 
Cedar Rapids, I'm guessing with her parents.  She is so, so 
qualified to talk about stuff.

12. "Her Name Should Be," by Luke Pingel_L Pingel.  Though her name 
is unclear, a woman has emotional effects on a man; comedic 
monologue.

Some of the names were funny.  I enjoyed the idea about people's 
names not suiting them, because that's something I think about all 
the time.  Now this is a monologue that would have been stronger if 
it had employed some more theatrical elements_involving other 
characters, adding some blocking, some interesting lighting, 
anything.  While the content was good, it needed a boost to go from 
pretty good to a stronger level of engagement.

13. "Michael Rothschild Loves Spain and He Lived There for a Year!" 
by Silas Crombacha_N"B" Campbell, AJM River, C Stangl.  N"B" is a 
little old lady who poops in inappropriate places; she gets a flag 
in her buttcrack for sure; comedy sketch.

God, I'm so glad poop sketches are in again this semester.  Funny 
and funny.  I'll let Balls tell the story, but I hope he posts 
about his strange request from an audience member.

14. "Broom Hilda," by Neil "Balls" Campbell_N"B" Campbell.  In the 
light of a stark bulb, N"B" tells the story of his destruction of a 
four-year-old Broom Hilda look-alike named Broom Hilda; comedic 
monologue.

Ok, Luke, this is what I'm talking about.  This was a fun monologue 
that would have worked fine on its own, but Balls added some 
textural elements_changes in the pacing of his monologue, volume 
variation, interesting lighting_and it gave what would have been 
just a cute monologue an overall impression of fun and development.  
Now, a person can't rely on only peripheral elements to make a 
monologue_if the writing sucks it's going to suck whether a person 
has interesting lighting or not.  And it's not a hard and fast rule 
(see Carolyn Space Jacobson's piece).  But it often helps.  Hell, 
next week I'M gonna use lighting.  Maybe.

15. "Trouble in Dog Island," by Chris Stangl_C Stangl.  In the form 
of several vignettes, C talks about different kinds of trouble in 
the brain (including a writing sample from second grade, 
illustration included); comedic monologue.

Sweet and fun, reminiscent of "The Rules of Shotgun."  I enjoy 
Chris's child narrators, and this one wasn't oppressively cute 
because it was within a non-child-narrator context.  I like it when 
Chris doesn't feel like he has to be hard-boiled and can show us 
his tender bottom.  Come to think of it, I haven't seen Chris's 
tender bottom in a while, but that's just personal failure on my 
part.  Anyway_it was good how the framework of "trouble in dog 
island" wrapped around the diverse themes he presented.  Chris 
almost always uses multiple elements to complement his writing, and 
this monologue was particularly good that way.  I wonder if Chris 
Okiishi agrees with Chris's assessment of his own childhood 
mentality.

Great show, all around, and a good, enthusiastic audience.   
Hooray!  Note:  my spellcheck says it's "Copyrighted," and the 
first suggestion it offers for "Okiishi" is "Bookish."

Time: Sat, 29-Sep-2001 18:47:44 GMT     IP: 128.255.175.179

See here's the thing.  No one likes Holly. Who could?  What I 
don't understand, is Aprille is an incredibly talented 
individual.  She appears to be a smart and attractive young lady 
with a ton going for her.  So why get so bitter and out of shape 
about a retarded DI columnist?  Aprille, it's pretty certain 
that everyone at no shame respects you a lot more than holly 
eggleston.  So what's the point at cheap shots that don't fit 
into the rest of your skit?

Time: Sat, 29-Sep-2001 19:12:35 GMT     IP: 24.182.66.31

The thing was randomly offensive which was one of the aspects I 
enjoyed.  I was starting to feel left out until my ethnic 
group/religion was "shot" at.  I dont know who/what Holly is but 
I would think any cheap shot at all would have fit into that 
skit.  Besides what is the point in making cheap shots at Aprille 
like, "She appears to be a smart and attractive young lady with a 
ton going for her." that dont fit into the rest of your post?  

Time: Sat, 29-Sep-2001 20:06:31 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.142

http://www.bourton.com/ApplePieHouse/itm00108.htm

Time: Sat, 29-Sep-2001 22:04:25 GMT     IP: 209.152.104.180

A strong night, I thought. There were longer pieces toward the 
end, which is sometimes hard to take so late at night, but the 
pacing of them kept me awake and alert.  A good balance of serious 
pieces and comedy.

1. "Schindler's Poop," by Al Angel_A Angel, AJM River.  A 
professes his belief in fairies and gets pooped on anyway; comedy 
sketch.

I have to admit that I don't understand why this would be funny 
week after week.  Or why it's shocking, given how often butts and 
poop seem to be a part of NS.  But I'm missing all of the context 
(of these poop sketches, of the .5 pieces more generally), so 
wadda I know?  I do know that that mouth was very close to that 
butt.

2. "Holy Shit, Brad!  My Balls Are Glowing!  And I'm Going to Poop 
in Your Mouth!" by I Wanna Be a Dog_Juggly Brad, Juggly Steve. 
Glowing balls make juggling so exciting; skill performance.

Oh, this was fun, especially the appearance of the rogue ball from 
time to time.  I wanted glowing balls to drop down from the grid, 
so we could all be surrounded by such cool things.

3. "Things that I Think Would Be Beautiful," by Michele Thompson 
with inspiration from Michelle Schlesseman_M Thompson, N"B" 
Campbell.  M talks about all the different ways babies can be 
beautiful; posing in flower pots is not among them; comedy sketch.

I really liked Michele's presence on stage.  (Her presence in the 
bathroom was great, too.  I wished she had told the story I 
overheard her mentioning there about dropping her script in the 
toilet.)  The piece was a very good kind of weird, emphasized by 
her enthusiasm.  The ending was the only thing I didn't like.  
Maybe because of the prop (as Aprille mentioned), but I was 
wondering, too, what it would have been like to just cut the end.  
The end seemed to make it more of a traditional comedy sketch, 
with some little reversal or switch that helps the piece conclude, 
whereas the magic of the piece for me was its weirdness, which 
could have been left hanging.  Go Michele.

4. "Opus 20_The Recorder," by Willie Barbour_W Barbour.  W 
ruminates on "Happy Birthdays" past via sound recordings; dramatic 
monologue.

I had to go and get a drink because I was getting drymouth, so I 
missed the beginning of this.  I will say, though, that I was able 
to concentrate on the end of it from the vomitorium, which was 
pretty impressive, given that I was nervous about my piece, so 
normally I would have been unable to focus at all.  But I missed 
too much to have a sense of how it all worked.

4.5 "Ernest Goes to_Over There," by Seth Brenneman --&-- Stuart 
Stutzman_S Brenneman, S Stutzman.  SB, portraying Ernest, goes 
over there; comedy sketch.

I couldn't see very well from the vomitorium, but this was a good 
wish-fulfillment piece for me.  Once SB crossed, I was really 
hoping there would be a quick blackout, and there it was!  I like 
quick pieces that know when to end.

5. "Don't Tell Mom, the Babysitter's Oedipus," by Mark J Hansen_M 
Cassady, P Rust.  M and P find various people/animals/things 
attractive and euphemize their desires; comedy sketch.

I really enjoyed trying to figure out where this piece was going.  
At first, I thought, "Oh, it's making that kind of predictable 
turn to include men lusting after other men," but then it got 
weirder, and then a little weirder still.  What made all of this 
so great was Paul and Mike working so well and enthusiastically 
together.  What the hell was that thing toward the end where they 
joined bellies?  Very very fun and excellent.  Erik and I were 
saying "Mercy!" to each other most of the way back to Grinnell.

6. "Chevrolet Bel Aire," by Carolyn Space Jacobson_CS Jacobson. 
Woman discusses the circumstances of an uncle's death and her 
unpreparedness for it; dramatic monologue.

(Maybe there could be a new rule for the audience about cell 
phones.  The ringing phone didn't really register with me, but it 
sounds like it distracted some people in the audience.)  I thought 
this went well.  I haven't read a piece in a while, so I felt a 
little rusty esp. at the start, but by the last minute or so, the 
audience was nice and quiet, which usually means that something is 
working.

7. "Clyde Collides," by Paul Rust_P Rust, some other people, A 
Galbraith.  P talks about running, lots of other things, swimming, 
getting eaten by a shark; comey performance.

Oh, this was really nice.  I can't imagine how tired Paul must 
have been by the time it was over.  I didn't follow the very end, 
and I got confused about who Aaron was supposed to be, but I 
didn't care about these things, because there was so much else to 
grab hold of.  I liked the people rotating out from behind the 
curtain, I liked Paul's sudden changes of manner, and I was 
impressed at how little the script got in his way.  Another thing 
I liked was how he physically returned to the place on stage where 
he started, which gave me a sense of structure.

8. "Lines of Decay," by Arlen Lawson_A Lawson.  Man encounters 
Jesus (quite unlike a Care Bear) and finds himself part of a 
parable; dramatic/comedic monologue.

I feel primed to like Arlen's stuff, based on what I've seen in 
person and read online, but this felt a little loose to me.  Maybe 
my response comes in part from having really liked his precision 
of character in Brothers Askew.  It took me a while to feel like I 
had a firm sense of the type of piece this was, or where the 
storyline was heading.  I was also a bit distracted by the hat.  
There were moments I really liked (and I wish I had a script to be 
more specific here), where things got more concrete, such as the 
strong images (the index finger separated from the hand, the 
description of Jesus) and the quoted conversations or comments in 
the piece.  A No Shame apocalypse story.

Time: Sat, 29-Sep-2001 22:05:45 GMT     IP: 209.152.104.180

9. "A Moment of Silence for Those Who Have Passed," by Steve 
Heuertz_S Heuertz, P Rust.  Accompanied by recorded popular music, 
man reads a list of names of those who died in WTC attacks, gets 
sad; dramatic reading of list.

This piece annoyed me, to be honest.  At first because I thought 
it was going to be a reading of names that someone had printed off 
the web, and the reason that annoyed me was that Toni Wilson was 
the first person turned away because the order was filled, and she 
had a piece she had taken time to write (as did, I assume, the 
others turned away), and I think that's what NS should be about, 
rather than reading a list of names.  (Obviously, my own very 
personal opinion.)  But when Steve started crying, I was annoyed 
for a different reason--because I didn't buy that it was genuine.  
Maybe he was actually crying, but as part of a staged situation, 
which felt PREACHY to me, as if I was being told how I was 
supposed to respond.  Maybe part of my problem was that I went to 
a funeral yesterday and really cried over the death of a person, 
and didn't feel like I needed to see that behavior modeled for my 
instruction.

10. "Elbow the Letter," by Georgia Athens_N Clark, A Lawson, N"B" 
Campbell, A Galbraith, AJM River.  N announces letter 
combinations, AL and AG roll around, AJM and N"B" dance and say 
several lines; performance.

I have no idea what this was about.  So, what did the numbers 
mean?  I guess I liked watching it, but my interest stemmed mostly 
in trying to figure it out, which I never did.  I kept thinking it 
was going to turn out to be a game of Battleship.  (I'll admit to 
not being the ideal audience member for abstraction.)

11. "Tie a Pink Ribbon, OR Why God Hates the French," by Aprille 
Clarke_A Clarke, AJM River, A Lawson.  AC is actually Allah and 
loves breast cancer and celebrities; AJM and AL think it's so sad; 
comedic monologue/sketch.

I love the idea of breasts being terrorists.  I also really liked 
the initial reversal in this piece: what starts out sounding like 
championing of breast cancer survivors turns into Allah's longing 
for perfect breasts via implants.  I really like watching Aprille 
work.  Her face is wonderfully expressive, and her dynamism keeps 
things energetic.  I liked the ending, too, with Aprille frozen 
and the thoughtful commentary by AJM and AL.  But I think I really 
wanted the whole piece to be about terrorist breasts.

12. "Her Name Should Be," by Luke Pingel_L Pingel.  Though her 
name is unclear, a woman has emotional effects on a man; comedic 
monologue.

I thought this was funny, and I thought Luke had a good sense of 
what was funny (two things that don't necessarily go hand in 
hand).  My sense was that he sounded like a fiction writer, but 
for me the material kept my interest sufficiently so that I wasn't 
wanting more in terms of the performance.  I just really like the 
idea of a kinda creepy guy who insists on calling some someone by 
the name that he thinks is appropriate.  If it had been more 
sinister, I might not have liked it so much.  The piece wasn't 
overwritten, and it wasn't too long.

13. "Michael Rothschild Loves Spain and He Lived There for a 
Year!" by Silas Crombacha_N"B" Campbell, AJM River, C Stangl. N"B" 
is a little old lady who poops in inappropriate places; she gets a 
flag in her buttcrack for sure; comedy sketch.

I liked this a lot, primarily because of the relentlessly cheerful 
narrator.  What a great idea, and so well executed.  And of 
course, what made this sketch even better was the strong material 
the narrator got to respond to.  Ball's suspended ass was my 
favorite ass of the night.  When Erik and weren't shouting 
"Mercy!" on the way home, we were trying to remember exact quotes 
from this piece.

14. "Broom Hilda," by Neil "Balls" Campbell_N"B" Campbell.  In the 
light of a stark bulb, N"B" tells the story of his destruction of 
a four-year-old Broom Hilda look-alike named Broom Hilda; comedic 
monologue.

The removal of the tainted chair was very nice.  I liked the 
lighting, especially the moment at the very end, where Balls has 
to break character (or break something) a bit to reach up and turn 
off the light.  The writing at the start of this was particularly 
strong.  Erik and I both agreed that the section about the Broom 
Hilda cartoon, the differences between the cartoon and the 
daughter, and the choice to name the daughter after the Broom 
Hilda cartoon anyway was one of the highlights of the evening.

15. "Trouble in Dog Island," by Chris Stangl_C Stangl.  In the 
form of several vignettes, C talks about different kinds of 
trouble in the brain (including a writing sample from second 
grade, illustration included); comedic monologue.

I need to admit that Chris has always kind of scared me.  I think 
because the one or two pieces I've seen him do before were kind of 
angry and cold, so I wasn't expecting to like this nearly as much 
as I did.  Ultimately I think I would have liked the different 
parts to fit together more clearly.  (How did he suddenly get to 
reading his second-grade writing?  How did the guy staring down 
the fraternal brothers--oooo, nice phrasing--connect to everything 
else?  )  But I really liked the work that had been done to make 
each section cohesive and strikingly unique.  Shifts in pacing, 
the clapping, the excellent props, the wonderful physical 
presentation of the guy in the street.  And the idea of babies 
with shoes shining over it all.  (Bonus: I was sitting near Paul 
Rust, and got to hear him laugh and laugh and laugh through this 
piece.  That was great.)

Time: Sat, 29-Sep-2001 22:44:02 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.195


:I have no idea what this was about.  So, what did the 
:numbers mean?  I guess I liked watching it, but my interest 
:stemmed mostly in trying to figure it out, which I never did.  I 
:kept thinking it was going to turn out to be a game of 
:Battleship.  (I'll admit to not being the ideal audience 
:member for abstraction.)

Just to clear this up, the numbers and letters were cues to 
Mark, Al, Jamal and Neil based on the behavior of the 
audience.

Time: Sun, 30-Sep-2001 02:51:03 GMT     IP: 216.248.113.208

Oh, I like that.  Willing to share the details?

--CSJ

Time: Sun, 30-Sep-2001 05:12:53 GMT     IP: 216.248.113.230

First-time, long-time.

I dug farmer Lick (sp?).  That character gave Arlen's piece 
another layer of narration, making the story ambiguous: not a 
parable but something a crazy farmer *thought* was a parable, 
which to me is much more interesting.  The farmer was my 
favorite part of that piece.

Not to abide poopy crack is sheer brilliance.  The three 
characters in that piece were individually and collectively 
magnificent.

Not to abide cellphone rings, especially comically elaborate 
musical rings, gets my vote as a fourth rule.  

Like Aprille and Carolyn, I was irked by the reading of names.  
I can think of many ways to interpret it.  None of them make me 
like it or think it was appropriate for NS, and most of them 
really piss me off.  On the other hand, for a compelling 
meditation on grief and bereavement, see Carolyn's piece.  Ah, 
the Bel Air.

The titty-fuck piece ate me up and spat me out, in a good way.  
Mercy indeed.

"Broom Hilda" displayed a pleasing combination of slapstick and 
rhetorical polish.  The best of its moments rivalled the more 
consistent poopy crack skit.

Satan's shoe-collecting worked nicely to end the show, gluing a 
slightly darker veneer onto the charmingly grotesque choose-your-
own-adventure tale it followed.

0

Time: Sun, 30-Sep-2001 06:02:38 GMT     IP: 205.244.161.158

:Oh, I like that.  Willing to share the details?


Well, I guess I'll give an HTML copy to Jeff so that he can post 
it.  It'll be a condensed version, since the piece's complexity 
required a separate set of special instructions for everyone 
involved.

Time: Sun, 30-Sep-2001 14:01:51 GMT     IP: 205.244.161.4

1. "Schindler's Poop," by Al Angel_A Angel, AJM River.  A 
Keep the poop sketches coming, Al, keep the poop 
sketches coming.  It was kind of a happy coincidence that 
Erin provided this material to make a poop sketch out of.  
Keep the poop sketches coming, Erin.

2. "Holy Shit, Brad!  My Balls Are Glowing!  And I'm Going to 
Poop 
in Your Mouth!" by I Wanna Be a Dog
Dear my god, what a clever, clever title.  I didn't get to see 
most of the fun, since Steve asked me to videotape the 
piece, and the balls didn't show up too well in the viewfinder.  
But what a supercool idea.  Just think of all the fun things 
that could glow on a stage.  Just think...

3. "Things that I Think Would Be Beautiful," by Michele 
Thompson 
with inspiration from Michelle Schlesseman
This was absolutely hilarious, mostly because Michelle is 
almost as happy and bizzaire in real life as she is on stage, 
so she didn't have to do as much acting to make a piece like 
this work as would, say, me.  This has to go down in history 
as one of the all time great first pieces.

4. "Opus 20_The Recorder," by Willie Barbour
I can't imagine performing a piece like this one with your 
actual real live high school age son in the audience.  Willie's 
got bigger balls of emotionality than I realised.

4.5 "Ernest Goes to_Over There," by Seth Brenneman --&-- 
Stuart 
Stutzman
Oh how beautiful.  This was not really even a joke, exactly, it 
wasn't even funny precisely, but I laughed myself sick 
because of how well it worked as a blackout, and how I like 
to see Seth do things with his face.

5. "Don't Tell Mom, the Babysitter's Oedipus," by Mark J 
Hansen
"Make me a sandwich!"  Well, the premise here was not 
terribly inventive.  The text was somewhat creative, but the 
performances made this piece unbearably hilarious.  
Though it might have been funnier still to see someone who 
couldn't quite carry off the phrase 'titty-fuck' as naturally as 
Mike deliver that line.

6. "Chevrolet Bel Aire," by Carolyn Space Jacobson_CS 
Jacobson.  
This was my first time seeing the legendary Space in action, 
and I sat there examining her face thinking 'It was not so 
many years ago that THIS was the face of No Shame'.  And I 
examined her face and was shocked to find that, unlike the 
pictures of her I've seen on the internet, Space Jacobson 
does not look anything like a No Shame person.  Space 
Jacobson looks like a real live woman.  This realization, 
combined with the high expectations I had for such a 
legendary performer, distracted me from most of the text.  It 
was, in the end, a monologue.  A very touching monologue, 
interesting and well delivered, but ultimately just a 
monologue.  I guess I expected Space's words to leap out of 
her mouth and perform open-heart fellatilingus/cunnallio on 
every person in the audence.  And I expected this literally.  
And I was disapointed, though I really had no reason to be.  
Who is this review of value to?  Me, mostly.  I should say "To 
whom is this review of value?" but that sounds retardeder to 
me.

7. "Clyde Collides," by Paul Rust
Hmm, the description called this a "comey performance".  I 
guess I missed the semen bit, but maybe Paul will perform 
it for me in private some day.  Wink wink.
      Sould I actually reveiw it?  Okay, so, Paul tends to, from 
time to time find ways to make nonsense, compleat 
gobbledegook language, really funny.  This time, however, I 
felt that language taking up space and wearing the piece 
(and Paul) out.  Ultimately, this was a piece that depended 
almost entirely on its frenetic pace for its humor, and it 
wound up dragging and going long, thus stalling its 
momentum.

8. "Lines of Decay," by Arlen Lawson
There's this eerie limbo between what you can make sense 
of just by hearing it once, and what you can stomach on the 
printed page.  This is a limbo where the plot is just complex 
enough that you'd like to go and have a second look.  But it's 
also a place where you're aware that the details are even 
more horrifying, and going back for a second look is simply 
not within your emotional scope.  That's the place Arlen 
writes in. [That's the place in which Arlen writes.  ...still 
sounds retarded.]

9. "A Moment of Silence for Those Who Have Passed," by 
Steve Heuertz
Seems pretty obvious that this was supposed to be funny.  
As Al and I were discussing today, there is no reason to play 
"Freebird" with such a piece if you want to be taken 
seriously.  I didn't really laugh, though.  I don't really have a 
lot else to say here.

10. "Elbow the Letter," by Georgia Athens
I felt this went pretty well.  I hadn't exactly expected my letters 
and numbers to be as much of an issue as they turned out 
being.  That was kinda short sighted, i guess.

11. "Tie a Pink Ribbon, OR Why God Hates the French," by 
Aprille Clarke
Aprille is a really courageous artist - week after week she 
makes statements onstage which can offend literally 
anyone.  Myself included.  I didn't get a clear sense from this 
piece, as I've not from many of Aprille's pieces, of what all 
this offensiveness points to.  What is the central criticism of 
all the cheek-tonguing?  I donno.  I can gather some sense 
generally of what she rallies against, but if all that's really 
being challenged are the basics, can such wide 
offensiveness be justified?  No, but I doubt that only the 
things I'm seeing are the things she's challenging.  So if 
your audience is beneath the toungue-in-cheekness of your 
stuff deeply enough to be really offended, is it still a valid 
method of expressing your subtext?  I guess.  Even dumb 
folks sometimes get tough things.  Maybe it sinks in a week 
later.  I sure am boring.  I need sleep.

12. "Her Name Should Be," by Luke Pingel
I don't know Luke Pingel outside of this and , like, one other 
piece.  Here Luke Pingel does a boorish sorta sociopathic 
character really believably and identifiably, yet avoids 
convincing me that he himself is unpleasant or creepy.  
How'd he do that?

13. "Michael Rothschild Loves Spain and He Lived There for 
a 
Year!" by Silas Crombacha
Two poop sketches in one night!  It's amazing how the 
comedic potential of something as simple as poops and 
butts never tires.

14. "Broom Hilda," by Neil "Balls" Campbell
I wish that this piece had been saved for Hallowe'en.  But 
then what would Neil have done this week?  In a way this 
followed a pretty standard horror movie outline.  Someone 
on a holy quest sets out to destroy an evil being who just 
won't stay dead.  What sets it apart and helps it be its own 
thing, and funny?  The fact that Neil defeats all the 
mechanisms that drive such a plot.  The vision of the divine 
is a crack induced hallucination of a cartoon mouse, and the 
evil being is a four year old child which (if I remember 
correctly) never committs any real evil.  This is an effective 
comedic strategy, and one I think Neil uses from time to 
time; defeat a strongly established style by tearing out its 
roots.

15. "Trouble in Dog Island," by Chris Stangl
While a more specific rhetorical explaination of the 
relationship between the segments would have devalued 
the entirety of the 'dog island' moments, the connection, as 
wellas the meaning of the phrase 'dog island' is unclear.

I just woke up and the rest of this field was filled with 'i's and 
'r's.  I'll never know what i was trying to type in my sleep.  
Several of these reviews were probably typed in my sleep.  

Time: Sun, 30-Sep-2001 14:03:43 GMT     IP: 205.244.161.4

1. "Schindler's Poop," by Al Angel_A Angel, AJM River.  A 
Keep the poop sketches coming, Al, keep the poop 
sketches coming.  It was kind of a happy coincidence that 
Erin provided this material to make a poop sketch out of.  
Keep the poop sketches coming, Erin.

2. "Holy Shit, Brad!  My Balls Are Glowing!  And I'm Going to 
Poop 
in Your Mouth!" by I Wanna Be a Dog
Dear my god, what a clever, clever title.  I didn't get to see 
most of the fun, since Steve asked me to videotape the 
piece, and the balls didn't show up too well in the viewfinder.  
But what a supercool idea.  Just think of all the fun things 
that could glow on a stage.  Just think...

3. "Things that I Think Would Be Beautiful," by Michele 
Thompson 
with inspiration from Michelle Schlesseman
This was absolutely hilarious, mostly because Michelle is 
almost as happy and bizzaire in real life as she is on stage, 
so she didn't have to do as much acting to make a piece like 
this work as would, say, me.  This has to go down in history 
as one of the all time great first pieces.

4. "Opus 20_The Recorder," by Willie Barbour
I can't imagine performing a piece like this one with your 
actual real live high school age son in the audience.  Willie's 
got bigger balls of emotionality than I realised.

4.5 "Ernest Goes to_Over There," by Seth Brenneman --&-- 
Stuart 
Stutzman
Oh how beautiful.  This was not really even a joke, exactly, it 
wasn't even funny precisely, but I laughed myself sick 
because of how well it worked as a blackout, and how I like 
to see Seth do things with his face.

5. "Don't Tell Mom, the Babysitter's Oedipus," by Mark J 
Hansen
"Make me a sandwich!"  Well, the premise here was not 
terribly inventive.  The text was somewhat creative, but the 
performances made this piece unbearably hilarious.  
Though it might have been funnier still to see someone who 
couldn't quite carry off the phrase 'titty-fuck' as naturally as 
Mike deliver that line.

6. "Chevrolet Bel Aire," by Carolyn Space Jacobson_CS 
Jacobson.  
This was my first time seeing the legendary Space in action, 
and I sat there examining her face thinking 'It was not so 
many years ago that THIS was the face of No Shame'.  And I 
examined her face and was shocked to find that, unlike the 
pictures of her I've seen on the internet, Space Jacobson 
does not look anything like a No Shame person.  Space 
Jacobson looks like a real live woman.  This realization, 
combined with the high expectations I had for such a 
legendary performer, distracted me from most of the text.  It 
was, in the end, a monologue.  A very touching monologue, 
interesting and well delivered, but ultimately just a 
monologue.  I guess I expected Space's words to leap out of 
her mouth and perform open-heart fellatilingus/cunnallio on 
every person in the audence.  And I expected this literally.  
And I was disapointed, though I really had no reason to be.  
Who is this review of value to?  Me, mostly.  I should say "To 
whom is this review of value?" but that sounds retardeder to 
me.

7. "Clyde Collides," by Paul Rust
Hmm, the description called this a "comey performance".  I 
guess I missed the semen bit, but maybe Paul will perform 
it for me in private some day.  Wink wink.
      Sould I actually reveiw it?  Okay, so, Paul tends to, from 
time to time find ways to make nonsense, compleat 
gobbledegook language, really funny.  This time, however, I 
felt that language taking up space and wearing the piece 
(and Paul) out.  Ultimately, this was a piece that depended 
almost entirely on its frenetic pace for its humor, and it 
wound up dragging and going long, thus stalling its 
momentum.

8. "Lines of Decay," by Arlen Lawson
There's this eerie limbo between what you can make sense 
of just by hearing it once, and what you can stomach on the 
printed page.  This is a limbo where the plot is just complex 
enough that you'd like to go and have a second look.  But it's 
also a place where you're aware that the details are even 
more horrifying, and going back for a second look is simply 
not within your emotional scope.  That's the place Arlen 
writes in. [That's the place in which Arlen writes.  ...still 
sounds retarded.]

9. "A Moment of Silence for Those Who Have Passed," by 
Steve Heuertz
Seems pretty obvious that this was supposed to be funny.  
As Al and I were discussing today, there is no reason to play 
"Freebird" with such a piece if you want to be taken 
seriously.  I didn't really laugh, though.  I don't really have a 
lot else to say here.

10. "Elbow the Letter," by Georgia Athens
I felt this went pretty well.  I hadn't exactly expected my letters 
and numbers to be as much of an issue as they turned out 
being.  That was kinda short sighted, i guess.

11. "Tie a Pink Ribbon, OR Why God Hates the French," by 
Aprille Clarke
Aprille is a really courageous artist - week after week she 
makes statements onstage which can offend literally 
anyone.  Myself included.  I didn't get a clear sense from this 
piece, as I've not from many of Aprille's pieces, of what all 
this offensiveness points to.  What is the central criticism of 
all the cheek-tonguing?  I donno.  I can gather some sense 
generally of what she rallies against, but if all that's really 
being challenged are the basics, can such wide 
offensiveness be justified?  No, but I doubt that only the 
things I'm seeing are the things she's challenging.  So if 
your audience is beneath the toungue-in-cheekness of your 
stuff deeply enough to be really offended, is it still a valid 
method of expressing your subtext?  I guess.  Even dumb 
folks sometimes get tough things.  Maybe it sinks in a week 
later.  I sure am boring.  I need sleep.

12. "Her Name Should Be," by Luke Pingel
I don't know Luke Pingel outside of this and , like, one other 
piece.  Here Luke Pingel does a boorish sorta sociopathic 
character really believably and identifiably, yet avoids 
convincing me that he himself is unpleasant or creepy.  
How'd he do that?

13. "Michael Rothschild Loves Spain and He Lived There for 
a 
Year!" by Silas Crombacha
Two poop sketches in one night!  It's amazing how the 
comedic potential of something as simple as poops and 
butts never tires.

14. "Broom Hilda," by Neil "Balls" Campbell
I wish that this piece had been saved for Hallowe'en.  But 
then what would Neil have done this week?  In a way this 
followed a pretty standard horror movie outline.  Someone 
on a holy quest sets out to destroy an evil being who just 
won't stay dead.  What sets it apart and helps it be its own 
thing, and funny?  The fact that Neil defeats all the 
mechanisms that drive such a plot.  The vision of the divine 
is a crack induced hallucination of a cartoon mouse, and the 
evil being is a four year old child which (if I remember 
correctly) never committs any real evil.  This is an effective 
comedic strategy, and one I think Neil uses from time to 
time; defeat a strongly established style by tearing out its 
roots.

15. "Trouble in Dog Island," by Chris Stangl
While a more specific rhetorical explaination of the 
relationship between the segments would have devalued 
the entirety of the 'dog island' moments, the connection, as 
wellas the meaning of the phrase 'dog island' is unclear.

I just woke up and the rest of this field was filled with 'i's and 
'r's.  I'll never know what i was trying to type in my sleep.  
Several of these reviews were probably typed in my sleep.  

Time: Sun, 30-Sep-2001 14:06:16 GMT     IP: 205.244.161.4


15. "Trouble in Dog Island," by Chris Stangl
While a more specific rhetorical explaination of the 
relationship between the segments would have devalued the 
entirety of the 'dog island' moments, the connection, as 
wellas the meaning of the phrase 'dog island' is unclear.

I just woke up and the rest of this field was filled with 'i's and 
'r's.  I'll never know what i was trying to type in my sleep.  
Several of these reviews were probably typed in my sleep.

Time: Sun, 30-Sep-2001 18:22:03 GMT     IP: 24.5.238.114

Who's bitter?  It was just a joke.  Holly gets to talk about 
whatever she wants on Wednesdays, and I get to talk about 
whatever I want on Fridays, cheap or otherwise.  Usually 
cheap.