from The Omaha World-Herald - December 29, 1989

News
Few Rules Apply at Theater Actors Fast, Funny at U of I

AP
12/29/1989
The Omaha World-Herald

Metro  44
(Copyright 1989 Omaha World-Herald Company)

Every Friday night, students at the University of Iowa 
gather at the theater building to show they have no shame.
The students, including some from local high schools, 
perform a series of brash, impromptu plays for the weekly 
theatrical adventure known as No Shame Theater.


The plays are irreverent, comical and original. A recent 
offering: a Christmas play entitled, "Flood of the Cheese 
Man."
There are usually 10 to 15 offerings each Friday. The only 
criterion is that they don't last too long.

"The bars close at 2 o'clock. We take the attitude, 'Take 
however long you need to say what you need to say, but 
remember the bars close at 2,' " said senior Cheryl 
Snodgrass of Dubuque, producer of No Shame Theater.

"It can be anything. It can be a 30-second play, five 
minutes, whatever. We don't censor anything," Ms. Snodgrass 
said. "It's an alternative theater."

No Shame Theatre is in its fourth year.

Its appeal is apparently high. Audiences of up to 300 
people are common. And although the university does not 
oversee No Shame Theatre, it now allows Ms. Snodgrass and 
the others to use the theater building.

"We literally had to beg for our lives," Ms. Snodgrass 
said. "But it's been supportive."

"No Shame was created to provide for people interested in 
working in the theater a place where they could 'dare to 
fail.' "