from Callboard [News from Iowa's University Theatres] - Spring 1990
The May issue of the national theatre journal, The Drama Review, ran an extensive article (with cover photo) on No Shame Theatre, a student created and managed event produced weekly at the University of Iowa Theatres. The six page article contained several examples of texts written for and performed at No Shame, along with three viewpoints on this "noticeably under-influenced, dangerous and very rough theatre.
No Shame Theatre began in the back of a pickup truck with a motorcycle headlight as illumination, offering a venue for anyone to "take a shot at any aspect of theatre that interests them," always working within the underlying philosophy, "Dare to Fail!" Students write, improvise and act in short performance pieces that range from the ridiculous, to the avant garde, to the politically strident.
The Friday even moved inside a few years ago and is now usually held in the Theatre Building and has gained a dedicated following; crowds of 200 or more are not uncommon. No Shame is enjoying such wide popularity that it has opened a franchise of No Shame at the Home for Contemporary Theatre and Art in Manhattan.