Mill Mountain Theatre is starting a program called Underground Theatre. It's an effort to reach out to the younger generation so it doesn't disappear with the rest of traditional Roanoke culture in a decade or so. That's their premise for it , according to the Web site: "Our bosses are asleep at 11 p.m. so we figure we can do anything ... You can’t break any laws, you can’t break the theatre, your performers, or the audience. Other than that, pretty much anything goes."

The centerpiece of this will be No Shame Theatre, a weekly show that invites its guests to be the performers on its Waldron Stage. No Shame is a series of 3-5-minute segments that can be anything: Stand-up comedy, music, one-act plays, magic acts, whatever. It sounds like a great idea in theory, and it has been in practice in several cities around the country

Todd Ristau started No Shame while he was a student at the University of Iowa in 1986 (which, speaking of shame, happens to be the last year the Red Sox should have won a World Series). In true Iowa fashion, the first No Shame occurred in the back of a pickup truck. Now there are other No Shame Theatres in New York City and a thriving one at Live Arts in Charlottesville.

Ristau started the No Shame in Charlottesville before moving to Roanoke earlier this year, when his wife took a job as a librarian at Hollins University. Noting that the young crawl out from all corners of Southwest Virginia to descend on downtown Roanoke nearly every weekend night despite a lack of nightlife variety, Ristau figure the city could support No Shame.

"People shouldn't be intimidated," he said. "I don't know what No Shame Roanoke is going to be like ... It can take any form and it absolutely re-invents itself every week."

Mill Mountain is inviting people to come to a block party at 10 p.m. Friday with local band the Star City Wildcats playing. No Shame starts at 11, at 20 East Church Ave. Admission is $5. Ristau promises to anchor the first No Shame act with a piece he debuted in 1986. He anticipates plenty of company.

"We got people who are chomping at the bit to come down and do their pieces," he said. "I think the first night is going to be as absolutely unpredictable as all the Friday nights that will follow."

For more info on No Shame, pick up an actual newspaper – remember those? -- and check out Kevin Kittridge’s story in the Extra section of The Roanoke Times Friday. You may also want to visit www.millmountain.org/noshame.htm or www.noshame.org/roanoke/index.htm.