Just got back from BOBONS, the Best of the Best Of No Shame Theatre, and it was a damn good evening. Well, two evenings.
For those who don't know, No Shame Theatre started on the back of a pick up truck 20 years ago in the parking lot of the University of Iowa Theatre building and has since spread to over a dozen cities with a couple of international chapters. The only rules to No Shame are that all pieces performed must be original, under 5 minutes, and not damage the space or any of its inhabitants.
I came up through the much-less celebrated Cedar Falls chapter, but I think myself and fellow shamer Luke Pingel repped the CF pretty well. I would like to point out that the CF No Shame is now in its seventh season and going strong even though the 5 of us who started it are all long gone.
No Shame will always hold the most special of places in my heart. At the height of its run (for me at least) we played to packed houses of over 200 people a night, with kids in the aisles and sitting on the floor just to watch. Then the entire group would relocate to a college-y type party house to drink and regale one another with their humorous anecdotes. It reminded me of what I've heard Saturday Night Live was like during its prime.
The point is, No Shame will be the thing I look back upon most fondly when I'm an overwight middle-aged man who hates his life and desperately tries to re-live his best years. It was great to experience it again, as grad school leaves very little time for non-academic writing, and it's hard to find a venue like No Shame that lets anyone perform (with the exception of Open Mic nights, but let's all hope I never get that desperate).
All that said, though, there are underground rumblings of a Minneapolis chapter in the works, so keep your eyes open...
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