SCENE AT NO SHAME

'Best of' a chaotic time

By Todd Ristau
SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
981-3341
Inside Out

The excitement at Friday's Best of No Shame was nearly as palpable as the chaos. Nothing like the Academy Awards, BONS was a kind of sampler for people curious about No Shame to find out what goes on there without staying up until the usual 11 p.m. Online polling chose 25 pieces from the hundreds of original works performed over the past 10 months.

Local rockabilly giants The Star City Wildcats kicked off the night by playing loud and fast while the audience gathered to wait for the box office to open. The few seats that weren't pre-sold went in a matter of minutes.

If you were one of the many unhappy people who were turned away at the door, here are highlights from what you missed:

- Jesus working the miracle of the loaves and fishes at a sea food restaurant.

- A requiem for a pickled freak show retiree found in a dumpster.

- Songs by Doug Cheatwood, Ben Baldwin, Sam Fochtman, and Allie Longworth.

- Goth illusionist Nelson Oliver.

- A garden gnome protecting his people from a mechanical James Brown.

- A Zell Miller impersonator.

- The Flying Thought Monkeys drumming with butter sticks and dancing with aluminum foil masks.

- Todd Ristau is an actor, director, West End playwright and inventor of No Shame. He teaches theater at Mary Baldwin College and organizes No Shame each week for Mill Mountain Theatre.

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