Subj: All No Shame Birthday reunion
Date: Friday, October 3, 2003

The All No Shame Birthday reunion performance will be held in Iowa City on October 3rd, 2003 in the back of a truck at 8:00pm in the theatre department parking lot to commemorate the 17th anniversary of a truck first parking itself in that lot and inviting people to do original stuff in the back of it.

The event will be free and open to the public, with 25 slots for anyone who has ever performed at any No Shame Any Where to sign up and do either their first no shame piece or their favorite piece in the back of a truck in the UI Theatre parking lot.

To sign up please send an email with your name, title of piece, date it was first performed, and contact information to noshametheatre@aol.com.

Signing up is a committement to be there on October 3rd, call time is 7:30, but since this is a social event we'll probably gather someplace even earlier that day to "prepare".

The show should be over by 11:00 so that those who would like can go to the "Official" Iowa City No Shame in theatre B.

Because the theatre department is sponsoring the event you can contact them for more information at 319-335-2700.

October 3rd, 2003 will be the 17th birthday of No Shame Theatre.

To celebrate the event there will be a reunion of No Shame veterans returning to the University of Iowa Theatre Department parking lot where it all began and performing from the back of a truck again on October 3rd, at 8:00pm. The event is free and open to the public, and should include around 25 pieces. At 11pm there will be a regular Friday night performance by the current No Shame regulars in Theatre B, admission to that event will be $1.00.

The returning No Shame alums will perform either their first No Shame piece or their personal favorite, a kind of Best Of performance with returning No Shamers from across the country and back to the very first Friday Night.

No Shame was created in 1986 by Iowa playwrights Todd Ristau, Stan Ruth, and Jeff Goode. On that rainy night a handful of writers and performers pulled up in the University of Iowa Theatre Department's parking lot and did their skits for an assembled crowd.

The exciting thing about No Shame was that their mission was to provide a vehicle for emerging writers and performers to work side by side with grizzled veterans regardless of experience. They wanted a place where failure wouldn't be so dangerous a prospect that no one tried to succeed.

And succeed they did. Since those humble pick up truck beginnings No Shame has continued as an important part of the arts community (both on and off campus) and other No Shames have sprouted up across the country. There have been two different No Shames in New York City, Two in Miami, one in Orlando, one in Cedar Falls, Chicago, Cleveland, Austin, Los Angeles, Charleston, Fairbanks, Portland, Charlottesville, and soon Roanoke.

In the nearly two decades No Shame has been around, many performers who cut their teeth creating original short performance pieces on its stages have actually gone on to become working professionals for stage, TV, and film. Some have even won awards and stuff. No kidding, it's true.

The aesthetic is rough, the performers rougher, but the event is undeniably exciting. There are only three rules (pieces must be 5 minutes or less, they must be original and not violate any copyrights, and they can't break anything--not laws, not the audience, not performers, not the audience, and not the theatre). They take the first 15 pieces to show up at the door, and everyone is encouraged to participate. You never know what you're going to get, and the entire venue is reinventing itself each week. Performers, audience, and writers change roles constantly even during a single night. It really doesn't get any more spontaneous or dynamic than No Shame.

For more information please visit:
www.noshame.org
or write to:
NoShameTheatre@aol.com (Todd Ristau)

Iowa City contact:
Paul Rust