theater
E AT O U T
The Very Little Theatre presents
BY BRIT MCGINNIS
COME HOME
An incessantly ringing cell phone in
a quiet café. A stranger at the next
table who has had enough. And a
dead man—with a lot of loose ends.
A wildly imaginative comedy about
the value of human connection in a
technologically obsessed world.
By Sarah Ruhl | Directed by Patrick
July 29-31*, Aug. 4-7*, 11-13
Curtain at 8 pm Thurs.-Sat. | 2 pm for *Sunday Matinees
Tickets: $15 ($10 for Thursday)
Call the VLT Box Office: 541-344-7751
Open 2:00-5:30 Wed.–Sat. 2350 Hilyard St.
More info at TheVLT.com
Visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheVLT
2435 Hilyard St.
Eugene, OR 97405
541-484-3062
www.thehumblebeaglepub.com
tues-thurs 5 pm - 10 pm fri-sat 5 pm - 11 pm
happy hour everyday 5-6pm & 9pm-close
PHOTO BY ROB SYDOR WWW.DIGITALLATTE.COM
WEDNESDAY
BURGER, FRIES
& A PINT $10
Melissa Hicks (in gorilla
suit) and Dale Light rehearse
“Erotic Taxidermist”
Send In The People
No Shame Eugene brings spontaneity and
random talent to Eugene theater scene
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26 JULY 28, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
F
irst rule of No Shame: Everything
you do on stage must be original.
Second rule of No Shame:
Every act must be fi ve minutes or shorter.
Go over the time allowed, and your lights
and sound will be cut off.
Last Rule of No Shame: Don’t break
anything, laws included.
Other than that, go nuts.
This is the formula for No Shame
Eugene, a local chapter of the No Shame
theater movement that has spread
across the country. It’s not a troupe or a
company. There are no auditions. None
of the performers are paid. The people
who coordinate the event are just that —
coordinators. Simply anyone can show up
to a Thursday night workshop, or even a
monthly Friday night performance, and do
their thing in front of an audience.
“We have people who have done
professional shows, who have really
impressive résumés for performance, and
then we have people who literally have
never been on stage,” says Jeff Geiger,
artistic director of No Shame Eugene.
The fi rst No Shame group originated
in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1986. It was seen
as a response to the University of Iowa
Playwright’s Workshop, which requires a
piece to be approved before being cast and
performed. Some people considered such a
rule to be negatively exclusive.
Geiger describes seeing the No Shame
Iowa City performances in 1998 and
feeling drawn to the diversity of talent
on display. “[There was] a mix between
amazing, mind-blowing pieces and pieces
that were either disturbing or just terrible,”
he says. Geiger decided to bring the
concept to Eugene.
Weekly workshops are held Thursdays
at a space lent to No Shame by the Lord
Leebrick Theatre. The coordinators provide
a minimalist set for the volunteer performers,
who block out the action of their pieces with
lawn chairs and card tables. A hefty metal
moving dolly has served as the most utilized
prop in the group’s history.
The City of Eugene allows No Shame
to use the downtown Atrium lobby at
10th and Olive as a performance space
the fi rst Friday of every month. In another
impressive display of making do with less,
No Shame’s coordinators arrange for the
audience to sit in borrowed chairs from
offi ces within the Atrium. The fi rst fi fteen
acts to sign up for a time slot at 7:30 pm get
to go on that night. If you’re too late to sign
up, you’re out of luck.
Family friendly acts are placed fi rst. But
after a while, the Jaws theme is played (a
tribute to the group’s mascot), signaling the
arrival of more mature content.
The phrase that pops up a lot in No
Shame Eugene is “anyone can play.”
People who talk about No Shame often
say this open attitude is their favorite
part about participating. The three main
rules are strictly enforced, but a performer
who wants to have an act in the Friday
night show doesn’t even need to attend a
workshop before signing up. Past shows
have featured sketch comedy as well as
mime, clown acts and a dance by a giant
centaur puppet.
The July 21 workshop consisted of
actors working quirky sketches with names
like “Megalomaniacal Gas Attendants”
and “Erotic Taxidermist.” Cyrus Pierce,
No Shame’s youngest-ever performer at
6-and-a-half years old, spun around on an
offi ce chair and told knock-knock jokes to
the audience. Every act was engaging in its
own way, with a freewheeling atmosphere
usually only seen in Charlie Chaplin fi lms
or “Whose Line is it Anyway?” To the
volunteer performers, this opportunity to
don their theatrical hats is sacred. They’re
absolutely free to mess up, keep going and
try to make art that’s fun to see.
But it has to clock in at less than fi ve
minutes. The buzzer stays silent for no
one.
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