Iowa City, November 3, 2006
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Labels: Iowa City
posted by AdamEggHahn at 10:51 AM
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No Shame Theatre Iowa City
November 3, 2006
1. "Tossed, Part One" by Greg Machlin
2. "This Chair is Empty" by Nick Beatty
3. "Sad Song" by Sad Sophie
4. "Chain Mail" by Luke Christensen
5. "Adam Hahn Is My Baby's Daddy" by Give Me Money for My Abortion Damn It (Possibly Eli?)
6. "Four Poems About Insects" by Eric Landuyt
7. "A Whole Lotta Meat" by Michael Tabor
8. "A Letter to My Mother" by Lara Shema
9. "Hide and Seek" by Janani
10. "The Confession of Jacob Weinberg" by Jonathan Shelton
11. "The Curse of Reincarnation" by Arlen Lawson
12. "Hooch 'N' Pooch" by Mortimer Snert
13. "When Music Majors Go to Hell" by Eric Jesteadt
14. "I Left" by Stephanie Nicole
15. "Please Get Our of the Way" by Jamal River
16. "What I Did for My Summer Vacation by Johnny Kirchner" by Jonathan Shelton
17. "Kisses of Sale, by the Wishing Well" by Lord Benington and His Theatre Troupe
EDIT:
16. "What I Did for My Summer Vacation by Johnny Kirchner" by Jonathan Shelton
by Timm Sitzmann, not Jonathon Shelton.
Sorry guys, some times I'm kinda dumb,
love, Adam Hahn.
The lighting was really frustrating in a different way than Mabie (where we were basically helpless and had to deal). I love sweet volunteers and I know trying is the only way people learn but damn, I wish Patrick or someone competent had been up there. As someone who has wreaked havoc in the light booth myself, I just feel like it lowers performer morale. When an actor has to break character (and ruin the punchline) to wave the lights down, or the piece isn't even fully lit in the first place...I know NS is casual but isn't a little bit of illusion important?...when the light cues work properly isn't it kind of magical?...well, whine whine whine. Ok. I'm done.
1. It is hard to herd people in a cold read. A smaller cast would have helped.
2. I wish it had been emoted more, rahter than read in a very matter-of-fact voice. Again, that bit of illusion - you're not just a writer, you're a character!
3. I wanted to kill myself when it was over. In a good way. Thanks, Sophie.
4. Needed much faster pacing. Maybe a few minutes' rehearsal beforehand?
5. Katy's leg-bouncing = best moment of the night.
6. I was too busy being irritated about the lights. I should take an anger management seminar.
7. I enjoy Michael teaching us things to accordion accompaniment but sometimes I wish he would try on a different character/schtick.
8. Touching. I would just cut the part about heaven having no mailing address.
9. I don't know.
10. Who was Hitler? Do we know him?
11. Lovely. I want tabs.
12. During BOBONS week I heard several people compliment Snert's stage presence. He comes across very patient and relaxed. The piece itself needed a little more energy in the performance.
13. Like the coke bottle piece, it could have been a minute or two shorter. It might have been a good 0.5.
14. This was good.
15. Yay, I like Jamal's songs.
16. Damn you, "Jonathan Shelton," for writing better, funner childhood stories than I do even when mine are REAL and yours are COMPLETELY MADE UP. Physically, I could annihilate King Buffalo with one swish of my sparkling tusks. You know why I don't? Because I have suffered, and suffering changes an elephant. It changes his heart, makes it kinder and suppler and more capable of empathy. He realizes that intimidation is not the answer, that in the face of extinction only camaraderie and cooperation will save the day...the elephant and the buffalo CAN be friends. It shall be so.
17. PATRICK WAS ADORABLE. If only I'd been able to see his goddamn face.
I only really had constructive critisism to offer about Timm's piece. My other reviews would be "I liked it." or "I didn't like it." (Mostly "I didn't like it"). But, Timm's piece was really funny...it just could've used some editing. The funny parts were good, but it was too long. It could've been 1/2 the lenght and it would've been top notch.
I'll figuer out how to make an actual user account later
1. "Tossed, Part One" by Greg Machlin
This was alot of fun to be in. I Highly enjoy Greg's pieces.
2. "This Chair is Empty" by Nick Beatty
I was a little nervous doing something diffrent. I think I should have praticed more so I wasn't "reading" it as much. But I think I ended it well.
3. "Sad Song" by Sad Sophie
This was fantastic. tabs plesase!
4. "Chain Mail" by Luke Christensen
A little faster and Lukes character would have been interesting to see if he was a bit more demented.
5. "Adam Hahn Is My Baby's Daddy" by Give Me Money for My Abortion Damn It (Possibly Eli?)
I loved the accent then just right out yelling in Adam's face
6. "Four Poems About Insects" by Eric Landuyt
I dont remember all of them but I liked the flow.
7. "A Whole Lotta Meat" by Michael Tabor
Its true, that is alot of meat. I thought about it later and the facial expressions you had. It made me giggle.
8. "A Letter to My Mother" by Lara Shema
I dont know if she was about to lose it or not. either way it was good.
9. "Hide and Seek" by Janani
I liked it. I liked being in it. Shame that the lights didn't end properly.
10. "The Confession of Jacob Weinberg" by Jonathan Shelton
Ohhhh the irony... fantastic.
11. "The Curse of Reincarnation" by Arlen Lawson
Very good.
12. "Hooch 'N' Pooch" by Mortimer Snert
dont really know what to say about this one. I enjoyed it though.
13. "When Music Majors Go to Hell" by Eric Jesteadt
funny
14. "I Left" by Stephanie Nicole
Very strong, excellent control.
15. "Please Get Our of the Way" by Jamal River
I liked it, don't remember all the lyrics though.
16. "What I Did for My Summer Vacation by Johnny Kirchner" by Jonathan Shelton
I loved the delivery. It reminded me of the way my little cousins try and write a paper for their class and it turns into a wild and fantastic story about how they saved the world.
17. "Kisses of Sale, by the Wishing Well" by Lord Benington and His Theatre Troupe
Patrick kissing Adam, how could it get any better? I loved the voices and the way Patrick told Evan to go away.
All in all it was a good time, see you all next week.
~Malmo
Here is Eli's review: Sorry if I'm mean. I've worked too much today.
1. "Tossed, Part One" by Greg Machlin
-Faster faster faster. If this piece was done twice as fast it would've been a lot funnier.
2. "This Chair is Empty" by Nick Beatty
-I genuinely liked the writing. But a more solid stance as opposed to pacing would have made it stronger. Slightly more rehearsal needed.
3. "Sad Song" by Sad Sophie
-A really sad song that made me want to cry.
4. "Chain Mail" by Luke Christensen
-I don't know about this piece. The topic matter was a tad to Jerry Seinfeld for me ("What is up with chain letters?"). Speed also could've helped. By speed I mean pace, not the drug.
5. "Adam Hahn Is My Baby's Daddy" by Give Me Money for My Abortion Damn It (Possibly Eli?)
-This was done by me. I thought the ending stunk. Even I wanted more. I also thought I was too nice to the smug english majors that think they're better than everyone.
6. "Four Poems About Insects" by Eric Landuyt
-I'm not a HUGE fan of poetry but some of these were alright. Nothing world changing but nothing too elementary.
7. "A Whole Lotta Meat" by Michael Tabor
I thought this piece was funnier with Jamal's explanation. I wanted more. More verses and more accordian.
8. "A Letter to My Mother" by Lara Shema
-I liked this piece alot. I thought she did a fine job leading the audience to one conclusion and reversing it on us when we found out that she was dead. Good job.
9. "Hide and Seek" by Janani
-The title should be "Hide and Sleep". Lol. J/k. I thought this peice was pretty good. The lights were a bitch. I was confused on whether it was supposed to be funny or more serious.
10. "The Confession of Jacob Weinberg" by Jonathan Shelton
-I personally loved the concept of this piece. Hitler reincarnated as a jew. Hilarious. But I thought Shelty (who still needs a spanking) didn't bring out all the jokes laying within the concepts grasp. There could've been so many more jokes other than the great Gorilla raping.
11. "The Curse of Reincarnation" by Arlen Lawson
-I don't think we're all copying you Arlen. I loved your song though. It was short and sweet but I don't think we're copying you.
12. "Hooch 'N' Pooch" by Mortimer Snert
-Funny. But in the end nothing stuck with me. It had its good moments but didn't completely force them upon us.
13. "When Music Majors Go to Hell" by Eric Jesteadt
-To be honest, I didn't find this all that funny. I actually saw it more as a "Hey its 10:20. What should we do for a skit? I got it! Lets play instruments badly". I thought that more structure and louder speaking would've helped.
14. "I Left" by Stephanie Nicole
-Another dark monologue. She lost me in the middle.
15. "Please Get Our of the Way" by Jamal River
-Jamal. i love your songs. Bottom line.
16. "What I Did for My Summer Vacation by Johnny Kirchner" by Tim Sitzmann
-I'm going to have to agree with Michael. Cutting it down to 2/3rds (not a half) of what was there would've made this piece excellent.
17.Kisses of Sale, by the Wishing Well" by Lord Benington and His Theatre Troupe
- Patrick... we never kiss anymore... other than that I thought the piece was cute. Despite the lights never changing and Tim cutting off the ending.
All in all the show needed to pep up the audience more. We got stale (maybe not in writing but in performance) and so the audience got stale and less into the show. Oh well. Have a good one y'all.
1. "Tossed, Part One" by Greg Machlin
Seemed slow with too many characters. If it is part of a serial it was that necessary setup that doesn't seem that interesting. BUT if the serial continues it should concentrate on smaller groups of individuals instead of everyone on stage at once. well, that takes a little bit away of the fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek cariacture of that type of show, but that's hard, if not impossible to do without some rehearsal. which doesn't really happen at no shame...
2. "This Chair is Empty" by Nick Beatty
i'll just echo what elephant guy said, don't just read your piece, especially if you are moving around, making a performance out of it
3. "Sad Song" by Sad Sophie
AWESOME. the music was simple and good and crowd interaction is always fun and the lyrics made me giggle
4. "Chain Mail" by Luke Christensen
I didn't find the writing that humorous. chain letters aren't a very funny subject matter to me, although i ADORED the sight gag where the poison dart appears in the mans neck
5. "Adam Hahn Is My Baby's Daddy" by Give Me Money for My Abortion Damn It (Possibly Eli?)
yes.katy bags legs jigglin. hillarious. the mimed sex. hillarious. it was good. i liked it. good.
6. "Four Poems About Insects" by Eric Landuyt
i felt like i was waiting for a punchline that never came so didn't get a chance to enjoy the poems
7. "A Whole Lotta Meat" by Michael Tabor
i liked it. i like accordian playing by MT
8. "A Letter to My Mother" by Lara Shema
This was nice. usually when pieces deal with death or a really personal experience, it sounds... not *preachy* but, really heavy handed, overdone, too dramatic. this wasn't.
although i'm wondering what we gain out of the ambiguity between whether the mother had died or was divorced. i felt the writing purposefully hinted at both. i don't think that's bad, but i can't think of an advantage to it either.
9. "Hide and Seek" by Janani
i suddenly can't remember this, sorry.
10. "The Confession of Jacob Weinberg" by Jonathan Shelton
welcome back! the piece seemed to rely a little too heavily on the word/action of sodomy being funny. the jokes surrounding hitler and nazism were enjoyable. i laughed.
11. "The Curse of Reincarnation" by Arlen Lawson
arlen's songs are awesome. if they were are available on a disc i would purchase it
12. "Hooch 'N' Pooch" by Mortimer Snert
i liked bein' in it!
13. "When Music Majors Go to Hell" by Eric Jesteadt
was it too long? i started to like it being so long. but it seemed too long. louder would have been nice.
14. "I Left" by Stephanie Nicole
man, you trucked right through it. i don't know what that means, but it is a compliment. i enjoyed that this wasn't presented as a hurt, weak, girl; quiet, being coaxed to tell the story. it was someone who was open and unafraid about it.
15. "Please Get Our of the Way" by Jamal River
J-Man you are okay-Man by me. i loves a' me the songs.
16. "What I Did for My Summer Vacation by Johnny Kirchner" by Jonathan Shelton
adam, i didn't mean to imply you were dumb. i just didn't know where you got this cock a may me idea that shelton wrote this!
17. "Kisses of Sale, by the Wishing Well" by Lord Benington and His Theatre Troupe
i didn't know it had more! that is the hazzard of a piece going last when the lights are already weird and you are playing with No Shame conventions like lights meaning the piece is over.
great performances all around and fun/ny writing. yaya patrickick
timM
"Tossed" by me--easily the weakest thing I've done in an otherwise strong semester. Liked people's performances, in particular Michael as Locke, Matt Benyo on the god-mike, and Timm getting sucked into a jet engine. I should be able to come up with something better for my next piece.
Best pieces of the evening: "Sad Song," "A Whole Lotta Meat," Timm Sitzmann's Summer vacation piece, Shelton's "Confession of Jacob Weinberg."
Runners-up: "Hide-and-seek," "Please Get Out of Our Way" (musically very well done) "Kisses of Sale."
"9. "Hide and Seek" by Janani
i suddenly can't remember this, sorry."
*hangs head*
did it put you to sleep?
I got to kiss people in this show. And then other people kissed.
More Kissing!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
"I'm going to have to agree with Michael. Cutting it down to 2/3rds (not a half) of what was there would've made this piece excellent."
I was just using "half" as an arbitrary example for how I thought the piece could've been shorter. I wasn't expecting somebody to actually take Timm's piece, re-read it, analyze it, determine 2/3rds, and correct me on it. But, hey...if it's 2/3rds, it's 2/3rds. Next time I just won't be throwing around fractions to emphasize my point. I've learned a lesson! Hard data and facts from now on!
Posts that have been removed by the author are so intriguing....what did you feel the WHOLE internet needed to know, and then conclude best to keep a secret?
"Posts that have been removed by the author are so intriguing....what did you feel the WHOLE internet needed to know, and then conclude best to keep a secret?"
I posted my last message, but re-read it afterward, saw a couple of typos, deleted it, and reposted it without the typos.
I really didn't enjoy the show at all. It made me feel unhappy. But now, thinking back on the order, there were lots of pieces I liked. Golly gee. I seem to be forever looking back on recent days or weeks and spotting little episodes of "Sober Jamal Acts Bitchy." (It's a TV show, you don't know it.) You'd think I'd either stop being surprised or bitchy. Nine!
I don't have a review for every piece or anything. Some fragments that got stuck in my head:
"Sad Song" - At 1st I though it was "cute", and therefore, in my ooky mood, "irritating." Then by the end of it I thought it was "genuinely bleak" and "very awesome".
The Insect Poems - This may be a trait that I share with no other humanoid on the planet... or maybe I do... it's so unimportant... you're wasting brain chunks trying to guess what it is as we fake speak... Why am I such a brat to you, waste time and energy? Why he be such a fucker to me? Why he be such fuckers? Hem and haw. Blustery blustery verbose. No! the point!: Friday's insect poems are, for whatever reason, by far my all time favorite Eric piece. Reminded me of Naked Lunch. The movie, more than the book. And I don't even LIKE the movie, so go figure. ...Well, I guess I like the 1st half (which is the part with the gross bugs, mostly). ...And the soundtrack's pretty swell. So you go, Eric Landrew and Ornette Coleman!
"Adam Hahn's Abortion" gave me nightmares. No lie. I think you can definitely say you're strongly affecting your audience if they're getting nightmares inspired by your work. I'll put that in (real) writing for any grants you might ever apply to, Eli... and Eric... and Katy.
"Hide & Seek" This piece, at 1st just entertaining, quite effectively conjured up a pretty plausible hell-world that I could see myself falling into with little difficulty. ...That's what you were trying to do, right? Right. Well done.
"Cursed Arlen" Really good song. With some songs I'm like, "That song is so good, it should be way longer." But this one, it seems so self contained and finished in it's approximately 60 second life span.
"Hooch 'N' Pooch" Just saying those names over & over was all I needed. I mean, I'm pretty sure I liked the rest of the piece. But I couldn't get over Hooch 'N' Pooch. Front to back, there were Hooch 'N' Pooch Laughs coming out my mouth. This is maybe annoying or maybe complimentary or maybe both. Or neither. It was meant to be a positive thing, but you never can tell. Fuckin "people", am I right?
"Kisses for Sale" Reminded me kind of of a classic No-Shame-circa-1999 style of skitting. ...Yeah, that was helpful to you, wasn't it. Jesus Cunt, I can't believe I typed that... and am , it seems, not deleting it. Umm... the skit seemed classic in that it was well written, had distinct characters, and jokes that not only were funny, but mostly made some kind of sense, even if it was "ironic" sense. And hey, I'm all for chaos and nonsense and weird random fucking around on stage (some of you knew that already, maybe) but it's also really cool to see the antithesis of that stuff done really well.
Wow! I guess my NEW brain (also sober, Mom) LOVES last Friday's show! Too bad it was my shitty OLD brain who had to watch it.
So I miss one week and Jamal strips, and I miss another week and Patrick and Adam kiss. Couldn't someone have warned me ahead of time?!? heh..
(plus Jamal sang, and Arlen sang, and Timm did a fun childhood story, and tons of other stuff happened that I would have liked to have seen.)
If I miss this Friday, will someone get to third base, or more? I believe I may have to show up this week just to prevent a pregnancy (which would be especially uncomfortable at the birthing for the bearer if the current trend continues and it's an all-male sort of thing)...
1. "Tossed, Part One" by Greg Machlin
This one did need to be paced a lot faster. I probably could have done better as narrator in that regard.
2. "This Chair is Empty" by Nick Beatty
This one did drag. I wasn't sure if it was meant to be funny or not.
3. "Sad Song" by Sad Sophie
Funny and sad at the same time.
4. "Chain Mail" by Luke Christensen
This had some funny moments (misspellings and the dart in the neck), but it did need to be faster.
5. "Adam Hahn Is My Baby's Daddy" by Give Me Money for My Abortion Damn It (Possibly Eli?)
I'll say it again: Katy was great. The ending did fall a little flat; my delivery could have been better, and the lights could have cut off when they were supposed to.
6. "Four Poems About Insects" by Eric Landuyt
The lights really distracted from this one, and I'm not sure many people took it seriously anyway.
7. "A Whole Lotta Meat" by Michael Tabor
Amusing, but what happened to the Mmemarrassments?
8. "A Letter to My Mother" by Lara Shema
I was glad to see a newcomer try a serious piece, and Lara was very confident for a first-timer. The piece was well-delivered but the ending was too sentimental for my taste.
9. "Hide and Seek" by Janani
I didn't really take to this one. It was okay, but it could have used more energy.
10. "The Confession of Jacob Weinberg" by Jonathan Shelton
This was a really funny premise, but the pacing lagged. It needed to be snappier.
11. "The Curse of Reincarnation" by Arlen Lawson
Short but catchy.
12. "Hooch 'N' Pooch" by Mortimer Snert
I really liked the interaction between characters. Nice acting by everybody.
13. "When Music Majors Go to Hell" by Eric Jesteadt
Like his first piece, this one started out good but went on too long.
14. "I Left" by Stephanie Nicole
Again, I'm glad a newcomer tried something serious, but this was a little too melodramatic. I got disconnected from the story when the attack on the bridge took place because it seemed too implausible. The beginning was realistic, but the ending was surreal; they didn't quite gel in my mind.
15. "Please Get Our of the Way" by Jamal River
I really liked this song. Very catchy.
16. "What I Did for My Summer Vacation by Johnny Kirchner" by Timm Sitzmann
I liked this because it was written and performed the way an overimaginative child would have done it. Timm was very genuine.
17. "Kisses of Sale, by the Wishing Well" by Lord Benington and His Theatre Troupe
This was REALLY FUNNY! Even though the lights went down too soon, the ending still felt perfect to me. Great performances and great energy.
huh, lots of comments about pacing this week. even though most of us are not trained actors (is this true? am i making this up?), maybe we could all be more mindful of it when we do act. maybe it just takes rereading our scripts one more time before we go up, or making more acting decisions before getting onstage. or taking speed. or something.
Shelton--"I fear i've dipped into the sodomy well a bit too much"
So you prefer to do the dipping in that situation?
best of no shame:
syrup cat, gender issues, the invisible woman, fran's poem, this actually happened by king sophie, I know there was a great peice by eli I just don't remember what it was about or called.
Hmm, also Faith bickner's sheet and asian pop thing from yes shame.
Hilarious.
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