Iowa City: Summer Almost Over!
Our season starts Friday, September 7 in the newly renovated Theatre B.
Check the comments for other production, publication opportunities.
Check the comments for other production, publication opportunities.
Labels: Iowa City
posted by AdamEggHahn at 2:32 PM
32 Comments:
Got this is my e-mail:
__________________________________
City Circle Shorts Festival Call for Submissions for our 4th Annual City Circle Shorts (formally our New Play Festival)
This will be our fourth year of showcasing new works from local artists. Every year there's more variety, and a new crop of interesting ideas to explore. Don't be left out!
We are looking for short original work (under 10 minutes) for our City Circle Shorts Festival to be held Feb 22 - Mar 2, 2008. All formats, styles, subjects, and cast sizes will be considered.
Submission deadline: October 1, 2007
All interested playwrights should email submissions as an attachment to Andrew Juhl at: shorts@citycircle.org (Submissions cannot be returned, and are expected to be the original work of the author.)
Please contact Michael Jorgensen at art@citycircle.org for more information.
__________________________________
I am told that, "'new' in this context means 'original' -- pieces previously performed are welcomed."
This festival has previously staged No Shame pieces by Janani, Todd Ristau, Chris Okiishi, and Adam Burton, as well as longer pieces by Jeff Goode, Paul Rust, and me. (I'm probably leaving out other people we know.) The City Circle people seem to be good to work with.
Oh, and the City Circle thing prefers writers who live or have lived in Iowa City/Coralville, or who have some other connection to the area.
If you didn't know about this:
"The Iowa City Press-Citizen is looking for submissions from area poets, writers, artists, photographers, etc., for consideration to be included in 'in situ: A collection of literary and visual arts from the Iowa City area,' a book that will be published this fall.
"Poetry, short fiction, non-fiction, essays, paintings, photos of sculptures, photography, mixed media - you name it, we want to see it."
More information is here: http://www.insituic.com/
They started taking submissions August 13, but I don't see deadline date anywhere.
It is difficult to express how Angry I am that summer No-Shame never happened. EVERY FRIDAY I went down to the theater building with a Sleeping Roll and a Pup Tent and camped out from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM. And it never happened.
What the fuck, No-Shame Board of Regents?
It is difficult to express how Angry I am that summer No-Shame never happened. EVERY FRIDAY I went down to the theater building with torrents of water spraying out my asshole and camped out with Evan in his puppy tent from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM. And it (iowa city summer no shame theater) never happened.
What the fuck, No-Shame Board of Retardeds?
You know the reason the "summer shame" never happened? It's because not enough people got back to me about doing a show. And when they did they were all available on different nights. I (and I will take responsibilty for this so call me Mr. Retard anal blow hole) was unable to get anything set in stone so I didn't proceed with it. Why call for a show and poster for it and only have 3 performers show up. It was MY call and MY call alone. Leave everyone else out of it. So if you have a REAL problem with it, come to ME and stop littering our blog space with your pointless and unnessary complaint posts. Thank you and have a good day. That is if you aren't already all steamed up in your pup tent.
Eli, I'm just breaking balls, as they say on the Sopranos.
More in the vein of whiny complaints, the ISIS student database is OFFLINE right now, so I can't check my schedule for tomorrow and I have to go through the course list and try to remember what the fuck I'm taking and when. That's a bunch of bullshit, taking that stuff offline the DAY BEFORE CLASSES! Am I right?
Also I went to Walgreens in Coralville to buy condoms and found out that they don't have condoms like anywhere in the store. What kind of pharmacy doesn't sell condoms?
And I was in the Coral Ridge Mall and I wanted to try a chicken sandwich from Chik-a-Fil-a but they're CLOSED on Sundays! Thanks a lot, Southern guy who founded that company! You just lost like six dollars that I was going to pay you for chik-a sandwiches! Also I don't think you actually INVENTED the chicken sandwich, as you claim to have done on the promotional artwork outside your foodcourt booth. I think the chicken sandwich was probably invented at around the same time as the sandwich, because WHY NOT put chicken on a sandwich?
Also I'm looking forward to seeing the first No-Shame of the season, even though Eli is probably going to punch me in the face and I won't be able to hit him back because I can't reach that high.
Evan, you go all the way to Coralville to buy condoms?
Hey, do you know there's more than one way to manage a No Shame?
In Roanoke this summer, I got the welcome relief of being able to participate in No Shame without worrying about hosting, ticket sales, stage management, order-taking, rule enforcement, etc. It occurred to me that many current IC No Shame regulars have only seen things run pretty much one way. That way might be changing, as there's been some turnover on the board and there will be more when I leave town in October.
I've put together this list of a few ways things are different elsewhere or have been different in the past. I'm not saying these are necessarily better than what we do (some, I'm ready to argue, are worse), but hopefully this will spark some thought and discussion on what No Shame is or should be in this community.
1. One ticket in LA or Roanoke: $5
2. One ticket during the first couple of seasons in Iowa City: $0
3. Tickets for writers/performers for many years in Iowa City: $0
4. When Dan Brooks hosted, he always had a clipboard. How official they looked, Dan Brooks and his clipboard.
5. In Roanoke, the order is read without titles. Just numbers and authors.
6. The whole intro to the show in Roanoke was much calmer and shorter: one guy explaining the rules, asking for announcements, reading the order.
7. The institution of the ".5" is peculiar to Iowa City, and, what, 8 years old? It was invented to shoehorn more pieces into the order instead of turning away the 16th-20ish people in line.
I'm of the opinion that only very short pieces (under, say 45 seconds, but preferably even shorter) should be called .5s. If we have a lot of mid-length pieces and decide to fudge the 15-piece limit, I'd rather have an order numbered 1-18 with 3 real .5s than 1-15 than six .5s, half of which are as long as everything else.
8. In LA, they've been more strict about the time limit. Repeat offenders were temporarily limited to 3 minutes.
9. In the past year or so, we've moved from asking for announcements during the intro (which can take a long time and be inaudible to half the house) to trying to get a list ahead of time to be read from the stage (which can take a long time and be intolerable to everyone). Do people even listen to the announcements? Do you remember them later? Should they be moved to the end of the show?
10. There have been varying degrees of moderation on various online discussion systems, ranging from total anarchy to temporary electronic banishment for abusive posters. We don't delete many blog responses here (I've weeded out some very long text copies from Wikipedia entries and other blatant space-wasters; any message claiming to be from a real person who didn't actually write it is removed as soon as it's brought to our attention), but there hasn't been much discussion over what the acceptable use policy should be.
11. For years after No Shame moved in from the parking lot, performances were occasionally held outside or in other odd spaces, the point being to keep everyone from getting too comfortable or too rigid about the space in which they could perform. These were often surprises (E.g., everyone would be seated, and then, "Come on everybody, tonight's show is on the Theatre Building's front steps."). When we talked about doing a Truck Shame this spring, there was a lot of, "man, I'm not about to stand around in a parking lot to watch No Shame," grumbling. Maybe a standing, grumbling audience would underline the importance of tight editing.
Maybe there's a compromise here: we could ask writers if their pieces belong in the indoor first half of the show or the outdoor second half.
12. Lip Sync Night the Friday before Thanksgiving is just a few years old. I think it works.
13. I think One-Minute Piece Night went well last fall, though we announced it later than we should have. Should we set a date to try it again?
14. We wouldn't be able to do this every week, because Theatre B is often in use for rehearsals until 11, but we could sometimes let the audience in earlier. How much would that mess with performers' preparation?
15. A set of procedures written in the late 1980s specified that the gate money be collected in a "The Fall Guy" lunch box.
16. The 11PM start time was chosen instead of midnight (before No Shame, there had been another Friday night thing that started at midnight), partially to give people time to hang out at The Mill before last call.
As a non-drinker, non-smoker, sugar addict who doesn't want participants under the age of nineteen to be excluded or to break the law to join us, I prefer a restaurant to a bar.
I like Village Inn because the pie is good, the hot food is tolerable, the wait staff puts up with a lot of our shit, and it's kind of on my way home. Not everyone feels the same way about Village Inn.
1. One ticket in LA or Roanoke: $5
Holy shit, BOO. Keep it at a dollar, as long as it (1) pays the rent, and (2) is low enough that a lot of people are willing to pay it. Drive admission prices up and regulars who like No Shame enough to pay more despite a bullshit price hike will still come but it will dissuade new people who don't want to pay more money for something that they don't know what it is yet. Keep No Shame an "impulse buy." We want to be the Wii, not the PS3.
5. In Roanoke, the order is read without titles. Just numbers and authors.
I also like pieces to have titles.
7. To me, a .5 is definitely under a minute, preferably 30 seconds or less.
8. ...Repeat offenders were temporarily limited to 3 minutes.
I don't really want to see any of this. No one would care enough to keep track, and I don't want to see fellow No Shamers get punished, it would feel too...rulesy.
11. NO performance area switcheroo surprises. It would piss me off if I wrote a piece specific to Theatre B (Arlen's monologue with the headlights NEEDED those lighting directions) and then the show was outside or something.
15. I don't think I know what "The Fall Guy" is.
16. Are we even debating whether to keep going to Village Inn??? VI is delightful, and I don't like hanging out at The Mill. The Mill is dark and not cheerful and the seating is such that we would have to divide off into smaller groups anyway, and I like our VI banquet seating thing we have going.
6. The whole intro to the show in Roanoke was much calmer and shorter: one guy explaining the rules, asking for announcements, reading the order.
What a great idea...
University auditions are THIS THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, August 30-31, 7-11 PM
If you want to be in any of the Theatre Department's plays this fall (such as Eli's, which Greg is directing), this is the first step.
I'm surprised there isn't anything on the online callboard, but I bet there are signs up in the building.
If it's like last year:
-sign up on the callboard in the back hallway for a 3-minute slot
-show up early, check in in the lobby to fill out forms and pay them to take your polaroid if you don't have a headshot
-present a prepared monologue, or two contrasting monologues (I don't remember, is the actual time limit 2 minutes or 3 minutes?)
-check the online callboard for callbacks
The process can be nerve-wracking, but it can also be a lot of fun.
If you have time, they should have scripts for everything in the office, but most of the people auditioning will not have read them.
Hey, I'm not mad at you, Eli. I could never stay mad at you; there's just too much water spraying out my butt.
I had a friend named Eli growing up, Eli, but at school we always used to call him Kelly, or sometimes Brant. You remind me of Kelly and Brant, Eli, partly because of your name, but also just because of the good memories.
Listen, to prove we're all fun and there's no hard feelings, let's have our very own, very special summer No Shame! Right now! Right here! Tonight! At the theater building! Just the two of us! We'll invite all our friends and make a big festival of it! An all-night theatrical birthday bash! It will be fun! I will do a skit I've been working on about camping and you can do whatever, it doesn't matter!
Shall we say 11pm, then? Tonight? I can't wait to finally do this exciting plan we've been waiting for all summer! No worries, amigos, me and Eli have it covered!
I AM SO STEAMED ABOUT THIS! I WAS VERY EXCITED TO DO THE SUMMER NO SHAME ON TUESDAY NIGHT LAST NIGHT AND PERFORM MY CAMPING NUDITY ASSUALT PLAY WITH YOU! I WAITED UNTIL 10:30AM FOR YOU TO SHOW UP AND THE SHOW TO BEGIN! WHAT?!!!! WHAS THIS ALL SOME ALABORATE PLAN ON ME??!!!!! NOT COOL! I AM GUESS MAYBE I AM NOT ALLOWED IN YOUR CLIQUE BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO HUMILIATE ME!!!
In all fairness Anal, you posted that at 9 pm and I did not see it until this morning. Lets do it tonight. What do you say?
Woo! woo! I am lucky to have seen you post in time! Now I will head straight down to the theater and get ready for our big show tonight! I have been so excited for so very long!
I AM SO STEAMED ABOUT THIS! I WAS VERY EXCITED TO DO THE SUMMER NO SHAME ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT LAST NIGHT AND PERFORM MY CAMPING NUDITY ASSUALT PLAY WITH YOU! I WAITED UNTIL 10:30AM THIS MORNING FOR YOU TO SHOW UP AND THE SHOW TO BEGIN! WHAT?!!!! WHAS THIS ALL SOME ALABORATE PLAN ON ME??!!!!! NOT COOL! I AM GUESS MAYBE I AM NOT ALLOWED IN YOUR CLIQUE BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO HUMILIATE ME!!!
'Hey, do you know there's more than one way to manage a No Shame?'
Yes, that is a very good thing for us all to be reminded, because I know from experience once someone gets set in one way of doing things, maybe they won't want to try a new way even if it's just as good just because they are more used to it being done the other way! Sometimes we can all use a fresh start and the 16 points were especially helpful, and got me thinking about a few tips of the trade that I myself have picked up, and that could be useful to other performers too and maybe even get people rethinking about how we want to run the No Shame show!
1.While it is generally understood (at least in my mind), that if it’s funny to the audience, it’s working, there are some general rules that do help to shape the game and make for a superior show.
2.Don’t deny. If an actor says something, take it and run with it. Don’t ever give the response of “no” or a negative reaction as this stops the forward motion of the scene and leaves the actors with little to do. In life, if you take something and make the best of it, that’s always more interesting than wallowing in the negative.
3.Don’t ask questions. While it’s not always bad to ask questions of your fellow actor in the scene, by and large this keeps the scene from mutually developing - rather it stops the action and forces the other actor to justify what he or she has just said and that’s… boring.
4.Pretend like you know what the other person is talking about. In life sometimes we’ve just got to bury that quizzical look and press on. It’s funnier to the audience if you identify with the suggestion they’ve just given you, and furthermore if you are unsure of a line that’s just been thrown at you, it stops the action of the scene to pause and get the idea defined. just act like you know everything… because perhaps your fellow actor will have a better idea of what the word or suggestion just was and can compensate for you. A good example is the word loquacious. While you are reading this pretend like you know what that word means. That’s what I did while I was writing it.
5.Listen to one another. When performing a scene do not talk over the other actors in the scene- its easy for this to happen, however the trick it to take it slow and listen to what your fellow actors are saying. Otherwise, the audience may miss what is being said.
6.Keep things topical. Be aware of what’s going on in the media, entertainment and your local community. Use these happenings to spice up your scenes and help the audience identify with your characters.
7.Select a strong host. Hosting is a major component to the show. The host explains the show. Make sure that you select a person who has great charisma and understands things well for this position. Many times, the host also inserts jokes into the scene to alter it (i.e. - emotional adjustment) so put a strong player to this position to keep the arc of the scenes solid. People can also develop their hosting skills and it’s not a bad idea to dedicate rehearsals to this very job.
8.Keep small generic costume and prop pieces on hand.This is a great excuse to not clean out your closet that your Mother will have to buy into! You never know when that crazy old had or plastic cigar could come in handy for a crazy character. Adding a little props and costumes in at the right moment can sometimes take the scene to the next level. This is great
I heard that there will be a show tonight this Friday at No Shame and I am so excited! I have some new material to try out it goes like this:
2 camper (a shopkeeper and assistant) enter from one side and another camper from the other side.
The shopkeeper asks the 3rd camper, "Hey would you like to open a store?"
The boy says "sure" and the Assistant pretends to hit him and carries him out of view.
The Assitant comes back and a customer walks in and asks for an item. The Shopkeeper tells his Assistant, "Go get ____(the name of item)."
Assistant replies , "Yes, Sir!" He walks offstage and you hear screams like "Hey, don't take that!" or similar...
Then Assistant comes out with that item. Customers come in and ask for shirt, shoes, belt, etc.
Then when a customer asks for underwear, the 1st camper who was taken off stage runs off stage in long underwear/boxers/towel screaming "no not my underwear!" through the stage and off the other side.
We will have fun! Will you be in my camping skit?!
Only two hours till the 1st show of the big new season!!! Gotta admit, I have a few butterflies on my tummy,This will be my debut at No Shame theater so wish me luck! Can't wait to see you all out there under those bright lights tonight! Peace,
Gindig
>Only two hours till the 1st show of >the big new season!!!
Wish I'd seen this post sooner, Gingi: I think you're in for a disappointing evening...
"Wish I'd seen this post sooner, Gingi: I think you're in for a disappointing evening..."
Him and me, both Timm! I totally forgot it didn't start till next week!
Just me and Geneo, kickin it in the theater building till like midnight
If you all new the show didn't start till nest week why didn't somebody TELL ME??
"Our season starts September 7."
Adam
"the new season of No shame doesn't start till the 2nd week of classes in Sept."
Timm
"Guino, I think you misunderstood me. When I said the 1st show wasn't till the 2nd week of classes in Sept, I didn't mean to imply that it was actually the night of August 24th"
How many times and in how many ways do you need to be reminded, "Gono" or "Gadar" or whatever your fake name is?
I realize I'm only an audience member and I don't know all about how things go, but isn't the board supposed to decide how the show is run and the rules and stuff? Why is Adam Hahn asking everyone how the show should be run and if it's ok if people hang out at Village Inn?
In the past the board seemed to have some kind of authority. Now it's just Adam yelling and being annoying at the audience. What's up with that?
And what's with all these posts about City Circle and University auditions? People are always getting in trouble for posting "non No Shame related" posts, but not Adam Hahn.
I AM SO STEAMED ABOUT THIS AND I WAS VERY EXCITED TO DO NO SHAME ON FRIDAY NIGHT LAST NIGHT AND PERFORM MY CAMPING NUDITY ASSUALT PLAY WITH YOU ! MICHLE AND GUANO TOLD ME TO GIVE UP BUT I SAID NO THEY WILL SHOW UP AND I STAYED THERE WAITING UNTIL 9:30PM TONIGHT FOR YOU TO ALL SHOW UP AND THE SHOW TO BEGIN BUT IT NEVER HAPPENED ! I THIBNK I SAW ELI GO BY BUT I GOT SCARED AND HID!
To ask a real question, what renovations were made to Theatre B? How shiny and new is it now?
How shiny and new is it now?
They actually haven't finished renovating, so we might be in…
Theater A!/Thayer Theatre!
(all together now)
Ooooooooo… ahhhhhhhhhh…
There aren't too many changes except for the stage, which is now two feet off the ground. (This could have an impact on pieces, but I won't go into a dissertation about it…) Lights are different in some inexplicable way. The sound system may have been upgraded.
UPDATE! Theatre B is getting it's floor redone as Greg said. Also the lighting system is being overhauled which really doesn't affect us since we use only the house lights and the sound system is being upgraded as well. I would bet a really big pretty penny that we will be in another theatre this Friday. I will email some of the Faculty to confirm this. Stay tuned for updates on your number one No Shame news network. And now some commercials.
Tired of feeling fat, lonely, and bored? Get a job you hobo! They're free to apply and the benefits are countless! Apply today!
Got writers block? Don't know what to do for this friday's show? Now you can have what the pro's use. Just go to a back alley near the pedmall and for just one small payment of 40 bucks you can buy yourself "Inspiration" in dried plant form! Just put in a pipe or in a rolled paper, burn, and inhale. "Inspiration!"
Okay I'm back. Nothing new yet. Pay close attention in the next day or so.
HEY GUYS. I'm moving to London next week and I want to make out with you one last time.
I'm going to be in town on Sunday at College Green from 11ish until 1pm to play some sports and hang out. Then I'm going to the Airliner for $1.50 slices and hanging out.
You should come, if you want. You're all invited.
Facebook me if you want more info or email me. Or call me. Whatevs, bevs.
I drwamed last night that tonight I was at the 1st "no shame" of the seasom. Adam "Egg" Ahn was alone on a dark and sloemn stage, trying with visible displeasuree to simulataneously install a sense on discipline and excitement in the small group of grouchy audience members and performers that had turned out for the big shwo/. it was a CRREPPy dreams!!!..
Hi, well, I have to get back to my college dormitory for classes in Brampshin, VD. --I was just here for th summer I'm sorry i missed out on that summer no shame that I heard about, but it was nice hanging in "IC" and getting to know you all and i will definitely see you all with bells on next summer, gang!!! "Goodby" is just anothere way to say"Ilove you."
Warmly,
Anal Blow Hole
Tonight, we are definitely in Theatre A, with whatever seating and lighting they had for auditions.
Post a Comment
<< Home