Iowa City September 28
Who needs Homecoming? We had No Shame.
Labels: Iowa City
posted by AdamEggHahn at 8:19 AM
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25 Comments:
1. "The Grave Robber" Arlen Lawson
2. "Pills" Eric Landuyt
2.5 "A Friendly Reminder" Greg Machlin
3. "Andrew Jackson" Will Roberts
4. "Democracy at Its Best: The Selfless Barfight of the Century" Mirri
5. "Violence and Me, We Both Start with a V" by Michael Vick (Dick Roberts)
5.5 "Another Friendly Reminder" Greg Machlin
6. "Outgoing Mail" by Evan Schenck
7. "I Can Do It In My Dreams" by Katy Baggs
8. "In Need of a Sidekick, 340 a Month, Heating Not Included" Eli "One Man Team" Wilkinson
9. "Waffles and the Korean War" Brian Lenth and Jake Gontero
9.5 "A Third Friendly Reminder" Greg Machlin
10. "Three Verses" Ogden Nash in the Twenty-First Century (Lydia Crowe)
11. "A Broad Named Jesus" by Alyssa Russell
12. "Poptarts" by Ryan Mother Fuckin Sage
13. "The Hunting Trip" by Adam Hahn
13.5 "The Last Piece in The Order" by John Froehlig Jr. and Greg Machlin
1. "The Grave Robber" Arlen Lawson
I liked this piece. There's a certain visual artistry to Arlen's pieces that I think really came out in this one.
2. "Pills" Eric Landuyt
Now, me, I usually like Eric's serious pieces more than I like many of his humorous ones. It's sort of funny how the serious Eric has all this humility and feeling, and then the next week he'll do "Skinny Bitches" and confuse the Hell out of us.
2.5 "A Friendly Reminder" Greg Machlin
See the end of the review.
3. "Andrew Jackson" Will Roberts
I actually contemplated doing a piece about Andrew Jackson once, but it wouldn't have been fictional like this one. Jackson doesn't need to be fictionalized to be amazing. Now I can't do that piece, but I doubt I was ever going to do it, anyway.
I had two problems with this piece. First, the delivery was nervous, too fast, difficult to understand, and he laughed at his own jokes a little too much. Second, he pretty much stole a lot of those jokes from the Chuck Norris internet meme that was popular a few months back.
4. "Democracy at Its Best: The Selfless Barfight of the Century" Mirri
I liked this piece. I
5. "Violence and Me, We Both Start with a V" by Michael Vick (Dick Roberts)
I did not like this piece. There was something vaguely unsavory about an old white man playing a young black man in a piece designed to mock the same. Also, the jokes that got the most laughs were really just references to other peoples' pieces from previous weeks.
6. "Outgoing Mail" by Evan Schenck
I liked the work that the performers did on this. Thanks, guys.
7. "I Can Do It In My Dreams" by Katy Baggs
Funny. When Katy was running around the stage freaking out it was hard for me to keep still and silent. Also, I never had this problem of not being able to trill.
8. "In Need of a Sidekick, 340 a Month, Heating Not Included" Eli "One Man Team" Wilkinson
I thought about running down and spitting in Eli's face but I hesitated and the moment had passed.
9. "Waffles and the Korean War" Brian Lenth and Jake Gontero
I liked this piece and I liked being in it.
10. "Three Verses" Ogden Nash in the Twenty-First Century (Lydia Crowe)
I didn't get the opportunity to see a lot of the poetry before it was read, because my script only had one scene on it, so I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the poetry. I thought this was a good piece.
11. "A Broad Named Jesus" by Alyssa Russell
This was the one with Mirri, right? I remember it being good.
12. "Poptarts" by Ryan Mother Fuckin Sage
Really sort of a one-joke piece. It was pretty funny, though.
13. "The Hunting Trip" by Adam Hahn
13.5 "The Last Piece in The Order" by John Froehlig Jr. and Greg Machlin
John Froehlig Jr.'s sad-sack performance and physical comedy amuse me once again. I thought the joke got a little tired by the end of the four pieces, but it was still okay.
I was thinking about Dr. Adventure earlier. I think i liked him more in the past because he would talk about what happened rather than show us what happened.
So when DA told us he killed 10 ninjas it was an amazing feat, but when I see him shoot some guy I think "Well he just shot a guy, I could have done that." Granted I couldn't pull it off with the finesse he did, and I might not have had such clever one liners, but I probably could have pulled the trigger.
1) The Grave Robber--Now that I know how to listen to Arlen's pieces, I enjoy them even more.
2) Pills--This is, in my opinion, the best thing Eric has ever written. I loved it. Best of?
3) Andrew Jackson--Rock on! Yeah, the guy did laugh at his jokes too much, but I chalk that up to nerves.
I am disappointed to hear not all the jokes were his.
4) Selfless barfight: A nice serious dramatic piece.
5) Violence & Me: I had exactly the same reaction as Evan--while not necessarily racist, this piece sort of trod the line… and why Michael Vick? Isn't he old news?
6) Outgoing Mail: Very, very funny, Evan.
7) I can do it in my dreams: I wanted more of something.
8) In need of a sidekick: Audience participation! And a poignant ending. Heck, Eli, come Nov. 5, when we're both suffering post-show letdown, *I'll* write skits with you, but you'll have to be the crazy child-molesting one.
9) Waffles and the Korean War: This was pretty brilliant, though I wanted an actor to actually be a mad bomber onstage, to keep the threat present. For some reason, the low-key ending worked wonders, too.
10) Three verses: My favorite part was 21st-century Brecht. The poems themselves were good, but needed a little tightening if they're to pass as the work of Ogden Nash.
11) A Broad Named Jesus: This is *not* a reflection on the piece, but I truly don't remember it.
12) Poptarts: Nice debut, Ryan. Very funny. The spoken delivery was a nice tough.
13) The Hunting Trip: Funny.
Reminders up to 13.5) Jesus, I should have improv'd a different punchline, something like "Okay, in the original, the punchline was, 'Heh. Works every time, but that was before they fell down the stairs, and were I to deliver it now, I would sound like an evil bastard. They were not supposed to fall down the stairs. I have no other punchline. When I spoke with Eric & John, they were *supposed* to just start on the stage, not the stairs. Luckily, they seem to be all right. Thank you for coming to noshame, and good night."
John did good work in these, though there was a bit too much improv-ing at the end of pieces, which meant the closing lines didn't have the crispness they originally had.
But for whatever reason, these did not work quite as well as I hoped they would, and the performers were good
(thanks in particular to Adam Hahn.) I fear my noshame work is sliding progressively downhill.
Probably time for me to either do the serious piece I'm working on or take a couple of weeks off.
Reminder:
Today, October 1, is the deadline to e-mail submissions to the City Circle Shorts Festival.
It's my understanding that No Shame pieces are welcome.
Check the first comment on the Sept. 14 blog post for details.
Blog is dead?
As dead as Richard II.
Snotnosed, are you Eli?
Blog not dead, just not very active.
Oh, and the City Circle deadline was actually extended to Oct. 15th, if you're still wavering. Janani & Adam have both had pieces produced by them in years past.
hey noshame i has come ups with a idea for a piece. it goes like this:
eli puts a carrot in his but.
william shakespeare is involvd in some way.
i look forawrd to seeing it on friday
Why the sudden hostility towards me? I'm not Snotnosed and I dont like William Shakespeare shoving things up my butt. Sad...
"Evan Schenck", are you Evan?
It links to Evan's actual (shortlived) blog, so yeah.
Evns' jst joshng w/ us lolz
And just who is this "Katy Baggs" fellow? Please, people, use your real names when your post on this bolg! It make me vrazy!
Poopfa nd pee!! I HAS HIjackedas this bLGO WEBSITE.
AM I joking, Katy? Am I? I guess we'll find out.
leonardo dicaprio does not like the direction in which this discussion is headed.
leonardo dicaprio disapproves.
2. "Pills" Eric Landuyt
Something about this had a, "well, the writer has obviously never been there," quality.
I did like that Eric seemed to be stretching himself and discussing something important to him, which is often true of his serious pieces.
3. "Andrew Jackson" Will Roberts
Yeah, a lot of the jokes were lost because of Will either laughing or rushing quietly while the audience laughed. And a lot of the humor relied on describing a historical figure doing outrageous things using profanity and modern slang, which we've all heard.
That being said, everyone had fun listening to this.
5. "Violence and Me . . . " by Michael Vick (Dick Roberts)
If this had been shorter, it would have been a lot better. Jumping into the, "this is a commercial for Michael Vick's financial services company (financial services company? dog training school? I don't remember)," premise right away would have set up as many dog jokes as could possibly been crammed into a minute, instead of spreading those jokes through pages of monologue.
7. "I Can Do It In My Dreams" by Katy Baggs
Katy taking control of the stage works.
12. "Poptarts" by Ryan Mother Fuckin Sage
Fun. I hope he comes back.
Wait, did we have two pieces this week from new writers who didn't make the fact that they were new writers central ideas of the work? Cool.
13. "The Hunting Trip" by Adam Hahn
I'd been wanting to use this structure for a long time. I'm not sure I quite pulled off the ending I wanted, but I was glad when people told me they weren't sure if they should be happy or sad.
All the .5s
Fun but not great. John committed, which was the most important thing, but he's just not the right actor to give a stage direction like, "JOHN FREAKS OUT".
With these pieces (and with Evan's last Dr. Adventure scene, and even more with the American Black Box/Quote Boy piece last week), I wonder how much is there for first-time audience members. If someone doesn't know the format, the actors, or the characters, will they understand? Will they care?
Overall, what a fun show.
Enough's enough, people. I can't help but feel like disapproving of all this.
-Leonardo Dicaprio
Naked Movie Star
ZOMG LEO
Ignore these clowns.
Did you get my letter?
Well, I don't think the writers should be in the position of having to write down to the audience. When I do continuity I try to make a lot of jokes that aren't dependent on the audience member remembering previous pieces--I recognize, however, that I don't always succeed and I don't think the last few pieces in the arc clicked. If I do another, it'll be much different.
I agree in principle with Adam, however, that the format might be getting too self-referential and could stand to be broken up a little. Some performers set a good example in this regard. I don't think I'm one of them.
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Yeah, I'm definitely one who can fall into the self-referential trap… "The Diner" and "A New Character" (the velocirapster) are stand-alone, and they're also my most successful pieces this year. "Blade Runner" maybe required a bit of knowledge about NoShame, but it also had Patrick killing people, which is very funny.
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