No Shame Theatre Portland An evening of original theatre and performance
Nick hope performs at the Electric Company April 16, 2004. Photo by Annaliese Moyer.

No Shame Theatre scripts by Steve Rawley

The Portland chapter of No Shame Theatre enjoyed two runs in 2004, July 30 through the end of the year at the Brooklyn Bay, and a five week opening run at the the Electric Company April 9 through May 7 2004. We also did a radio show at KPSU on May 27.

No Shame Theatre was started in 1986 at the University of Iowa. This was after I dropped out of theatre school there, but I had more than a passing acquaintance with founder Stan Ruth.

I also had the misfortune of being cast in a playwrights festival play by Shem Bitterman, The Way Out. Interesting play; horrible experience for me. (I was a design student, for Christ's sake, not an actor!)

And it turns out another person cast in that play, Jeff Goode, also went on to be a No Shame founder.

Fast forward 18 years, to a toy store on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard in Portland. That's where I saw a flier in the spring of '03 for "No Shame Goes to War" featuring a script by Jeff Goode. It turns out that No Shame Theatre has become something of a national phenom with chapters all over the place. (And yes, it turns out we're getting old.)

I contacted Lichen June, the organizer of the Portland Goes to War show, and she put me in touch with Annaliese Moyer and Lee Moyer, who were talking about getting No Shame started as a regular thing in Portland. One meeting, several months, and quite a few emails later, we actually pulled it off. Our run at the Electric Company was a blast, but ended when the Electric Company closed for rennovations. We followed it with a run at the Brooklyn Bay.

Jeff and Todd Ristau, Stan's original co-conspirator in the creation of No Shame, remain active in No Shame today, both as doting parents encouraging their shameless progeny and as active participants in their local No Shame chapters in Los Angeles and Roanoke, respectively.

I've posted all of my scripts written for No Shame. I've also submitted them all to the No Shame Script Library.