Utterly, Completely, Unbelievably Shameless

 ~  In the Land of the Blind, the Man with One Eye is Called a Cyclops.  ~

                I expected more shameless behavior: naked people swinging on chandeliers, massive, sprawling yogurt fights that span two counties, clothing made from olive loaf. 

                Last Sunday, I attended my first “No Shame Athens” theatrical reading, the New Play Reading Series sponsored by Rose of Athens Theatre and hosted/corralled by UGA Professor and Rose of Athens Theatre Associate Artist John Patrick Bray.  This was the last of the nine monthly events held during the academic year when new plays are heard. 

It was tamer than I expected, but that’s not what they meant with the name “No Shame”.  It’s a place to come and work out the kinks on your play, a place where writers can see actual actors saying their actual lines, in the way they actually want them to be said.  It’s a good idea.  Musicians have rehearsals (where giant egos get in the way).  Visual artists have critiques (where giant egos get in the way).  Chefs have the vast majority of cable television (egos might be a factor there, I haven’t watched a cooking show since Julia Child).  The theatre needs a place like “No Shame”. 

                Granted, I’ve only attended a half of one session, but I can see myself returning in the fall when the rumor is they’ll be doing more local writers’ stuff.  Sunday I watched the first act of Don Goodrum’s new play “Littlefield”.  Since Rose of Athens and John Patrick Bray, a playwright himself, invite an audience, the author can use this as a way to figure out what works and what doesn’t.  Playwrights have been using their friends for this purpose for eons.  I’m sure Sophocles invited a few buddies over for sheep meat and wine and did something similar.  It’s an established concept and one that Athens’ growing theatrical scene needs. 

                Since I’ve been here I’ve seen the local theatre troupes slowly expand their repertoire and stage more experimental, more locally-written, more daring material.  They (Town & Gown, Rose of Athens, the UGA Theatre Department and Circle Ensemble Theatre Company) still use the cannon of American theatre to establish themselves and get people to come out to familiar shows.  Rogers and Hammerstein will always be a part of the American stage, and that’s fine.  There’s a reason that those shows keep getting staged.  But, a town with as much artistic experimentation as The Classic City SHOULD be able to stage new shows, hit or miss shows, shows with different styles (and I just don’t mean setting “Julius Caesar” in the Reconstruction South or “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Prohibition-era Chicago). 

                Music and football may have put us on the map, but we don’t have to limit ourselves to only two types of live performances.  Enticing the next generation of potential theatregoers to see live performance without spandex and long-term hearing loss is a dilemma that theatricians have always faced.  Staging plays with relevant themes is one way to accomplish that.  We already have a large group of people willing to support live and local art.  I’ve attended shows by all of our companies.  We have some great local actors.  There is an audience.  There are decent venues.  It just needs more: more shows, more audience members, more money, of course, more marketing, more everything.  Having a dynamic and energetic guy like John Bray around is a good start. 

                I expected something truly shameless.  I expected peanut butter and tin-foil sandwiches.  I expected men riding llamas and women forming into human pyramids.  What I found was even more important…except for olive loaf clothes.  In the, apparently inevitable according to television, event of a zombie apocalypse, you’re going to want to wear something that no self-respecting zombie (or human) would eat.  And I can’t think of any non-Scottish food product more disgusting than olive loaf.    

                Support new works in Athens.  Check out the “No Shame Play Reading Series” next fall.

 << If you are interested in being cast as a reader next fall and/or for any information regarding new play readings, contact John Patrick Bray at noshame@roseofathens.org >>