No Shame Debut Just What You'd Expect

River Laker sheds his pants (center right) as Beth Deel tells the story of how River invented River Dance.^

Here's River the baby in his Riverdance sketch with Beth telling the story.^

The beauty and the beast of No Shame Theater is that you never know what you'll get and sometimes it's awful. That was on rich display today at the Roanoke City Library as No Shame, which has been a part of downtown for some years now, made its initial foray both into the library and into the daylight--a noon show.

This one was exactly what we've come to expect: five original pieces, written for this venue, of five minutes or less each. Three were terrible, one promising and one pretty good.

More promising than any of the pieces, however, is that this drew a good-sized, receptive crowd, an appreciative crowd (even when there wasn't much to appreciate beyond the effort and the sincerity). No Shame promises much for the future and we need to thank the regulars for spreading the movement. This is a sophisticated touch to what is essentially a big country town.