NO SHAME Returns

from The LocaL, November-December, 2021

Old Town Provisions

HONEST EXPRESSION IS NO PROBLEM @ NO SHAME

BY ERICK RICHMAN

When No Shame Theatre returns to the Springer Opera House on November 5th, co-hosts Will Oliver, Kevan Baxley, and Jasper Howell will invite anyone who signs up to do something truly daring:

Be vulnerable.

“A lot of people feel that they’re unheard, that they’re not seen,” Will starts, “the phrase being ‘No Shame’ – hey, don’t have any shame to come up here and express yourself. We’re going to take you in wholeheartedly.”

At No Shame Theatre, anyone can sign up for a 5-minute slot to perform their way, with few restrictions: only original material is allowed; no hate speech; nothing can be broken, especially people, things, or laws.

“You can breakdance,” Kevan says, but “you can’t break stuff.”

The goal is to encourage honest self-expression and the genuine community that grows around it.

“At the end of the day,” Will says,“everybody just wants love, right? Everybody just wants to be understood.”

With No Shame returning after an18-month hiatus, “that’s what I’m most excited about,” he says, “to see people discover that vulnerability, that love and peace within themselves.”

Even though Will now has a few film credits to his name, he still thinks back to his experiences at the Springer Theatre Academy, where he remembers being told “You’re always enough.”

“As a kid,” he recalls, “it’s so rewarding and so refreshing to hear those words and truly feel that.”

His co-host Kevan shares that love, both for the Springer itself and for the unique opportunity that No Shame offers; now the theater’s box office manager, she even had her wedding in the Springer.

“I mean it’s cool [Will] is in movies and stuff,” co-host Kevan says, “but what makes me really excited to work with him is his love for people.”

Their other co-host, Jasper Howell?

“Jasper’s the cool one,” Kevan laughs, “I remember seeing him [when he started at the Springer Academy] for the first time and thinking ‘that little kid is so much cooler than me.’ Guess what? It’s still true.”

“Jasper just has this way that people attract to,” Will agrees, having known Jasper since those Springer Academy days. “It’s his love, but also his coolness, his passion. He’s real like, ‘go with the flow,’ but also really ‘man with the plan.’”

Kevan highlights how No Shame offers the chance to “show more of your whole self.”

“It’s lighting up your brain in ways you’re just not going to get otherwise,” she explains. “It just makes you feel better. Not just feel better… it’s about healing, in a way.”

In exchange for the courage of stepping up, each performer receives an audience intent on seeing, hearing, and appreciating them.

“It’s a captive audience. Their whole purpose for being in that moment is to at least try and connect with me,” says local comedian Chris Hatchett. “You know, they can’t really go anywhere without being rude, so I get to do what I want and say what I want, within reason.”

Chris calls himself “one of the most O.G. members” of the Columbus No Shame group around, having started attending only a year or two after the event began locally in 2009.

Though he is known today for his heartfelt comedy and comfortability on stage, that wasn’t the case then.

“I genuinely thought theater in high school was made up until I went to No Shame,” he explains. “I never had a theater program at my school.”

Actor Jim Pharr, hosting at that time, applied the Springer motto of “you’re always enough” to No Shame.

“His goal was for people like me to be born out of it,” Chris describes. “Jim created a space each week for people like me to exist. Jim’s favorite story of No Shame was me.”

“No Shame is this place,” Will says, “where, it’s still part of the Springer, but it’s for everyday people to get up on the stage and really express themselves. A place where, after you do what you have to do, you can come do what you want to do.”

Kevan, Will, and Jasper plan to carry on that legacy.

“It’s the most supportive place you’re going to find on the entire earth,” Kevan suggests. “It’s the warmest room to walk into and do something for the first time. There is support, feedback, everything you want as a first timer. And that’s amazing.”

“I think that’s so rare, so cool, so loving that people come and make material based on their everyday lives,” Will continues, “they hop on the platform knowing nobody but still feeling the security of getting up there and spilling out their creative expression and it being accepted. That’s one thing many people can’t find.”

Like Chris, local comedian James Etchison wasn’t sure about getting up on stage – at first.

“I spent two years writing jokes and procrastinating,” he says, but at No Shame, “I finally went up and started.”

Today, - in Chris Hatchett’s words - “James is the best comedian in the city.”

“When I first started, I was kind of trying to prove I deserved to be here, to exist,” James recalls. Now, he says, “it’s important to laugh, and also to say something with comedy. I couldn’t imagine life without it, for certain.”

With No Shame on pandemic hiatus, James started his own open mic night on Mondays at 7:30 p.m. in the Heritage Arts Center, which he plans to continue after No Shame resumes to offer even more space for expression in Columbus.

“I think people just need a place to be heard,” he explains. “They need to be able to create their art and show it to people. So much of performance art requires an audience.”

Chris and James both hope their stories inspire others to take the risk of expressing themselves.

“I had zero experience in performing and now I have people that I call fans,” Chris says. “That’s not to make myself seem important, just to say you don’t need anything to perform other than the will to perform.” He also has advice for audience members: “Shhh. Just, if you want to come out, great. Just shhh. You're making too much noise, probably."

Beginning November 5th, No Shame returns each Friday at the Springer Opera House. The doors of the 1st Avenue entrance will open at 10:00 p.m. for performers to sign-up; the show itself begins at 10:30 p.m. A $5 entry fee is required for both performers and audience members, with beverages available for purchase inside. Only those 18 years of age or older may attend, with proof of age required at the door. Both performance slots and audience seats are limited. As well, face masks are required and temperature checks will be performed.

“It’s just literally the purest form of self-expression that might exist in the city,” Chris says. “If I want to be surrounded by locals and talk about something that’s important to me, I don’t know if I’ll be heard anywhere else better than I’m heard at No Shame.”