Future of No Shame: Springer Opera House board to discuss backlash, flood repairs

Board members of the Springer Opera House will meet Tuesday evening to discuss repairs to the historic building following major flooding last month and the future of No Shame Theater.

Paul Pierce, the producing artistic director of the Springer Opera House, said the board’s meeting will be the first since the social media outpouring that followed a No Shame event two weeks ago where an audience member yelled out “f--- Jesus.”

At the same No Shame show, audience members told jokes comparing sex with them to Jesus during a “Sex With Me” improv game that closed out the show.

The event remains suspended, but Pierce said board members have not considered permanently canceling or censoring the event. A decision about when No Shame will resume has not been made.

“There will be discussion on that but I can not promise a final decision,” Pierce said.

No Shame artists, Springer patrons, No Shame audience members and others spoke for nearly three hours on Saturday, explaining what No Shame means to those who perform and debating over the balance of respecting others’ feelings and viewpoints against freedom of speech.

That could result in creating policy from informal rules already in place, Pierce said.

“There seemed to me to be a general consensus from the No Shame community that any kind of hate speech was something that is currently not welcomed there,” he said. “(Procedures) that had been informal, they wouldn’t mind making formal.”

The board will also discuss repairs following flooding that caused serious damage to the historic opera house in mid-February. The basement of the Springer was filled with three to four feet of water.

Power to the building was restored last week, and a new dimming system for the stage is being installed this week to replace the old one that was blown up in the flood, Pierce said.

“The final number is going to be big,” Pierce said of damage costs. “The good news is … that the historic fabric of the building … none of that was touched in the flood.”

This story was originally published March 25, 2019 at 11:58 AM.