Thursdays after school at City High, students gather into the Little Theater to attend one of the school’s performing arts clubs: Yes Shame.

“Yes Shame is a club where we can express ourselves and be funny,” Yara Moustafa ’17 said.

Yes Shame started at City High in September 2002. The club was started by Dean of Students, Doug Lestina, but is now essentially student run.

Yes Shame is a parody of a college organization called No Shame Theatre. The three rules for No Shame Theatre go as follows: 1) Your performance must be original 2) Your performance must be 5 minuets or less 3) Your performance cannot hurt the audience or the surroundings 4) There is no shame.

“As long as you follow those rules, pretty much anything [goes],” Lestina said.

The No Shame Organization started October 3, 1986 in a truck bed out of E.C. Mabie Theatre here in Iowa City and has since then developed several franchises at schools around the country. The No Shame website lists all registered locations and even recognized City High’s Yes Shame on their site and lists a few of Yes Shame’s past scripts.

“Yes Shame and No Shame at the University of Iowa have done some overlapping in the past,” Lestina said. “University students would come here to City and show their school appropriate skits.”

Yes Shame is slightly different from the No Shame Organization in that it has been tailored for a High School. Yes Shame skits have to be school appropriate and the club has in some ways branched off from just skits.

“I’m not sure how much original writing there is,  I’ve seen a lot of improv,” Lestina said.

Students play improv games and socialize during the Yes Shame club as well.

“It’s a pretty great experience,” Nysio Poulakos ’17 said.