Well hello! We are the people that deliver the delicious doses of shame to your face every other month.
Yelahneb, Producer of Shame and DJ (they/them)
Yelahneb is the Producer of the Salon of Shame; they got their start as Ariel’s faithful henchman back in 2005 before being handed the reins in 2013. They like unicorns quite a lot and is not nearly as ashamed of their poetry as one might expect.
Jeannie, MC of Shame and Podcaster (she/her)
When Jeannie Yandel isn’t MCing the Salon of Shame, she works in radio and produces A Guide To Visitors. About ten years after this picture was taken, Jeannie burned all of her diaries during a drunken “rebirth ritual.” The only thing left from that night is a barely legible note promising a new and better life that somehow involved pottery.
Phyllis, Deaf Community Liaison (she/her)
Phyllis Fletcher is a podcast editor. She coordinates ASL interpretation for our deaf audience members. In the late ’80s she filled three 3-ring binders with a page chronicling each day.
Ariel van Spronsen, House Manager (she/her)
Ariel van Spronsen joined the Salon of Shame staff in 2008 just before the move to ToJ. Her journals are full of lists and cross-references, and the outfit she’s wearing in this photo was probably planned a week in advance. She retired from the show in 2014 to explore points East, only to return in 2022!
Joriel, Webmaster (she/her)
Joriel Foltz is a freelance writer and our webmaster. Her most memorable reading at the Salon was a poem entitled “Raindrop”, which she wrote in college when she was “not sober.”
Julie, Curator of Shame (she/her)
Julie Davidson is a longtime reader who first joined the staff to help zoom us into cyberspace after the pandemic threw the vaudeville hook. She served as president of her HS band “The Tacoma Wind Ensemble” when they toured Europe back in the 90s.
Pam, ASL Interpreter (she/her)
Pam Parham has been one of our amazing American Sign Language interpreters since our start at the Rendezvous Café. Of the show, she writes “You had me at the ’10 Techniques For Giving A Blowjob’ reading back at the Jewel Box.”
Jeff, ASL Interpreter (he/him)
Jeff Wildenstein is our other amazing interpreter, bringing the shame into the third dimension… and that’s why he needs to know if Patrick’s “curved penis” is to the left or right. Jeff claims he was still in the closet when this picture was taken.
JoAnna, ASL Interpreter (she/her)
JoAnna is our dedicated sub for when Pam or Jeff aren’t available. She was on the drill team, *not* the cheerleading squad. When asked if she kept a journal at the time: “I tore up all of my diaries when I was in high school out of fear that my parents would read how many times I told them to fuck off.” Our loss, but sensible!
Frank, Sound and Vision (he/him)
Frank Phillips has been guy in charge of the lights, soundboard, and everything else that requires technical know-how at Theatre Off Jackson since before we showed up. You’ll see him at every show sitting at stage right, keeping everything running smoothly and our producer laughing.
Cat, Sound and Vision (she/her)
Catriona Urquhart is a new addition to the staff helping us out with sound and lights! She loves being part of the Shame and wanted to share that she got her first period the exact same day her family’s cat got neutered. Coincidence? Who can say.
Ariel Meadow Stallings, Founder of Shame (she/her, retired)
Salon of Shame founder Ariel Meadow Stallings started her first diary in 1987, thinking that someday someone would want to open an Ariel Museum. No one did. To compensate, Ariel started blogging in 2000, founded the Salon in 2005, and wrote a book in 2007. None of it really helps and she still cries herself to sleep at night listening to Enya tapes and wishing she was Blossom. She retired from the Salon in 2013 to focus on running the mighty Offbeat Empire.
Rhoda, House Manager (she/her, retired)
Rhoda Zopfi was one of our fave readers at the Salon for many years. She was our House Manager in 2017 before buying a van and heading south under awesome circumstances involving holographic unicorns.