History of W.T.S. Entertainment
THE
EARLY DAYS
When I started
at Algonquin College (Woodruffe Campus) in Theatre Arts (2 year
program), I quickly realized there was very little comedy training or
improv. I decided I would start a comedy improvisation club.
I put up posters to advertise that I was starting a group
and started meeting once a week after classes. Our numbers grew quickly and we
had about fifteen regular members. We then had to think of a name for the group.
A lot of us were in a play called "Caucasian Chalk Circle" (Bertolt
Brecht) and one of the actors would complain that the only line he had in a 3
hour play was "Where's the Soup?". We thought it was funny and kept
it as our group name. We were "Where's the Soup?" improv group!
We rehearsed for about five months and decided we were ready to perform for the public. But our school year became too hectic and it ended without us doing a show.
We got a call that summer from one of our professors (George Sherriff) and he said he would pay us to perform for his G.A.S (General Arts and Science) orientation. We were so excited! We rehearsed like crazy and put on an amazing show for 150 students. We got paid a hundred dollars and free pizza and refreshments.
We continued rehearsing and another of our professors (Cathy Kenney) asked us to perform at Rasputins (Ottawa Bar). We went to this little folk bar and again put on an entertaining show for the public. After that we were asked again by Cathy Kenney to perform at the college for the Don East Fundraiser. It was a huge audience and highly entertaining.
We were on our way, or were we? The group was starting to have creative differences. Half of "Where's the Soup?"group felt we should make the group smaller only keeping the strongest members and focus on sketch comedy. The other half felt we should continue doing what we were doing so well which was entertaining improv shows with our large cast. "Where's the Soup?", was ripped in two!
The group that remained was half the size. Another student who was doing a play with N.L.T (Nepean Little Theatre) asked us to audition our group for a "Great Canadian Evening" a week long production being put on in a church in Bells Corners.We were chosen to perform and did seven shows over a week for the public.
We started doing paid shows at "Good Times" a local bar and we began to audition theatre arts students to fill in the missing spots in our roster.
We added a new member (Sarah Spring) and then went on to compete in the "Improv SuperBowl" at Carleton University (We won!). We also did a show for the "Oscar Gala" (Entertainment for a huge Oscar night party) for two hundred people.
I realized pretty quickly that poltics (Who you were friends with, etc.) in college would decide what types of acting roles you would get. "Where's the Soup?" members were going to get little or nothing so I decided to write a three act play called "Kingdoms Of Dangle". It was about two kings who had kingdoms right beside each other and an evil witch and her daft boy who wanted to destroy them. The audience was handed plastic spoons when they paid for there ticket and hurled them at actors at certain moments. There was also a scene where the audience would yell out, "yes" or "no" and they would decide how the scene was played out. Sort of like a "choose your own adventure" deal.
There was a chance to show your classmates a scene from the play you wished to direct and the class would then vote on which play would be put on. The class laughed for my entire presentation and I was given the green light. Only six plays where chosen out of the many proposed.
Putting on the play was extremely difficult. I had actors dropping out of it that I had to replace. An actress was hurt during a tech run. I was really burntout (A walking zombie, without the eating the brains part) from directing and trying to pass my classes.
The female lead in the play was let go for missing rehearsals and Julie O' Halloran who was the assistant stage manager filled in doing a fantastic job. She was added to "Where's the Soup?" shortly after.The play was put on and it did really well! People were laughing heartily throughout. We ended up getting a great review in the paper (see press) and I ended up winning the "director of the year" award.
YOUTH WELL
WASTED (1999)
Penu Chalykoff wrote a short amusing play about two old men who were given back their youth called "Youth well wasted". Penu cast Amiel Beausoleil and myself as the lead actors. We performed it at the Ottawa Fringe Festival and had a blast. We then hit the books and we all graduated college. Although I recall Amiel having to go to summer school to pick up an English class.
WELCOME TO BIZZARO WORLD (2000)
We
really enjoyed ourselves at the Fringe Festival so I wrote a one
hour play called "Welcome to Bizzaro
World", and I cast members of "Where's the Soup?" in
it . It was an hour long collection of humourous scenes. This was the
first time audiences were introduced to "Scorpion Force" (The
evil world domination organization later seen in "Idiot & the
Scorpion" and "Idiot & the Scorpion 2: Mass Stupidity").
Commander Knife Eyes (A top ranking scorpion force assassin) was mentioned
but not seen and SSUN soldiers Prickly Joe and Bob had to battle the
dancing scorpion force villian Eduardo. We performed it at the Ottawa
Fringe Festival and we had large audiences, received a lot of press
and made a profit!
We were anxious to perform for larger audiences and that led us to the idea of making movies. I had gotten the lead part in an independent movie called "Reputation for the Opposite" where I learned how a movie was put together. I wrote a feature-length comedy/horror movie script called "Zarko". We decided we would change our name from "Where's the Soup?" to W.T.S Entertainment (We thought it sounded more sophisticated) and start making movies.
We spent the next seven grueling months making a film. It was about a silly pink masked demon who killed teens at a cottage. Whenever any character said the word "ZARKO" they would vomit. We finished it and showed it at "Fiddleheads" in Perth to a packed bar who really enjoyed it. We then took it to Ottawa and showed it at the "Observatory", again we had a great response. I began to write a new feature-length comedy/action script called "Idiot and the Scorpion".
IDIOT & THE SCORPION (2002)
We shot "Idiot & the Scorpion" over the summer of 2001. It's about a clumsy, low IQ secret agent named Max Damage who has to stop an assassination attempt on the beautiful oil heiress Trixe Pearson from the evil Scorpion Force.We used Stuntman Stu (Radio DJ) from 106.9 The Bear in a scene! I was dabbling in computer animation and added a electric bee and a robot using blue screens. I finally finished editing it in January of 2002. It was a whopping 2 hours and twenty minutes of laughs.
Improv Shows: Good Times, Dominion Tavern, Don East Fundraiser, Fringe tent, La Fayette, Oscar Gala show, Nepean Sportsplex, N.L.T Great Canadian Evening, G.A.S Orientation, Bayshore Talent Show, Improv Superbowl
Kingdoms of Dangle (T.Gordon) 1998 performed at Algonquin College
Youth Well Wasted (P. Chalykoff) 1999 performed at Ottawa Fringe
Welcome to Bizzaro World! (T.Gordon) 2000 performed at Ottawa Fringe
Zarko (T.Gordon) 2001 Feature length horror/comedy Indie movie
Idiot and the Scorpion (T. Gordon) 2002 Feature-Length action/comedy Indie Movie