Arlen Konopaki and Stephen Kent during happier times.

Oh yes, Arlen and I were once the kind of friends who'd do all sorts of things together: perform improv shows, watch movies, reach for each other in the dark.

And now? Arlen flies out to Toronto, not an hour and a half from Stratford--where I live in classical acting exile--and he doesn't even call, or email, or text. To have him so close, and not to see him, it's like a younggunshot in the heart.

You know, I was warming up for Henry IV last week and I felt my skin tingling a little bit. I couldn't figure out what was causing the sensation. My mind raced. My heart started beating a little faster. Colours seemed richer, the air sweeter. Little did I know Arlen was, physically, so close to me then. I could actually feel him. Sure I wasn't spooning him on the grass at the Legislature, but he was with me, spooning my mind.

In my heart there was an innocent, blissful, perfect little turf of grass, and there Arlen ran and danced and sang. But now he's clusterbombed that place, and there's been significant collateral damage. Luckily Shakespeare keeps me on life support, but let's be honest, I've never really understood what the fuck the guy is saying anyway.

So, goodbye Arlen.

Love--always--Stephen.

Hey!

I can't tell you how excited I am by the footage we have thus far from The Young Guns movie. We have been shooting for 4 days now and despite a few minor hiccups things are going well. We still have a ton of work ahead of us, but I feel good about how things are shaping up. Here are a couple pics from the shoot thus far!





To answer your question, yes, that is a good ol' fashioned greenscreen! Movie magic revealed!

We are still lacking a title for our movie, so I ask you, whoever you may be, what should we call our movie? A brief and vague plot summary goes as follows: Three friends go on one last roadtrip together.

That's all for now!

Arlen

I've used this cliche title because I have so much to say, it could fill a newspaper. I would call it the bi-weekly herald, and it would be loved by all who read it.

Alright, down to business. First things first, welcome to all those in inter-net land, and for those of you joining us from intra-net land, a special hello. If you are joining us from ether-net land, and you're wondering why all your fish are passing out, I would look to the ether. That joke could have also gone in a different direction if instead of the hydrocarbon I took ether to mean the place beyond the Earth's atmosphere, a.k.a. the heavens. But I'm not sure how that joke would go.

Alright, second point of business, which stems nicely from Arlen's most recent post. I purchased a kitten a couple of weeks ago. Her name is Pickle, a.k.a. Pick Le, Southpaw, White tip and Kitty Kunga Katoo the Queen of the Cats. She fills my day with play and naps, and for this, I love her. I will add a picture of her.

Now you might be wondering "Which Young Guns show is Pickle referring to?" Well, the answer to that would be "Both of them." Yes, that's right, if you were concerned that your weekly improv diet did not have enough Young Guns in it, and you really did want to have to take a supplement, I've got the cure for you. This Friday, May 19th, at 8pm at the Varscona theatre, Rapid Fire Theatre is proud to present one of our fine Prime Time shows. It will feature a Theatre Sports first half AND The Young Guns kickin' it old school in the second half. In this case, the old school to which we will kick refers to the format of show we will be doing, it's going to be a sweet sweet mash-up of some monologues and a little thing we call Maslows. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then you gots to check it out, and if you do know what I'm laying down, well I KNOW you'll be checkin' it. Also, for that Prime Time show we are rockin' a sweet deal where if you bring your mom (or aunt, or grandma or any female who has kids) they get in for free, and if you are a female who has kids, then you get in for free. Finally having children has some benefits.

But Joe, you said "both of them" does that mean there is more than one show? "Yes self-posed question, there is." The very next day, Saturday May 20th at 11pm, the Young Guns will be in the second half of CHiMPROV and oh man do we have a show. We are going petal-to-the-metal and balls-to-the-walls because we are going to rock out a new friggin' format, and the best part is, this new format is like 5 new formats in one. It will be the single most beautiful event in the history of humanity. Even more beautiful than that bag in American Beauty, remember that bag's beauty? This show will be at least 100 times more beautiful. It will test our skills as improvisers and your souls as audience members. Why are we taking such a risk you might ask, because this looks to be the last Young Guns show before Rapid Fire Theatre's Annual Improv Tournament: IMPROVAGANZA! More on that bad boy at a later time.

For now, all you gotta know is written above, and by above I mean the words literally above these ones, remember those big paragraphs? I don't mean above as in the stars, those are just giant balls of gas burning lightyears away, they won't tell you anything about the Young Guns.

Joe

PS: If you are interesting in checking us out, and we would very much appreciate your support, call (780)448-0695 and reserve some tickets for the Prime Time show on Friday and/or Saturday's CHiMPROV show. They will both be awesome, each in their own unique way, just like you. You are both uniquely awesome.

I'm partial to the kittens. I wish I had a cat.

Cute Overload



Arlen

YO YO YO YO YO YO YO YO YO!

I'm back home in Edmonton! Had a blast in Toronto, the week was full of great people and great improv. I got there on Monday and played in the Catch 23 show with Graham Wagner (we realized we hadn't played together since 1998!), our team was called The Oil Barons named after the Ft. McMurray hockey team (who are much less talented and arguably much less funny than we were). Our scenes were delightfully wacky, and Graham is a very funny man with a very impressive beard. The next day I walked all over TO getting heat stroke I think then played in the Big Stupid Improv Jam Show. On Wednesday Kev and I met up and worked on Scratch in the afternoon then rocked the show in the evening. Then Kevin, Ian and I played on Friday in the Catch 23 format again, doing a good solid show complete with interpretive dance, buddy cop scenes and other improvised hilarity. It was so good to meet/hang with the good people from Atlanta, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto. Kurt Smeaton was a great host showing me the sights of TO and letting me crash on his floor.

All that being said, we at Rapid Fire have got to be the luckiest darn improvisers in Canada. I don't know if we realize how good we have it. We have a beautiful theatre, devoted volunteers and of course, kick ass fans who support our shows. Bottom line is Rapid Fire Theatre = the best? Answer = yes? Yes. I'm looking forward to the shows this weekend.

Now, let's get serious for a second. And small. I mentioned earlier that we were gonna need extras for our movie that we start shooting on Thursday and...listen people... I wasn't lying. Some people commented that they would be interested and now I'm hoping people can commit a little bit more by sending me an e-mail to Weasel733@hotmail.com

That way I can get back to you about times/locations/etc. and see if it works for you! That would be...awesome.

Arlen

A quick knock knock joke before I go.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Oilers.

Oilers who?

DIE SAN JOSE FAN DIE TAKE THAT KNIFE IN THE GUT WELCOME TO WHYTE AVE MOTHER FUCKER!

So Arlen is off to Toronto, to become a big star no doubt. He will be performing Scratch with Kevin and my bet is the T. Dot audiences will love their Edmonton improv style.

However...

If this doesn't happen I have a back up plan for him!

Check out Philly Faces, a talent agency that has the photos and resumes of many potential "stars" looking for a big break before they are forced to give up on their dreams and the only lines they're doing are made of coke and the only line they're delivering is "Just don't get it in my eye". Most of the bios are great and some even have videos, they are just as funny as they are sad. The photos with a little "V" above them have videos and they are all worth a look. (My favorite is on Page 3 - Sector b)

You'll thank me once you see them.

Your welcome,

Jules

P.S. CACACACAAAAAAAA COMEDY!!!! (that's for you Kory)

Hello!

Well the audition tour was a success! I felt good about the auditions I did so, we'll wait and see. All the theatres were nice, with The Globe Theatre in Regina being particularly beautiful. Chilled a few days in Winnipeg, walking around, seeing the sights. It's a bittersweet time saying goodbye to my classmates, the people I've spent all my time with for the last 3 years, but it's time for us to part our ways and kick some ass. I wish them all the best in the future. But I wish myself even bester! HAHA take that former allies!

I would like to highly encourage and recommend that everyone read at least one play by Edward Albee. He is my favorite playwright and I think his stuff is pretty much brilliant. To start I would recommend: The Zoo Story (my personal favorite), Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, The American Dream, The Goat or Who is Sylvia and A Delicate Balance. I've been working through all his plays in the last while and really all his stuff is terrific.

Now, after a few days home I leave again for a week. Where you ask? This time I'm off to Toronto to meet up with Kevin where we will make our Toronto debut of SCRATCH at the Catch 23 Tournament of Wonders. I am super excited. It will be great to see Kevin again AND it will be great to rock Scratch in the big T.O. I'll let you know how it goes. You can check out the info. HERE!

And if you happen to be reading this and in Toronto....come check it out!

And now, in the hopes of attracting more people to our blog through search engines I will post some words I imagine are searched for a lot:

Boobs, Star Wars, sex, porn, Freddie Prinze Jr., magic, sexy jpegs, internet dating, breasticles, cures for the common cold, George W. Bush, sexy boobie porn, delicious yams, blog, peace, online poker, free stuff, nude pics of Rapid Fire Theatre's hunky Josh Dean, the daily news, tips, Donald Sutherland, how-to, the Pittsburgh Pirates, hotmail, balls, to, the, wall, rock, out, with, your, cock, out, Google, help, videos, free essays, Tennessee Williams, mangina and finally, Joey Vanderhelm.

Fingers crossed! Let's hope we get a few more hits!

WATCH OUT TORONTO HERE I COME! Here is how I will look under the big city lights:



Talk to you all in a week!

Arlen

Oh man, yes!

The series is over and WE are going on to the next round!

WE are great! WE are super!

You should have seen what I said during the second intermission to get those guys going! Or when I put that Jarret Stoll rebound into the back of the net! Or when I passed it to Pasani for a goal! Or when I stopped all those Red Wing shots during the second period! Or when I scored the game winning goal on a pass from Samsonov!

WE are so good!

I just hope the oilers re-sign me in the off season. I come cheap, all I need is a little credit for every win WE get.

Man WE are awesome! Especially ME!

Now lets all rush Whyte Ave like we did something!

Love,

Star goal scorer, Julian Faid