Letter from the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General of Canada!

We’ve been sitting on this news for a month, and are happy to be able to share it now with family, friends and colleagues.

We are so honoured to receive this award, and I say WE because this belongs to Dirk every bit as much, and to the hundreds of veterans we’ve met and befriended over the last 20 years. Thanks also to the hundreds of communities and theatres and thousands of patrons who have supported us and Jake's Gift over the years.

We are extremely grateful to the Governor General of Canada, Her Excellency the Right Honourable, Mary May Simon for the honour of receiving the Meritorious Service Cross (Civil Division), and to the people who nominated us. It’s all a bit overwhelming, and we are just really happy to share it with you.

Lest We Forget.

Jules, Dirk & Jake's Gift/Le Cadeau de Jake

That's a wrap for 2023!

What a wonderful year it has been getting back into the groove of touring again.

We had a fabulous time touring Alberta and Ontario this year, and snuck in a few performances at our local theatre too in Wells, BC.

We want to thank all the incredible Theatres and local Arts Organizations and Legions that hosted us this past year. We are so grateful for the ongoing interest in Jake’s Gift and the overwhelming response to the show.

We met some incredible veterans and community members who all had “Jake’s” in their lives and who kindly shared their own stories with us. We realize with each passing year that GK Chesterton was spot on when he said, “The only two things that can satisfy the soul are a person and a story.” Thanks to everyone who shared their stories with us.

May you and your families wrap up the year in safety and health, and may our world move towards a truly peaceful existence.

Thanks to our hosts this year:

Rosebud Theatre, Rosebud, Alberta

Lacombe Legion, Lacombe, Alberta

Mayerthorpe Legion, Mayerthorpe, Alberta

Sunset Theatre, Wells, BC

High Prairie Legion, High Prairie, AB

Elks Lodge, The Red Deer Pipe Band, Red Deer, AB

Ponoka Secondary, Ponoka, AB

Vulcan Legion, Vulcan, AB

Coaldale Civic Centre, Glenn Miller, Coaldale, AB

Inter-Act Theatre Society, Medicine Hat, AB

The Canadian War Museum, Canadian Fallen Heroes Foundation, Ottawa, ON

The Rose Brampton, Brampton, ON

That’s a Wrap! Hope to see you in 2024!

#LestWeForget

Spring Summer Fall 2023

We had a wonderful Spring tour in Alberta at Rosebud Opera House in March, and then we returned in June for a D-Day Performance at the Lacombe Royal Canadian Legion and at the Royal Canadian Legion Mayerthorpe Branch 126 on June 10th. Everyone was so kind and welcoming.

This Summer we will mostly be wearing our Presenter hats, but we’ve made time for 2 performances in our own backyard on Saturday, July 15th and Friday, September 8th at the Sunset Theatre in Wells.

As the Autumn leaves turn, we head back to Theatres and Legions in Alberta, and then we head further east in November back to Ontarioooo!

If your community would like to be part of our Fall Tour please feel free to contact us at jakesgift@gmail.com

Our show fees are based on Venue Seating Capacity, Travel and number of shows.

check out the Where We Are Going page to see confirmed show dates.

#LestWeForget

ROSEBUD THEATRE • 50TH ANNIVERSARY

We are very excited to be part of The Rosebud Theatre’s 50th Anniversary Season. Congratulations to them on such a momentous milestone. We have 4 performances at Rosebud on Friday, March 17th & 1:30PM & 8PM and Saturday, March 18th, 2023 @ 1:30PM & 8PM.

Rosebud offers a fabulous Lunch or Dinner Theatre package. Get your tickets today!

www.rosebudtheatre.com

Special Offers:

Rosebud Theatre Season Tickets are your best value. Click HERE for more details.

Ticket Prices:

Dinner & Theatre Opera House Shows: $72 - $95
‍Opera House Show-Only: $58
To purchase individual tickets, click Buy Tickets above or call 1-800-267-7553!

FALL TOUR 2022

We have been having an amazing tour with Jake’s Gift. It’s been really rewarding to be back on the road for the first time since November 2019. Audiences have been so warm and it has been fabulous to get back to performing the show in French as well as English. We’ve met a lot of wonderful veterans on this tour from all campaigns, and we’ve had some great Q&A’s with students from Grade 5 to 11. We had a really moving and heartwarming Remembrance Day show at the Rose Theatre in Brampton, and are excited for our final two shows with them today. Bitter Sweet as we wish we could stay longer! We move onto Meaford, Ontario on November 15th and have our final shows of this Fall Tour there at the beautiful and historic Meaford Hall on November 16th and 17th - the 17th is a student matinee.

Thanks to everyone who has come out and supported the show. For tickets to our remaining shows, please see the Touring section of this website.

#LestWeForget

October 22, 2021

Hello,

We had a fabulous weekend Oct 16 & 17, 2021 as we hosted Chase Padgett and his fabulous show, 6 Guitars, at the Sunset Theatre in Wells. The audiences were in awe. It’s one of our all time favourite shows.

We also started rehearsing Jake’s Gift again as Chase will be back in Wells November 6 & 7 to film 2 live audience performances of the play for us.

As the Sunset Theatre is located in Northern Health, our capacity is limited to 50 patrons and everyone must be masked.

Head over to the Touring Dates page to find out more info!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Jules, Dirk & Jake

Hey Friends.

Cheers for stopping by.

No real news to share re: touring plans for Jake’s Gift - all performing arts venues in Canada are still closed. Hope to have news soon.

In the meantime, in other news I am writing a new show, and we are helping take care of the beautiful Sunset Theatre. While we are unable to tour, I’ve been shifting my focus towards new work, grant writing and helping build a safe and inviting space for other artists to come and create.

The Exploration Series - created by Sunset Theatre Artistic Director, Karen Jeffery, was started in 2006, and it was actually the project that gave me a deadline to write Jake’s Gift.

In 2021 we will host 41 Canadian artists to come and create new work. We’ll be able to do this because of the generous funding received from the BC Arts Council, Dept. of Canadian Heritage and we hope to receive support from Canada Council of the Arts as well.

The Sunset website: www.sunset-theatre.com

More soon.

“Be kind. Be calm. Be safe.” - Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC Public Health Officer

Happy New Year

We hope you’ve all had a very happy holiday season, albeit surely a quieter one for us all.

We have no idea what 2021 will hold for our touring schedule, but we will update this website as soon as possible.

We wish you and your families a wonderful New Year and may 2021 be a truly Happier New Year for us all.

Thank you, Wells!

We had a wonderful time at the Sunset Theatre in Wells, and want to thank everyone who came out to see our performances on November 10 & 11. It was very special for us to be able to share Jake’s Gift in our hometown during Remembrance Week. We really appreciated everyone following the Covid19 protocols and the Sunset Staff and all the volunteers who helped us so much over the two evenings to make sure everyone was safe.

We thought a lot about the thousands of people - especially veterans - who were unable to gather at a Remembrance Day ceremony this year. Let’s hope next year will be better. Our veteran friends are always on our minds throughout the year, and especially during Remembrance week.

We are not sure when we will be back on the road again, but we are keeping fingers crossed for Fall 2021. We will continue to update this website w/ information as we receive it.

Stay healthy and safe everyone!

Cheers,

Jules, Dirk and Jake