latest news
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.
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
We wish you and your families a safe and Happy Thanksgiving Weekend.
We are grateful for so much even in the midst of a pandemic, and despite not being on the road for our Fall Tour for the first time in 13 years, we are finding silver linings.
We are thinking of the thousands of people we’ve met over the years of touring Jake’s Gift as well as the many many veterans who have become such dear friends.
We wish you all a healthy and happy Autumn, and we hope to be back on the road at some point in the next year.
Enjoy the Autumn and may you and all your loved ones remain healthy and safe.
Jules, Dirk & Jake
Hello,
Thanks for stopping by. We have sad, but not surprising, news to share:
On Tuesday, August 25, 2020 we got official word that all our Fall 2020 Tour dates, which were to be in Alberta, Quebec, Ontario and PEI, have now been cancelled with the hope of re-scheduing them in Fall 2021. We will have new dates as soon as possible.
Thanks for your patience in hearing from us, and we hope you and your families are well and safe.
Enjoy the rest of September and the last few weeks of summer.
Jules, Dirk & Jake
“Be Kind. Be Calm. Be Safe.” - Dr. Bonnie Henry
We hope you and your families are well and managing through the pandemic as best as you can.
This Fall we are scheduled to have shows in AB, Ontario, Quebec and PEI. We are waiting to hear from our Host Presenters as to their ability to open for the 20/21 season. As soon as we have solid information about the feasibility of touring this Fall we will post info on our Touring page.
Thanks for your patience as we all navigate this time. Stay healthy and safe.
Jules, Dirk & Jake
Hello Everyone,
It has been a while since we posted any news beyond the cancellation of our Spring Tour 2.5 months ago. The world is going through a rough patch on so many levels, and we hope you and your families are doing well, and keeping safe and healthy.
We are keeping fingers crossed we will be able to tour this Fall, but we are also very aware that our Fall Tour may be postponed or cancelled as well. When we have news about that final decision from our Presenters, we will update you immediately.
We are remembering our amazing tour of Normandy exactly a year ago this week for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. We are so grateful for that time and memories.
We hope you enjoy the start of this new month, and may it be one of good news more than bad.
Be well.
Jules, Dirk & Jake
Dear Friends & Family,
Well, a lot can change in a week, and we have some disappointing news. After chatting with our upcoming Alberta Presenters, with regards to the current Covid19 Pandemic, our April Tour of Jake's Gift has been cancelled. The hope is that we will be able to re-schedule this tour for October 2020. As we all know, this is a very fluid situation, and we have no idea how the weeks and months ahead will unfold. We hope very much that we will be back on the road as soon as we can be. Please take care of yourselves and your families. #WeAreInThisTogether. #SocialDistancingIsSexy!
We will be in touch with updates as they come to light.
Cheers, and we wish you good health in these uncertain time.
Jules, Dirk & Jake
We hope you had a fabulous holiday season with your family and friends. We had a fantastic holiday season with a lot of time with family & friends, delicious food and much merriment. Weather has been a big news story across BC, - and all of Canada - and it affected our early new year family gathering in the Okanagan, which we had to cancel due to white out conditions.
We drove to Victoria to celebrate Theatre SKAM’s 25th Birthday Bash on January 11th. Theatre SKAM was the one of the first Theatre companies Julia ever performed and wrote with and for, and we were thrilled to be able to attend the party to celebrate their 25th. Check out their website: www.skam.ca.
After a harrowing drive down to Vancouver, we were delayed getting to Van. Island when Ferries were cancelled until 5PM. We took our chances and waited in line for 4 hours, and luckily made it on.
The 25th Birthday Party was a ton of fun with all four original founders in attendance, Sarah Donald, Karen Turner, Amiel Gladstone & Matthew Payne, plus a lot of other folks who’ve been w/ SKAM since the beginning. Previous SMAM artists sent in Happy Birthday videos, which were just fabulously received by all the folks in attendance. Well done, Lucas Myers, Mike Rinaldi, Camille Stubel, Meg Roe & Sean Dixon! Amanda Lisman was a charming and exquisite Host/MC & David Radford and Christina Patterson did a fab job Roasting and Toasting SKAM. Dirk Van Stralen and I even threw in 25 Roasts in way less than 59 minutes. Lovingly named after a popular SKAM show from the 90s: 29 Plays in 59 Minutes.
After the late night party wrapped, 13 of us met for brunch on Sunday at a fabulous Cafe called The Northern Quarter. After filling our bellies we nestled in for a longer visit as we were stuck on Vancouver Island for 2 days w/ more Ferry cancellations, and brake issues for Ginger (Our trusty touring vehicle). #336600 KMs and counting!
Now that we are home we are diving back into work mode and prepping our 2020 tour for Jake’s Gift. Stay tuned for details in the coming weeks, and stay warm out there too!
We hope you are having a fabulous Holiday Season! We’ve been loving our time at home and the festivities are continuing this week. We wish you all a very Happy New Year. May 2020 bring you all much joy and adventure! We will be updating our Tour Schedule as things come together for our Spring 2020 Tour.
November 26, 2019
We are home after an incredible 6 week tour of Jake’s Gift that took us across the prairies and back to BC before wrapping up at the Quesnel Legion on Saturday, November 23rd. It was an amazing whirlwind tour, and we are so grateful to all of the incredibly generous Presenters that hosted us. We are very thankful too to all the people who came out to see the show.
We had a surprising number of patrons who came back for their 2nd or 3rd time because they wanted to share Jake’s Gift with other family and friends. That warms our hearts so much, and we are very moved that people would want to share our little play with their loved ones. Isn’t that what life is all about? Sharing moments together and stories that reflect our common bond.
Thank you all for continuing to support us all these years in. We are grateful every day for the opportunity to share Jake’s Gift in so many communities across Canada as well as in Normandy this year. That was an incredibly moving experience to be back on Juno Beach for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, and to get the opportunity to meet and thank more WW2 veterans, and to share Jake’s Gift with some of them and the local French communities across Normandy. Merci!
We will update our website and touring schedule as soon as dates are confirmed. We will continue to work on our 2020 Tour plans this December and into the New Year. If you would be interested in having us tour to your community in 2020, email us anytime at jakesgift@gmail.com.
We wish you all a very peaceful and restful winter.
Cheers,
Julia & Dirk
