Friday, November 13, 2009
Mount Elizabeth Theatre
8:00 PM
From Website
Julia Mackey
Julia was born into a very active theatre family in Birmingham, England and moved to Canada when she was three years old. She grew up in Montreal, and received an education degree from McGill University before heading out west in 1993 to pursue acting and writing.
In 1995 she started doing just that with Victoria’s Theatre SKAM, and has since worked with many other theatre companies across Canada.
In 2005, she won the CBC International One-Minute Playwriting competition in Wells, BC.
She lives in Vancouver with her partner, actor and cartoonist Dirk Van Stralen, whose single panel cartoon, vanstralen, appeared weekly in The Georgia Straight for 17 years.
Jake’s Gift Development History
Jake’s Gift sprang initially from the fertile soil of a character development workshop led by Ron Reed, Artistic Director of Pacific Theatre(Vancouver, BC) in 2002.
Mercy Wild, the play that ultimately came out of the process, featured a funny little old guy named Jake, a character that playwright Julia Mackey knew immediately she wanted to develop another piece around.
In June 2004, Julia travelled to Normandy, France, for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day. She attended many ceremonies, walked the coastline and interviewed dozens of veterans who had returned for the occasion. The experiences of the veterans and her own discoveries and interest in remembrance led to the development of the play. It received a workshop performance at the Sunset Theatre’s Exploration Series in Wells, BC in August 2006.
In 2007 Julia continued play development with presentations at the Gabriola Theatre Centre, Western Edge Theatre and The Gateway Theatre’s Scene First Play Development Workshop. In the summer of 2007 Jake’s Giftappeared at Intrepid Theatre’s UNO Festival in Victoria BC, The Toronto Fringe and the Victoria Fringe, where the productions received four awards including, Best Drama, Best Solo Show, Best Female Performer and Best New Play.
Since that first year of touring, Jake’s Gift has gone on to play at festivals and theatres across the country. It continues to garner awards and rave reviews whether playing in small towns or big cities. This past July, Jake’s Gift, sold out its entire run at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival and hopeful ticket purchasers lined up for hours before show time to buy tickets.
Juno Productions is now taking a short break from touring Jake’s Gift. They start the Fall 2009 Tour in mid September. The Tour will take Jake and Isabelle to NW Ontario, Southern Ontario, The Maritimes and Central BC.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 September 2009 20:18