A play that's earned countless accolades and delivers an impactful tribute to World War II veteran’s returns to central Alberta for 3 performances this week.

Jake's Gift has toured to every province and 2 territories since it launched in 2007, this weekend will mark the 3rd time it's been hosted in Lacombe.

Julia Mackey of Juno Productions is the writer and performer, she plays 4 characters in the play.

She says she was inspired to write the story after travelling to Normandy, France in 2004 for the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

(Julia Mackey - Juno Productions Playwright & Performer, star of Jake's Gift - photo courtesy of Mackey)

“I interviewed as many guys as I could who had returned for the anniversary, and I interviewed local people and walked the beaches and went to the local Canadian military cemeteries and it was one of the most moving experiences of my life and so when I got home I just wanted to write something as kind of a thank-you or a love letter to all of our veterans”.

The play depicts a WWII veteran’s return to Normandy for that very same D-Day anniversary to find the grave of a brother who never came home.

In the last 11 years the story and production has earned much recognition, named best new play, to best solo show, best drama, best female performer and more.

Mackey says performing it never loses its lustre.

“It still moves me 11 years later that when I get to meet people after the show and they tell me about who their ‘Jake’ is and almost every Canadian we’ve met along these last 11 years of doing this play has a “Jake” in their life because at the time in the second world war our population was just over 10 million I believe and a million Canadians volunteered in some capacity and so the legacy of that is quite enormous”. 

The Lacombe Legion presents Jake's Gift on Saturday (April 21st) at 7:00 pm and again on Sunday (April 22nd) at 2:00 pm.

Tickets are $20 and available at the Legion Lounge.

There's also a performance at the Red Deer Legion tomorrow night (April 17th) at 7 pm.

For more information about Jake’s Gift and upcoming performances, click here