Jill Daum

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Jill Daum is a Canadian actress and playwright from Vancouver, British Columbia. [1] She is most noted for her theatrical play Forget About Tomorrow, about a woman struggling to cope with her husband's diagnosis with early-onset Alzheimer's and based in part on her own marriage to musician and actor John Mann, [2] and as a member of the "Mom's the Word" collective, who created several touring theatrical shows about women's experience of motherhood. [3]

Canada Country in North America

Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, many near the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.

Vancouver City in British Columbia, Canada

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2016 census recorded 631,486 people in the city, up from 603,502 in 2011. The Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2,463,431 in 2016, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada with over 5,400 people per square kilometre, which makes it the fifth-most densely populated city with over 250,000 residents in North America behind New York City, Guadalajara, San Francisco, and Mexico City according to the 2011 census. Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada according to that census; 52% of its residents have a first language other than English. Roughly 30% of the city's inhabitants are of Chinese heritage. Vancouver is classed as a Beta global city.

British Columbia Province of Canada

British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. With an estimated population of 5.016 million as of 2018, it is Canada's third-most populous province.

Contents

Early career

Her early roles included productions of John Murrell's Farther West, [4] Carol Bolt's Escape Entertainment, [5] Myrna Kostash's No Kidding [6] and Terry Jordan's Reunion. [7]

John Murrell, OC, AOE is an American-born Canadian playwright.

Carol Bolt was a Canadian playwright. She was a founding member and, for several years, president of the Playwrights Union of Canada.

Myrna Kostash is a Canadian writer and journalist. She has published several non-fiction books and written for many Canadian magazines including Chatelaine.

In 1989, she also had a guest role in an episode of the television series Booker .

Booker is an American crime drama series starring Richard Grieco that aired on the Fox Network from September 24, 1989, to May 6, 1990. The series is a spin-off of 21 Jump Street and the second installment of the Jump Street franchise. The character of Dennis Booker was originally a recurring character on that police drama during its third season.

Mom's the Word

In the early 1990s, Daum joined with Linda Carson, Alison Kelly, Robin Nichol, Barbara Pollard and Deborah Williams to write and stage the collective play Mom's the Word, a "kitchen table cabaret" about motherhood. [3] The show premiered at Vancouver's Women in View Festival in 1994 before going into wider production in 1995. [3] The play won two Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards in 1995, for outstanding original play or musical, and collective creation and performance. [8] The collective subsequently toured the show across Canada, [9] as well as staging it at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 1998. [10] After five performances in Melbourne, the collective cast a group of Australian actresses to continue performing the show on a wider Australian tour. [10] The show was also translated into French by Michel Tremblay. [11]

The Jessie Richardson Theatre Award is given to recognize achievement in professional theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Jessies are presented by the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award Society, at an annual ceremony. The awards are named after Jessie Richardson, co-founder of the Playhouse Holiday Theatre, local actor, director and designer.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival annual comedy festival in Melbourne, Australia

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starting in March and running through to April. The Melbourne Town Hall has served as the festival hub since the early 1990s, but performances are held in venues throughout the city.

Michel Tremblay Canadian writer

Michel Tremblay, CQ is a French Canadian novelist and playwright.

In this era, Daum also had small roles in the film Head over Heels and the television series Cold Squad .

<i>Head over Heels</i> (2001 film) 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Mark Waters

Head over Heels is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Mark Waters about a woman, Amanda Pierce living in New York City who works at Metropolitan Museum of Art restoring paintings.

<i>Cold Squad</i> television series

Cold Squad is a Canadian police procedural television series that premiered on CTV on January 23, 1998, at 10 p.m., and ran for seven seasons. Led by Sergeant Ali McCormick, a team of homicide detectives from the Vancouver Police Department reopen long-unsolved, or "cold" cases, using present-day forensic technology and psychological profiling to help crack them. Cold Squad premiered simultaneously in French Canada on Séries+ as Brigade spéciale.

Daum, Kelly, Nichol, Pollard and Williams reunited in 2005 to create the sequel show Mom's the Word 2: Unhinged, using a similar format to address motherhood as children grow into their teens. [12] The show again received a wider Canadian tour, [11] although actress Susinn McFarlen performed Nichol's role on the tour. [13] In 2009, the group staged Mom's the Word: Remixed, a show which mixed material from both of the earlier shows. [14]

Mom's the Word 3: Nest Half Empty, a new show about how motherhood changes further as children become young adults and move out on their own, premiered in 2017. [15]

Forget About Tomorrow

After Mann was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, Daum began to write Forget About Tomorrow, drawing both on her own experiences and those of other people she had met in a support group for caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. [1] She shared the work with members of her writing workshop during the process, but in order to ensure that she was receiving honest critiques about her writing, rather than undue praise based in sympathy for her situation, she did not tell her colleagues in the writing group that the play had roots in her real life. [16]

After Mann's diagnosis was publicized in 2014, Daum toured as a caregiver with Mann's band Spirit of the West as they undertook their final shows in 2015 and 2016. [17] In this capacity, she appeared in the documentary film Spirit Unforgettable . [17] She has also made several media appearances as a spokesperson for Alzheimer-related charity events, including a 2016 benefit concert for the Alzheimer Society of Canada, [18] and as an advocate for improved support services for caregivers. [19]

Forget About Tomorrow received its first production at the Vancouver Fringe Festival in 2015, [20] before receiving its official premiere at the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia in 2018. [21]

Personal life

Mann and Daum's honeymoon in Venice was the subject of one of Spirit of the West's most successful singles, "And if Venice Is Sinking". [22] The couple have two children, Harlan and Hattie, who were given the blended surname Daumann to incorporate both Daum's and Mann's last names. [16]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Jill Daum draws on real-life experience of husband John Mann's Alzheimer's for new play Forget About Tomorrow". The Georgia Straight , February 28, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Forget About Tomorrow puts John Mann’s spirit on the stage". The Globe and Mail , January 19, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Moms spread their word again". Vancouver Sun , January 26, 1995.
  4. ↑ "This is just a waste of time in the west". Vancouver Sun , February 9, 1987.
  5. ↑ "Some nice touches save day in this Canadian dilemma". Vancouver Sun , January 18, 1988.
  6. ↑ "Teens split over controversial play". Vancouver Sun , December 22, 1988.
  7. ↑ "Each play deeply moving". The Province , March 28, 1990.
  8. ↑ "Mom's the winner: From therapy to theatre to outstanding original play honors". Vancouver Sun , June 12 1995.
  9. ↑ "Mom's the Word delivers real thing, baby". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix , January 26, 1998.
  10. 1 2 "Despite their different lingo, Aussies guffawed Series: Moms Down Under". Vancouver Sun , April 11, 1998.
  11. 1 2 "Terrible two's? What about the turbulent teens?". Winnipeg Free Press , November 16, 2006.
  12. ↑ "Motherhood at the mercy of its players: Moms reunite for the angst of the teenage years". The Province , October 6, 2005.
  13. ↑ "Moms turn attention to teens". Victoria Times-Colonist , August 5, 2006.
  14. ↑ "Moms keep grown-up kids on edge; 'Scared about what we'd say about them; mad we didn't say enough'". The Province , September 24, 2009.
  15. ↑ "Favourite moms' word poignant as quintet back with new chapter of life stories". Vancouver Sun , April 7, 2017.
  16. 1 2 "Writing a play about a family facing Alzheimer's helped Jill Daum cope with her reality". Vancouver Sun , February 20, 2018.
  17. 1 2 "The unforgettable spirit of Spirit of the West". Q , May 2, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Despite Alzheimer's, Spirit of the West's John Mann still 'has a memory for melody'". Here and Now , June 2, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Caregivers' needs shouldn't be overlooked by doctors, says Alzheimer Society of B.C.". CBC News British Columbia, January 20, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Women get the spotlight at Vancouver Fringe Fest series". The Georgia Straight , September 9, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Jill Daum, wife of Spirit of the West singer John Mann, debuts Alzheimer’s story in Victoria". Toronto Star , January 28, 2018.
  22. ↑ "Spirit of the West singer goes solo for current tour". Windsor Star , April 21, 2010.
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