The ZERO LAB | Jake Hastey
The ZERO LAB
This curatorial initiative by Mile Zero Dance features three local artists/groups who receive production residency support in our Warehouse venue, and present their new work in process.
We invite you to share the excitement of new dance works in progress.
7:30 PM
$20 MZD Member/ $25 General Admission
ZERO LAB Pass $50
Zero Lab #1: Jake Hastey
January 16+ January 17
Location:
MILE ZERO DANCE
9931 78 Ave NW
Edmonton, AB
Jake Hastey presents Confusing Levels of Moisture or The Holes in Hitler’s Head
Show Description:
A new metatheatrical experiment presented at Mile Zero Dance, created by Jake W. Hastey, Aka The Poet Felicity, with music by Tom Wilson and video projection by Liam Grey, plus a bunch of #$!? from the public domain.
If you like buses, and actors, and tall people, and short people, and sitting in a chair while other people do things, this might be your kind of show. But if you like contrived linear narratives, you should probably stay home and read a book that has sold 10 million copies. And if that doesn’t say it all, and you like lists, here are some other things in the show: Betty White, a bench, live vocal performances, a prop gun, mild sexual content, movement, music stands, and allusions to the fragile nature of our constitutional monarchy.
Show Credits:
Michelle Robb – Eva Braun / Poster Designer / Dance Captain / Script Consultant
Trish van Doornum – Betty White / Co – Director
Emmett Siobhan McCourt – Winston Churchill / Fight Captain / Script Consultant
Timothy J. Anderson – Narrator / Script Consultant
Tom Wilson – Music Co-writer / Arranger + Music Producer
Autumn Strom – Stage Management / Lighting Designer
Shyanne Duquette – Producer / Administration / Script Consultant / Projection Designer
Jake Hastey – Words, Music, Ideas, Money, and Stuff
Liam – Videographer
Mat Simpson – MZD photo documentation
Sean Arceta– MZD video documentation
VIEW THE PLAYBILL FROM TOY GUNS DANCE THEATRE
Upcoming Zero Labs:
Zero Lab #2: Eric Awuah (March 27+28)
Zero Lab #3: Ember Collective (May 22+23)
Featuring
Jake W Hastey
Jake W Hastey (they/them) AKA The Poet Felicity (they/them) has never chewed a toe nail. Not theirs and not anyone else’s. Their artistic development has been informed by this resolve. Knowing what to chew on and what not to, when it’s appropriate to chew and when you should just swallow something whole. They are a writer/creator/director/choreographer, and director of Toy Guns Dance Theatre. They studied at The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, University of Alberta, King’s University, American Ballet Theatre (NYC), as well as privately with amazing artists and directors across Canada including Evelyn Hart and Arnold Spohr.
Jake is a three time Mayor’s Awards for the Arts nominee, received the Telus Courage to Innovate Award in 2017, two time recipient of the of Arnold Spohr Scholarship for dance, a Sterling award nominated director, winner of the Best Director award at the Edmonton International Film Festival, and has had their work exhibited at national arts festivals. They have created nine original theatrical productions with over a hundred and fifty performances at mattress galleries, parks, parkades, and major theatres across Canada. Their film work has been seen on Telus Optik TV, Domestic Air Canada flights, and at many film festivals in Canada. They are currently in post-production on Abercrombie Zombie a film they wrote and produced, Victim Hunter Lover a queer vampire short film they co-wrote/co-directed, and if people like their new show Confusing Levels of Moisture or The Holes in Hitler’s Head after the showing at Mile Zero Dance January 16/17, 2026 they will develop it into a full live production and a described audio experience.
Trish van Doornum
Trish van Doornum (she/her) is thrilled to be part of this new work by her dear friend Jake. For over 20 years, Trish has been utilizing her skills as a musical theatre performer & director on stages in Edmonton.
Gratefully, she has worked with ELOPE Musical Theatre, Kompany! (back in the day...), Walterdale Theatre, Foote In the Door Productions and many more. Prior to the pandemic, she was half of the cabaret duo The Besties. Trish rounds out her time working as database manager on a Fundraising team. She's also a dedicated traveller, a Disney Adult, and lucky enough to be married to the best human on the planet! Follow her hijinx @trishvandyeg on Instagram.
Michelle Robb
Michelle Robb (she/her) is a theatre artist based in Amiskwaciwâskahikan, where she works as a playwright, actor, and dancer. Some notable artistic endeavours include the publication of her play, "Tell Us What Happened", through Scirocco Drama after it's 2022 co-production between Workshop West and Theatre Yes, attending the Impulstanz Vienna International Dance Festival, co-producing FIJI at the 2023 Edmonton Fringe, and performing in the world premiere of Erik Richards's "Brother Rat" last season (ReadyGo/Fringe Theatre). She has no idea what happens after this.
Em (Emmett) Siobhan McCourt
Em (Emmett) Siobhan McCourt is an award-winning genderfluid actor, producer, writer and stage-combatant. cTheatre credits include: Orlando (RMTC), Once (Thousand Islands Playhouse), and Sense and Sensibility (Citadel Theatre). TV/film credits include: Reacher (Amazon Prime/Paramount/MGM), The Umbrella Academy (Netflix), Kim’s Convenience (CBC), Bunker Burger (Tribeca Film Fest-nominated), Murdoch Mysteries (CBC/Shaftesbury), and Home Again (Anam Caras/Vicarious Playground).
Emmett won the 2021 indieFEST award for “Best Performer - LGBTQ Short” for their role as Jude in Home Again. He is a graduate of the Banff Citadel Professional Theatre Program. You can find Emmett @esmccourt on IG and at www.emsmccourt.com
Timothy J. Anderson
Timothy J. Anderson has performed in everything from opera to reality TV series, children's theatre to mega musicals. Productions at the National Arts Centre, Banff Centre, Carnegie Hall, Dollywood, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Kallang Theatre (Singapore), Pantages Theatre (Toronto), Manitoba Theatre Centre, Theatre Calgary, Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (Yellowknife). and here in Edmonton for Theatre Network, the Citadel, Nexus, and Stage Polaris.
He has a long history of world and Canadian premieres: the Canadian premieres of Phantom of the Opera and The Secret Garden, the world premiere of the opera version of Tremblay's St. Carmen of the Main and several works by composer Allan Bevan.
His parallel career as a writer has included more than a dozen works for stage (including hits like Nexus' The Sexton of Dingley Dell, Sterling-nominated The Fourth Tenor, A Voice from Home - chosen Best of Fringe in Calgary, An Expensive Embarrassment). He served as writer-in-residence for the Canadian Opera Company, won the inaugural BookTelevision 3-Day Novel Contest TV series, and earned a place in Melnyk's Literary History of Alberta (as a poet). One of his short fiction pieces was anthologized in Tesseracts 9 and in Year's Best Fantasy 6 from Tachyon (US) and his creative non-fiction in anthologies including Taking Off the Tinsel (Rowan Books) and Slice Me Some Truth (Wolsak & Wynn).
He spent more than a decade affiliated with The Books Collective publishers, producing books including Darrin Hagen's hit The Edmonton Queen, Ronnie Burkett's Memory Dress Trilogy (Trade Title of the Year from BPAA), and the David Staples/Greg Southam collaboration Barb's Miracle.
His education includes degrees in journalism, political science, music and creative writing, plus postsecondary certificates in music theatre (Banff) and management (York U/Schulich School of Business). He has taught music (Ottawa U), creative writing (UAlberta) and communication studies (MacEwan). He also worked for the Canada Research Chair in Relational Ethics in Health Care (UAlberta Faculty of Nursing) coordinating a national interdisciplinary study on the experience and resolution of moral distress in paediatric intensive care teams - a project which led to a stage play and the 2014 screenplay for Just Keep Breathing.
His more recent research-based work includes a board game about the journeys of newcomers to Canada who change their career plans while in language instruction programs (for Dalhousie/Red River College/Norquest), a musical comedy about the experience of elder abuse (for EMT funded by the New Horizons for Seniors program) and another about portrayals of seniors on television (smae funders).
He has been a recipient of the Todd Janes Community Service Award and a 2005 Alberta Centennial Silver Medallion for services to the arts and advocacy in the province.
Upcoming: Narrator for an orchestral concert of works by Beethoven, completion of the Gina Payzant/Reel Mensch film production of Physics for Poets - a feature film shot in 2024 in which I portray the nightmare ghost of Austrian physicist Johannes Keppler.