Experimental pop artist, producer and illustrator Zack Villere is moving into theatre composition with The Holes, creating original music for Max Wolf Friedlich’s new Off-Broadway production.
Rather than functioning as standalone soundtrack material, Villere’s score is being developed as part of the play’s wider sonic environment, extending his work in experimental pop into a format where music has to respond to dialogue, pacing, space and live performance.
Friedlich says:
Zack’s work is as funny as it is tender. His music is whimsically earnest, and somehow serious without being self-serious. I’ve always felt a connection to his songs. He writes about male longing in a way that feels uniquely vulnerable, but never performative. It’s very cool to have him on the project.
Villere has built his own creative language across music, production and illustration, with his work drawing attention from artists including Dijon, Tyler, the Creator, 454, Liv.e and Rosalía.
For The Holes, that multidisciplinary instinct now moves into a different production system. Theatre composition has to sit inside a live structure rather than simply accompany it, meaning atmosphere, transitions and dramatic tension become part of the musical architecture.
The collaboration also continues Friedlich’s interest in bringing contemporary recording artists into his theatre work. Devonté Hynes composed original music for the 2024 Broadway transfer of JOB.
Directed by Michael Herwitz, The Holes is set inside a decaying bar in a rapidly gentrifying upstate city, where a locked back room becomes connected to questions around desire, shame, progress, community and individualism.
The production was developed with dramaturg-producer Hannah Getts and is produced by Getts, Russell Kahn and Adam Rodner. Robert Pattinson is executive producing through Icki Eneo Arlo, marking the company’s first theatre project.
Previews begin September 8, ahead of opening night on September 22 at Wild Project in New York. The limited run continues through October 18.
For Villere, The Holes adds another format to a practice already moving between recorded music and visual art. Here, the interesting shift is functional: the music is no longer the entire world. It has to help build one around the actors.