Fresh off his hit play Job, Max Wolf Friedlich returned Off-Broadway with The Holes—a dark, surreal comedy about a mysterious back room in a failing dive bar. With Robert Pattinson aboard as executive producer through his company Icki Eneo Arlo, the show has become a lightning rod for hype. Crammed into the tiny Wild Project in Alphabet City, it’s completely sold out, making a seat (or even a floor pillow) harder to land than a table at Raos.
Credit: HanJie Chow
It was a beautiful September night on the Lower East Side. I never get "down there" often anymore, so I left early, got off at Union Square, and, dare I say, meandered through the Village. I was filled with whimsy and delight at the thought that I could, at any moment, leave my apartment and walk through one of the most diverting, historic, and just plain cool neighborhoods in the country, and feel as at home as Tony Soprano walking down his driveway to get the paper.
Even in my twenties, I felt too old and not cool enough to dwell among the tragically hip denizens of the East Village and Lower East Side, passing the legendary Tompkins Square Park where tent cities of overdosing souls once made themselves known. Now, I felt like a history teacher chaperoning a field trip, but that is beside the point entirely. I was meeting a friend to see if we couldn’t get into The Holes at The Wild Project.
The Holes is the newest offering by Max Wolf Friedlich, whose play Job was the Cinderella story from two years back. Job won a small festival at Soho Playhouse, went on to an extended run at a smaller theater in the Village, and eventually moved to the Hayes Theater on Broadway. The friend I was meeting was on staff at Soho Playhouse for that festival, where I produced my own play the very next year, without the worry and stress of having to move it to Broadway, which left me with lots of free time, always a good thing.
Job was tight, dark, and thought-provoking, and it didn’t hurt that it starred two recognizable faces from Succession (cool factor level up!). I saw it, I loved it, went to the Drama Book Shop, bought it, and read it through a couple of times to learn how he did so much with so little.
So I was among the very excited to see his latest offering when I heard it was opening. I emailed my editor, Stephanie here at Tawk, telling her I wanted to review it, and of course she was way ahead of me and had reached out. We never got invited to review.
Credit: HanJie Chow
Coincidentally and almost simultaneously, my aforementioned friend, who also had an interest in the play, having seen Job germinate at his festival—asked if I wanted to accompany him. It sold out on the Friday we had planned to go. Undeterred, I suggested we go loiter in the lobby and ask about last-minute tickets, cancellations, or whatever the protocol was.
This is where we find me arriving at The Wild Project on 3rd Street off Avenue A. The door was locked, but we saw some staff inside, so I knocked on the glass. I was shooed away. I gestured that we had a question. The young man opened the door just enough to allow his mouth to poke out of the crack and told me it was sold out. I assured him that I knew that, and that’s why we were asking about cancellations.
He told me to try back right before curtain as something might open up, and closed the door. Maybe the AC was running; it was a warm night. We arrived later, a few beers deep, and jostled our way to the "box office," which was a teenager with a laptop assigned to guard the door. I asked her if there were any last-minute seats available. She made a confused face and told us it was sold out.
I swear I’ve done this before.
My friend saw two Broadway producers he recognized and began a conversation with them. I returned to tell him there were no cancellations or house seats to be released last minute. “Yeah, it’s sold out,” the Broadway producers told us before entering the theater. He did not introduce me.
We went back outside.
After some collaboration and drinking with more teenagers in a bar around the corner, I asked him why he hadn’t just asked the playwright or the producer. “Oh, I guess I could have, huh?” he said. We pledged to go on TodayTix and see about rush seats.
Credit: HanJie Chow
The problem with rush tickets for me is the rush part. You get a notification on your phone with a clock ticking down the number of minutes you have to claim your seats, Mission: Impossible style, which, it must be mentioned, are not even seats. If you get rush, you sit on a pillow on some steps like the cheap asshole you are. Every morning I have at most a few minutes to check with the wife to see about a sitter and so on before I lose my spot. And those are the days when I don't notice too late that I missed the notification completely like the old fart that I am. Maybe I even dropped my new iPhone in the fucking toilet, who knows?
Okay, yes, I could just pay full price for a ticket. But I work in the theater! I write about theater, like I’m doing right now. I never pay full price. But I may yet this time. This play is about the cool kids, and I wanna be cool, goddammit. Max is a hot young playwright, and, oh my god, I almost forgot, it stars another hot young playwright: Bubba Weiler, who wrote Well I’ll Let You Go. He’s such a good writer! And he acts! And he’s so cute!
These guys will never hang out with me, probably.
I decided to reach out to the publicist with some questions for this article. Here they are:
After the success of Job, what made the creative team choose The Wild Project to launch Max's new play?
Surely it could have found a larger venue after all the buzz and a Broadway run? (Because I have a theory that the point was to create buzz by hiding it in a tiny space in Alphabet City, where it keeps selling out.)
I see that nothing is scheduled after The Holes' new closing date in November. Is another extension possible? Or are you holding out for a move to a larger venue?
Reviews have been respectful, if uncertain, do we see this going to Broadway?
And how did Robert Pattinson, of all people, get involved?
What was the thinking for the artwork for the play, because... yeah.
They have not yet responded. I’m sorry I got a little pithy about the artwork. Surely everyone in production secretly cringed when they saw it, except that one person who kind of liked it, so they all just went along with it, and now here we are.
The Holes continues to run through November 15th. And I will get that rush notification, and I will get my pillow, and I will be so cool. And if not, I will just have to suck it up and buy a ticket like a real person.
