Local multi-disciplinary artist, Zach TBD, recently organized an incredible performance, New Movements, at the Greenfinch Theater & Dive. Zach TBD and the many artists who were featured in the concert donated the proceeds of the event to Saint Louis Sudbury School! We are so grateful for their donation of $1,200 to Sudbury’s Tuition Assistance Program. And a special shout out to Sudbury parent, Tony Pupillo, and Sudbury staff member, Bobby Skaggs, for always passionately talking about how special our school community is to them with anyone who will listen—their ongoing enthusiasm for Sudbury sparked this very special fundraiser.
Sudbury staff member, Jennifer Lin, asked artist Zach TBD some questions about his interests, creativity, his show at the Greenfinch, his connections to South City, advice he would give young people who are interested in becoming an artist, and his thoughts on Saint Louis Sudbury School. Read what he said below and be sure to check out his upcoming shows!
“I think the most valuable thing you can learn in life is how to teach yourself, how to trust yourself, how to be a warm and supportive voice for yourself and others. I think Sudbury is special for putting an emphasis on students learn to trust themselves and empowering them to take part in making decisions.”
Zach TBD was born in 1983, grew up in Farmington, MO, and lived in Washington, DC, Brooklyn, and Chicago before returning to St. Louis in 2021. He is a late artistic bloomer, having spent 15 years in environmental policy (with a brief ConferenceCall.biz interruption in 2014) before returning to music and art in the early 2020s. He regularly performs with Makes a Difference, Fish Home, Jenerator Jenkins, Low Cloud, FBDxTBD, in addition to collaborative performances with Gabriel Oak Raines, the Dissonant Works improvisational community. Zach’s first wordless play was Doctor Magic (2024), followed by the recently staged Time for Rope at Greenfinch Theater in April 2026.
“I’m really interested in the subconscious and I find that making art, witnessing local performances, being vulnerable and open to newness and confusion are all ways to tap into the intuitive unknown which isn’t readily accessible. ”
You are multi-talented in a number of different art forms. Do you have one that you find yourself more drawn to? How do your passions for different disciplines inspire or inform one another?
Thank you! Right now, music is taking up most of my artistic time, and I’m grateful to play in several different projects and fill up my schedule with practices and performances. But I also love to make visual art and still think of myself as a painter first and foremost, even though I’ve only been doing it since 2021. Recently I’ve been trying to get more involved in movement art and experimental playwriting. They all feed into each other in ways that are often difficult to explain and indirect, but I know the connections are real. I know that at some level, my line drawings take on qualities of musical improvisation, and that the patterns in my choreography are influenced by geometry and film editing as much as anything else. The idea of “automatic writing” — trying to let consciousness take a back seat and let intuition and subconsciousness take over for a bit — is something that’s important to me, and it feeds into my art and music as well. Also, one really nice practical thing about being able to make art in different ways is that if I’m feeling a bit stuck in one discipline, I can just take a break and focus on something else entirely different and feel rejuvenated.
How has creativity shaped who you are?
I’m a bit of an existentialist, which to me means that I see the world as pretty absurd and I create my own meaning. A lot of Zen thinking really connects with me, too. I’m really interested in the subconscious and I find that making art, witnessing local performances, being vulnerable and open to newness and confusion are all ways to tap into the intuitive unknown which isn’t readily accessible. I also think that creativity and experimentation are powerful weapons against fascism, because art is inherently uncontrollable by authoritarians. I feel like I’m at my best as a human being when I’m making art.
Could you describe your show at the Greenfinch? In what ways was it important to you?
The Greenfinch event on April 3 was an example of the kind of show that I want to see — multi-genre, experimental, elements of preparation and improvisation, surprises, risktaking, camaraderie, warmth, mutual respect between performers and the audience. One feature of the shows I like to see is that the performances are often very hard to describe! Alex Cunningham played solo violin, and he’s a powerhouse of technical and improvising skill. I’ve seen him play many times now, and he surprises me every single time, it’s amazing. Jane Tellini is one of my new friends and a huge inspiration to me already. She choreographed a movement piece for 8 dancers plus a singer, with about a dozen sections weaving in and out of each other seamlessly. Jane’s piece was like a multi-genre show in itself, for real! And then Karin Bliznik, a Grammy-winning trumpeter, did an amazing duo with her partner Brooking Caldwell, who read poetry, and the whole performance was an unmistakable Mood, it was beautiful. It was also the first time they had ever collaborated on a performance, I learned afterward.
I also performed a new “wordless” play called Time for Rope, with four dancers, costumes, my friend Gabe handling lights and rope handling, and me on music and some movement as well. It was one of the reasons I wanted to put together a show specifically at Greenfinch, because they have a “black box theater” seating arrangement which would make it easier for the audience to see the patterns of movement. It was a loose sequel to a Samuel Beckett piece called Quad, from 1981, but very different in spirit. The original Quad is very mechanical, deterministic, and bleak (I love it). For my version I wanted to fill it with humanity and warmth.
What are your connections to South City and what do you love about it?
I moved to St. Louis on Halloween 2021, and after living in several cities across the country earlier in my life, St. Louis is definitely my favorite place I’ve lived. So much of it has to do with the incredibly vibrant music and creative DIY scene here, especially on the “experimental” side of art. I met someone who was very important to me and introduced me to pretty much everything and everyone I know now. They introduced me to an event called Experimental Open Mic which changed everything for me, a monthly space to do pretty much anything you could think for a reliably supportive and awesome crowd who were also consistently sharing their newest work. I’ve often said that I didn’t get a chance to go a formal art school, but Experimental Open Mic was my real art school. Nowadays, Dissonant Works (on S. Jefferson) is an essential hub of groundbreaking music and performance and holds a similarly important place in my heart, creatively. I go there pretty much every week and am blown away on a regular basis by what everyone is doing!
“An artist is someone who makes art. Just start making things, whatever you want, and don’t worry about becoming an expert first. The best way to become an artist is to make a ton of art. ”
What advice would you give to young people who are interested in becoming an artist someday?
Don’t wait. Become an artist today. Start now. Don’t wait for someone to tell you you’re ready — no one will ever tell you you’re ready, and you don’t magically become an artist when you receive a piece of paper that says you passed a certain number of classes at a particular institution. Art school and formal education can be great, but you don’t need either to be an artist. An artist is someone who makes art. Just start making things, whatever you want, and don’t worry about becoming an expert first. The best way to become an artist is to make a ton of art. Don’t spend 2 years making one perfect thing. Instead, spend 2 years making 400 things. Give away your art to friends. When someone gives you a compliment, just say “thank you.”
What about Saint Louis Sudbury School resonates with you personally?
My personal connections are through my pals Bobby, who facilitates at Sudbury, and Tony, who volunteers there and has a child who attends. I also make use of the building’s resources, particularly the “ballroom” where I held rehearsals for the recent Greenfinch show, and the art room where I sometimes attend life drawing sessions with a small group.
I was lucky to have had a lot of great teachers growing up in Farmington, MO. But many school systems are failing the students they serve. And even in the best of circumstances, we all have unique learning styles and some are less suitable for traditional schools than others. I think the most valuable thing you can learn in life is how to teach yourself, how to trust yourself, how to be a warm and supportive voice for yourself and others. I think Sudbury is special for putting an emphasis on students learn to trust themselves and empowering them to take part in making decisions.
Zach TBD / Upcoming shows
4/24/26 low cloud w/quinn o’donnell, cranky yellow, indigo, at goodbye house
5/2/26 showing paintings and new art at fitz’s 40th birthday party
5/2/26 low cloud w/part-timers (chi), groves, at cbgb
5/10/26 improvisation (drums) w/tba, at dissonant works
5/17/26 fish home (unplugged), w/particle dialect, gabriel oak raines, my house
5/28/26 jenerator jenkins, w/ puppet show, at (?)
5/29/26 sitting in for a song with matt daisy, w/ true green, huck, at dissonant works
6/1/26 fish home w/talulah paisley and wilson ridge, at dissonant works
6/6/26 low cloud w/team tomato, sutsey, at golden record
6/7/26 zach tbd w/renae adams, e-gos, dancers tba, dissonant works
6/14/26 fish home, w/kitship, lund surk, at the low down, chicago
7/16/26 low cloud w/tba
7/23/16 zach tbd w/candy talk (traveling talk show) and condiments, chill dawg cove
