Brian James Polak

| work in progress |

In "This is the Subtext" a fledgling playwright finds themself in the liminal space between success and failure as they start a podcast interviewing masters of the craft. What they learn, however, is success is both amorphous and elusive. Theatre doors swing open wide for the podcast but remain closed for their playwriting. The playwright/podcaster finds themself at a precipice, pondering the end to interviewing, when the wise words from a playwriting hero and an email from a stranger changes everything.

"This is the Subtext" is a patchwork of monologues, interviews, and scenes that drive the audience to question the meaning of success and the value of a life lived in pursuit of a goal they might never reach. For playwright and podcast host, Brian James Polak, the launch of The Subtext coincided with the completion of his MFA and launch of his playwriting career. In the decade since he has written dozens of plays and amassed over a hundred hours of interviews with some of the most recognized playwrights in the United States. Leaning into his memories and experiences both as a host and producer of The Subtext and as a struggling playwright, he illustrates the challenges of yearning to be two things at once and attempting to find success in both without making sacrifices to either.

In 2016 I found myself in a room full of playwrights from several Central and Eastern European countries. We had all been invited to a small conference to discuss our work. In a breakout session with five other writers from Poland, Ukraine, and Hungary we were discussing the turmoil in Belarus and Belarus Free Theatre and I started to imagine what our lives as playwrights might be like if the rightwing leaders of our countries pushed us into fascism and banned the performing arts. The seeds for this play were planted that day.

| Full-length play |

In this immersive play, Five former theatre makers convene a meeting in a near-future, when all forms of art (and even the utterance of any art-related words) have been banned. These artists discuss what a person is to do in a world when one's purpose in life has been eradicated. During the discussion both the artists and attendees of The Meeting begin to learn even the most fascist society can never stop people from being who they truly are.

When I listened to the podcast "S Town," I was obsessed with a part of it where the town clerk was tasked with calling a list of people to tell them somebody they knew died. I wanted to explore that experience. I also wanted to write something that could be funny. This work in progress is the result.

| solo play |

A dispirited legal assistant is tasked with calling individuals on a list left behind by a man who committed suicide. The work assignment could not come at a worse time, as they are dealing with their own life/work existential crisis while their mother and sister badger them via text message. Wanting to connect with their estranged father, it's a few kind words from a stranger that might give them what they ultimately need.

This play is the contents of my brain inclusive of the dumb jokes, Pour Some Sugar on Me obsession, non sequiturs, emotional roller coasters, yearnings, and surprises that swim tirelessly through my thoughts.

| Full length comedy |

In this play about found family and yearning to go some place you can never find, a group of people work at a cemetery in the fictional Ashworth, New Hampshire; some wish they were elsewhere and others are perfectly happy to be miserable where they are. Ronnie used to be married to Bobby, who is unhappily married to Ricky. Mike plays drums in a wedding band on the weekend and can't stop talking about the song "Pour Some Sugar on Me." Johnny shows up at the cemetery surreptitiously recording a podcast called "Welcome to AshTown." They all work together digging holes and passing the time. When the WalMart of cemeteries opens across the street everybody begins to worry about losing their jobs so they plan to put on a production of Three Sisters to raise money to buy the cemetery themselves. The only problem is nobody goes to plays anymore...

I wrote this play because, despite the fact I haven't lived there for many years, I have watched my hometown change as politics have become more polarized and the opioid epidemic has created a stranglehold on it.

| Full length play |

In this modern-day response to Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, a Mexican-American parking officer narrates the daily lives of the residents of Keene, NH, while being hounded by local alt-right/anti-government activists. She introduces us to the Korean owner of the only Chinese restaurant in town, the local attorney and tennis coach with a dark past, and the musician who needs to be seen for who they truly are and not the daughter their mother insists they will always be. "Welcome to Keene, NH" is a three-act play telling the fictional story of the encroachment of guns, heroin, and the alt-right on a real American small town.

Monologues from Welcome to Keene, NH have been published by Smith & Kraus in the forthcoming "WE/US; Monologues for Gender Minority Characters" as well as "Best Monologues for Women 2019." Another monologue was filmed and named Editor's Choice in Button Poetry's 2021 video contest.

This play began as an exploration of my relationship with my father, who passed away many years ago. He was a person I never knew so I created a fictional father/son reconciliation for me to live vicariously through.

| Full-length play |

Having reached rock bottom, Harry reconnects with his estranged artist father. When the old man's health appears in decline, Harry is caught between cashing in his famous father's art in order to save himself, and reconciling their long-ago destroyed relationship.

This was originally inspired by the lives of Henry Molaison and Clive Wearing, as well as the work of Oliver Sacks, but I wrote this play because I am pathologically afraid of losing my memory. 

| Full-length play |

Henry suffers a head trauma causing him to lose the ability to create new memories. Maria, his wife, and Patrick, his doctor, become entwined as they both struggle to balance their own lives with the life of a man stuck in one perpetual moment. At a time when Patrick becomes frustrated by the lack of progress in his work, Maria convinces him to allow Henry to play piano. When music reenters their lives everything seems to change for the better, until they learn what is lost may never return.

This play was inspired by several things: dating back to 2012, I took several trips to Poland, exploring both the theater and the country itself. I became enamored with Warsaw, Wroclaw, and Krakow and heartbroken by Auschwitz and the complicated relationships the Polish people have with their history. Prompted by these trips I began to explore my own cultural history and on one trip in particular I was able to connect with a distant Polish cousin who shared with me some genealogy research she had done. This play, set in the context of the current political climates of Poland and the U.S.A., is my attempt to reconcile my present with my past while trying to find the place art occupies in times when society seems to be struggling for its essential survival.

| Full length play |

A play about the value of family and friendships and finding your voice in a time of turmoil.

The surprising death of his estranged father, and Freddie’s many strained relationships, prompt him to travel to Poland to meet his long lost cousin Tekle and finish the genealogy research his father was never able to complete.

The uncovering of family secrets during the Holocaust, has him rethinking his life, relationships, and purpose in the world.

"Here Rests the Heart" challenges us to find our voices and account for what matters most in the world, and calls us to take action with what precious little time we get to live.

In the aftermath of a traumatic event, a person decides to take dramatic action and dives into the dark web seeking a stranger willing to kidnap them. It seems like a perfect plan until the stranger arrives. Over the course of their time together the stranger appears more and more mysterious. The stranger knows their thoughts and experiences. They know when they're lying. They know their secrets and their jokes. How does the stranger know any of this? Is this really happening or is their brain crafting a narrative in order to protect them from spiraling into madness? "Take me." explores surviving trauma and the human capacity for survival.

| work in progress |

The Loughty family has been politically liberal for generations, always supporting progressive causes and candidates. However, when their only child, Liam, finishes college his politics start to lean toward the conservative as he is often heard questioning the impact of unfettered immigration. Family divisions are exacerbated by the death of Liam’s father, he becomes activated by MAGA culture and storms the Capitol on Jan 6. At this point, Liam and his mother are no longer speaking and he disappears from her life. It's now 2025 and Shannon, Liam’s mother, offers the family lake house to a refugee from Afghanistan who is seeking to escape the brutality of the Taliban and start a new life. When Shannon brings the refugee to the house, she finds Liam secretly living there. This sets off a confrontation that has been years in the making between not only parent and child, but political foes. With the refugee leveraged as a proxy in this family fight, Liam and Shannon unleash the pain and reveal the secrets they’ve been holding for years.

When I heard the stories coming out of Abu Ghraib during the war in Iraq, I wondered what it would take for soldiers who righteously signed up to fight in a war they believed in to say enough is enough and simply leave. I started to imagine what my breaking point might be. As I was writing this piece, the story of Bowe Bergdahl came out and put a face on the narrative. This play is not about him at all, but what written in the time his actions were taken.

This play is part of a four-part series following a young teenager from the precipice of high school graduation, to joining the military, fighting in Iraq, and eventually going AWOL after experiencing atrocities he could not condone.

| Full-length play |

After witnessing an event they cannot shake, two soldiers go AWOL during the height of the War in Iraq. With help from a soldier still fighting and a local Iraqi mother, they attempt to escape the country and start a new life elsewhere, but the complications of war push them into a corner, forcing them to make the most difficult decision.

This play evolved out of a simple curiosity I had: What the hell did Ted Kaczynski write in that manifesto he famously wrote years ago? I read the document and started to think about how a person could pick and choose elements of any philosophy or worldview and make their own sense out of it. A story about how a domestic terrorist might come to be evolved out of this.

| Script available upon request |

The sad truth of domestic terrorism is the perpetrators tend to be white men, disillusioned by the changing world around them. In "Underground" a young subway musician gives up his search for love and grapples with his disillusionment by exploring the philosophies of the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. On his final day playing guitar in a Boston T station, commuters patiently wait for him to kill the noise of the train with a tune that might never come unless his one true love appears...

As I was setting out to write a new play I was juggling two ideas, unsure which one to explore. The first was about the cycles of abuse... how people who grow up to become abusers were often abused themselves. The second idea was the idea of "time travel parties" where gatherings were held at places like MIT and CalTech, where scientists test the possibility of time travel. I ended up bringing these two ideas together and this play was the outcome.

| Full-length play about time travel and breaking the cycles of abuse |

If you could go back and change your life, would you? - - -

A fledgling scientific genius and his little sister grow tired of being teased and neglected by their overprotective mother and deadbeat uncle. When the boy witnesses what he thinks is his uncle’s nefarious deed, he decides to devote himself to creating a miraculous invention that will save he and his sister from their miserable life.

Published by Next Stage Press.

I remember that feeling of family I had amongst my closest friends in high school. They felt closer to me than my biological family. When I thought about the powerful photo exhibit "Raised by Wolves" by Jim Goldberg, I connected deeply with the runaway teenagers he depicted and this play was the result.

| Full-length play with songs |

The sanctuary 5 runaways build in a secluded alley of the city is disrupted when one of their family members arrive, hoping to bring them back home. Inspired by the photo exhibit "Raised by Wolves" by photographer Jim Goldberg, THEY DANCE presents a group of teenagers who decide to take on the challenges of the streets when life in the suburbs becomes too much to face.

Lyrics by Brian James Polak

| Ten minute play |

Due to her schizophrenic episodes, and a family ill-equipped to give them the care they need, Cary was institutionalized. Bree has come to visit for the first time and is hopeful Cary will be well enough to leave the hospital, and will accept hospitalization was the only solution for the family. Cary, however, has a lot more on their mind and Bree’s arrival only reinforces fears that everyone is against them. As they speak together it becomes clear neither will get what they want and their relationship as siblings may never return to what it used to be.

Published by Smith & Kraus's in the anthology The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2023

My older sister and I never had a final moment when our father died many years ago. I never had a chance to reconcile with him, and because my sister and I lived so far apart, we never had an opportunity to support each other in the moment of loss.

| 10 minute play |

Siblings visit their dying, estranged father with resentment and forgiveness on their minds.

A couple years ago I was commissioned to write a short play. The news of Tamir Rice's shooting was all I could think about. He did not immediately die when the police shot him. He was on the ground, bleeding to death, and nobody attended to him. They just waited for paramedics to arrive. I could not shake this fact. I never will. I wrote this piece to honor Tamir Rice and his mother.

| 10 minute play |

Inspired by the shooting death of Tamir Rice by a police officer in Cleveland, "Protect & Serve" explores the aftermath of a similar tragedy. Following the funeral for her son, a mother confronts a police officer and a friend of the family. She desperately pleas for him to explain why this happened and who was looking out for her son as he laid bleeding on the ground. She is ultimately left wondering what parents are supposed to tell children when the people who are meant to protect them could be a source of danger.

| Adapted into short film, directed by Kate Jopson. It can be viewed at this link: https://vimeo.com/262125566 |

I once had a job as a consultant and one of my clients was based in Detroit. I must have passed through that airport 20 times. Back in those days they still had a smoking room. This spot fascinated me with the lonely smoking travelers looking like animatronic sculptures. This solo play is a journey into this space.

| 10 minute monologue |

En route to his mother's funeral, a man finds himself stuck in smoking room of the Detroit airport. A conversation with a stranger has unexpected results as he fears the confrontation he'll have with his father as soon as his plane touches down in Buffalo.

Audio version available at this link: https://soundcloud.com/brian-james-polak/the-smoking-room

I lived in Los Angeles for about ten years and passed through Skid Row many times. This area of the city is a visceral reminder of society's failure to support the neediest among us. In this play I wanted to spend a few minutes exploring the juxtaposition of the privileged and disadvantaged.

| 10 minute play |

A women living in the suburbs steals her abusive husband's fancy car, drives to LA's Skid Row, and accidentally strikes a homeless man.

| One act play |

Three Polish siblings manage the canteen at Auschwitz where guards come to relax when not at work in the camp. The environment is tense and fraught and made even more so when an escaped prisoner seeks the help of these three workers.

| Solo play |

An Indian tour guide rehearses his upcoming job interview in the aftermath of the time spent with an American business traveler that prompted him to seek a new line of work.

A man recounts the moment when as a child he took that first step from lightness to darkness.

An audio version of this piece can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/brian-james-polak/fledglings-a-monologue