Artistic Statement
I write existential plays about stuck people. Everything that lands on the pages of my plays is born out of my experiences in life and the questions on which I can’t stop ruminating. My work is existential, not because I have a bleak outlook on life, but because I feel like I am in battle with a bleak world. So, life is hard for my characters, but they keep trying to move forward because there is a light inside them, whether they realize it or not.
I came to have this point of view in my writing because I was, at an early age, incredibly sad all the time. I never liked feeling that way. But it wasn’t until I was voted “Class Pessimist” my senior year of high school (memorialized in the pages of our yearbook) that I came to believe that my outlook was a choice. I decided to change my perspective and identify the light in the world around me and within myself. And that is what I now reflect in my writing. My characters struggle through what for some people might be basic: finding authentic human connections and life purpose. My characters aren’t successful by any traditional measure. They tend not to even know what that means. But they try hard to be good people and to get away from whichever toxic or challenging situation they find themselves in. I write stories for these characters because I want to help them find their way out. I suppose in that way, as a playwright, I’m like a cartographer for characters, drawing maps for them to follow.
I make theatre because I want to be with people, not be in competition with them, but in collaboration. I want to hold hands with an audience and use the story being told on stage as a pathway through our own inner obstacles, and come out with a deeper understanding of ourselves.
Perhaps when the stories end there’s a flicker of hope that people will return to their lives more empathetic, or at the very least aware of their need to show and be shown empathy.
Thank you for reading this.
-BJP
I came to have this point of view in my writing because I was, at an early age, incredibly sad all the time. I never liked feeling that way. But it wasn’t until I was voted “Class Pessimist” my senior year of high school (memorialized in the pages of our yearbook) that I came to believe that my outlook was a choice. I decided to change my perspective and identify the light in the world around me and within myself. And that is what I now reflect in my writing. My characters struggle through what for some people might be basic: finding authentic human connections and life purpose. My characters aren’t successful by any traditional measure. They tend not to even know what that means. But they try hard to be good people and to get away from whichever toxic or challenging situation they find themselves in. I write stories for these characters because I want to help them find their way out. I suppose in that way, as a playwright, I’m like a cartographer for characters, drawing maps for them to follow.
I make theatre because I want to be with people, not be in competition with them, but in collaboration. I want to hold hands with an audience and use the story being told on stage as a pathway through our own inner obstacles, and come out with a deeper understanding of ourselves.
Perhaps when the stories end there’s a flicker of hope that people will return to their lives more empathetic, or at the very least aware of their need to show and be shown empathy.
Thank you for reading this.
-BJP
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Brian James Polak
Artistic Statement
I write existential plays about stuck people. Everything that lands on the pages of my plays is born out of my experiences in life and the questions on which I can’t stop ruminating. My work is existential, not because I have a bleak outlook on life, but because I feel like I am in battle with a bleak world. So, life is hard for my characters, but they keep trying to move forward because there is a light inside them, whether they realize it or not.
I came to have this point of view in my writing because I was, at an early age, incredibly sad all the time. I never liked feeling that way. But it wasn’t until I was voted “Class Pessimist” my senior year of high school (memorialized in the pages of our yearbook) that I came to believe that my outlook was a choice. I decided to change my perspective and identify the light in the world around me and within myself. And that is what I now reflect in my writing. My characters struggle through what for some people might be basic: finding authentic human connections and life purpose. My characters aren’t successful by any traditional measure. They tend not to even know what that means. But they try hard to be good people and to get away from whichever toxic or challenging situation they find themselves in. I write stories for these characters because I want to help them find their way out. I suppose in that way, as a playwright, I’m like a cartographer for characters, drawing maps for them to follow.
I make theatre because I want to be with people, not be in competition with them, but in collaboration. I want to hold hands with an audience and use the story being told on stage as a pathway through our own inner obstacles, and come out with a deeper understanding of ourselves.
Perhaps when the stories end there’s a flicker of hope that people will return to their lives more empathetic, or at the very least aware of their need to show and be shown empathy.
Thank you for reading this.
-BJP
I came to have this point of view in my writing because I was, at an early age, incredibly sad all the time. I never liked feeling that way. But it wasn’t until I was voted “Class Pessimist” my senior year of high school (memorialized in the pages of our yearbook) that I came to believe that my outlook was a choice. I decided to change my perspective and identify the light in the world around me and within myself. And that is what I now reflect in my writing. My characters struggle through what for some people might be basic: finding authentic human connections and life purpose. My characters aren’t successful by any traditional measure. They tend not to even know what that means. But they try hard to be good people and to get away from whichever toxic or challenging situation they find themselves in. I write stories for these characters because I want to help them find their way out. I suppose in that way, as a playwright, I’m like a cartographer for characters, drawing maps for them to follow.
I make theatre because I want to be with people, not be in competition with them, but in collaboration. I want to hold hands with an audience and use the story being told on stage as a pathway through our own inner obstacles, and come out with a deeper understanding of ourselves.
Perhaps when the stories end there’s a flicker of hope that people will return to their lives more empathetic, or at the very least aware of their need to show and be shown empathy.
Thank you for reading this.
-BJP