Brian James Polak

Brian James Polak

Raised in New Hampshire | Residing in Chicago

Plays include WELCOME TO KEENE, NH (co-world premiere in '20 at PURE Theater in Charleston, SC and Strawdog Theatre in Chicago) THE PATIENT (The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Award), WAR PROFITS (The Kennedy Center’s John Cauble Award), and several others you can see listed below this bio. Several short plays have been published in Smith...
Raised in New Hampshire | Residing in Chicago

Plays include WELCOME TO KEENE, NH (co-world premiere in '20 at PURE Theater in Charleston, SC and Strawdog Theatre in Chicago) THE PATIENT (The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Award), WAR PROFITS (The Kennedy Center’s John Cauble Award), and several others you can see listed below this bio. Several short plays have been published in Smith & Kraus anthologies.

Currently writing: HERE RESTS THE HEART, an investigation of Polish history and identity, and THE GRAVEDIGGERS UNION, a workplace comedy set in a cemetery.

Host of American Theatre Magazine's "The Subtext," a podcast by/for/about playwrights and playwriting.
MFA: University of Southern California, School of Dramatic Arts.

Plays

  • Welcome to Keene, New Hampshire by Brian James Polak
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    11–13
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    Genre: adaptation, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: Our Town, heroin + 7 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, political, tragedy
    Keyword: Our Town, heroin, gun control, play with music, small town, alt-right, opioid crisis, guns, make America great again
    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 |

    What it means to be a human being in this particular place and in this particular time... While being hounded by the local alt-right/anti-...
    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 |

    What it means to be a human being in this particular place and in this particular time... While being hounded by the local alt-right/anti-government activists, a Mexican-American meter-maid (ahem... Parking Attendant) narrates the daily lives of the residents of Keene, NH, a small town in the southwest corner of the state. 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.
  • The Patient (formerly Henry and the Hippocampus) by Brian James Polak
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: science, neuroscience + 8 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: science, neuroscience, ballet, memory, music, piano, marriage, Oliver Sacks, caregiving, disability
    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...
    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.
  • The Gravediggers Union by Brian James Polak
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
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    Keyword: New Hampshire, cemetery + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: New Hampshire, cemetery, workplace comedy, ensemble, def leppard, Chekhov, pour some sugar on me, three sisters
    I’ve always been obsessed with graveyards, but not in any morbid way. When I was growing up in New Hampshire, a state that offers youth very little in the way of entertainment options, I used to hang out in one. It was like our version of the mall. My small group of friends would sit around hundred-year-old graves, dream of a future where we’d leave New Hampshire, and talk about what we would eventually do for...
    I’ve always been obsessed with graveyards, but not in any morbid way. When I was growing up in New Hampshire, a state that offers youth very little in the way of entertainment options, I used to hang out in one. It was like our version of the mall. My small group of friends would sit around hundred-year-old graves, dream of a future where we’d leave New Hampshire, and talk about what we would eventually do for work. I would imagine what it’d be like to work in a cemetery. I had no idea if somebody could actually work there. I never knew anybody who did, but I thought, somebody digs the graves... somebody sets the stones... somebody organizes the funerals. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on in a place like that. We just never see any of it. Later in life I would have a succession of corporate 9-to-5 office jobs and they were all essentially the same with a boss and a bunch of schlubs passing time, getting through the workday. Now I think back on life I imagine working in a cemetery might not be altogether different than any other job in the world…

    | Full length comedy |

    A group of people work at a cemetery in the fictional Ashworth, New Hampshire... some wishing they were elsewhere, others 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 how incredible the song "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is. Johnny shows up at the cemetery surreptitiously recording a podcast called "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 play to raise money to buy the cemetery themselves. The only problem is nobody goes to plays anymore...
  • Dance and Crawl and Sing and Fall (formerly Tales from Tent City) by Brian James Polak
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: runaway, homelessness + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: runaway, homelessness, music, teenagers, good for colleges, drug addiction, religion
    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...
    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 parents arrives, hoping to bring them back home. Inspired by the photo exhibit "Raised by Wolves" by photographer Jim Goldberg, DANCE AND CRAWL AND SING AND FALL 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 | Music Composed by Joey Del Ponte (see link to demos below)
  • Last to Die for a Lost Cause (Part 4 of 4 of "The Way We Are and the Profits of War" series) by Brian James Polak
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama
    ·
    Keyword: Iraq, war + 6 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama
    Keyword: Iraq, war, AWOL, American history, Middle East, Army, military, desertion
    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...
    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.
  • News for the Deaf Man by Brian James Polak
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: family, Art and Artists + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: family, Art and Artists, fathers and sons, Polish Russian relations, Putin, Ukraine
    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.

    | 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...
    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.

    | 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.
  • Underground by Brian James Polak
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–99
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: domestic terrorism, Unabomber + 7 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: domestic terrorism, Unabomber, music, guitar, Boston, subway, busking, MBTA, street musicians
    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.

    | Full-length play |...
    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.

    | Full-length play |

    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...
  • An Epidemic of Temporary Lunacy (or The Mexico Plan) by Brian James Polak
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, mystery/thriller + 1 more
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    Keyword: family, time travel + 4 more
    Genre: drama, mystery/thriller, science fiction
    Keyword: family, time travel, teen angst, coming of age, abuse, Hamlet
    As I was setting out to write a new play I was balancing two separate 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...
    As I was setting out to write a new play I was balancing two separate 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.
  • The Call List by Brian James Polak
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Economical Production, suicide + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: Economical Production, suicide, suicidal thoughts, existential
    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 is the result (and is still a work in progress).

    | One act solo play |

    A depressed legal assistant is...
    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 is the result (and is still a work in progress).

    | One act solo play |

    A depressed legal assistant is tasked with calling individuals on a list left behind by a man who committed suicide. The work assignment could not come 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.
  • The Smoking Room by Brian James Polak
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: Detroit, smoking + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: Detroit, smoking, cigarettes, family, death in the family, business travel, Airport
    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...
    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.
  • Protect and Serve by Brian James Polak
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: Tamir Rice, police + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: Tamir Rice, police, guns, Police Shooting
    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...
    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. Link to trailer here: https://vimeo.com/261935515 |
  • Curiosity by Brian James Polak
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: abuse of women, homelessness + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: abuse of women, homelessness, Los Angeles, skid row
    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...
    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.
  • What we need at the end of the day… by Brian James Polak
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: death, brother and sister + 4 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: death, brother and sister, family, reconciliation, siblings, death and grief
    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.
  • Here Rests the Heart by Brian James Polak
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: Poland, Chopin + 7 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: Poland, Chopin, piano, Politics, Auschwitz, History, protest, genealogy, Warsaw
    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...
    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 struggling for its essential survival.

    | Full length play |

    Protests are everywhere, but they don’t seem to change a thing. The president of the United States is justifying caging children at the border. The president of Poland incites anti-LGTBQ violence and tries to restrict freedom of speech regarding the Holocaust. This is the world of 2019.

    “Here Rests the Heart" tells the story of two people, one an American pianist living in Chicago, the other a Polish woman fighting for LGTBQ rights in Warsaw. The pianist, Freddie, is haunted by many ghosts including his recently deceased father as well as the great composer and pianist Frederick Chopin. Tekle finds herself constantly embroiled in confrontation, which often end in her limping home to be nursed by her father.

    Freddie’s strained relationships with his best friend Cade, a slactivist who cares so deeply about every single thing it’s as if nothing really matters, and his mother, who seems to resent his existence, cause him to travel to Poland to meet his cousin Tekle and finish the genealogy research his father was never able to finish. The uncovering of family secrets during the Holocaust, has him rethinking his life, relationships, and purpose in the world.

    A play as much about the present as it is the past, "Here Rests the Heart" challenges us to account for what matters most to us in the world, and calls us to take action in lifting these things up.