Pioneers of the Pod: USC alumni lead the way in podcasting

A while back USC School of Dramatic Arts interviewed me and a few other (much better known) podcast makers who attended the school. In the interview they gave me the opportunity to talk about the origins of The Subtext Podcast and some folks who were crucial in my ability to keep it going over the years.

It's pretty wild to be in this article alongside SDA Alumni Adam Ray, Paris Hilton (she went to USC?!), Rebecca Mellinger, and Brad Bradley.

Read the article here: https://dramaticarts.usc.edu/pioneers-of-the-pod/

(l to r): SDA Alumni Adam Ray, Brian James Polak, Paris Hilton and Rebecca Mellinger, and Brad Bradley. Photos courtesy of CBS, Heather VanderWielen, Rebecca Mellinger, and Broadway’s Backbone.

The Meeting is Meeting the Moment

What started as the germ of an idea in December of 2016 has grown into two versions of a play being performed all over the country in 2026.

The Meeting was first inspired by my experiences at a theatre conference in Wroclaw, Poland followed by more than two weeks attending the Boska Comedia Theatre Festival in Krakow. Over the course of three weeks I began to imagine a piece of theatre that was immersive, removed any perceivable theatricality, and erased the 4th wall. At the time I thought the play would be a thought exercise demonstrating what theatre makers in the United States might do if government began exerting control over free speech and artistic expression, like it has in other countries like Belarus, Russia, and North Korea. I wondered what we might do in that circumstance. This was in the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. Cut to 2025 following the inauguration, when this circumstance began to feel more and more real every day.

Here is a description of the play:

When fascism arrives, how do the theatre-makers respond?

Five former theatre makers convene a meeting in a near-future, fascist America, 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.

I began sharing this play because I thought, even though it was not my original intention, it was meeting the moment we were living through. And the play began to connect with folks. In 2025 LA-based Theatre Unleashed presented the first draft of The Meeting in the Hollywood Fringe Festival. And from there more and more people and organizations began showing interest. It’s now becoming a little challenging to keep track so I created this page as a running list of times and places when The Meeting will be presented. This list will be updated if/when more performances are added. If you are interested in reading the full length (about 85 minutes) or fringe edit (about 55 minutes) of The Meeting, please reach out. I am happy to share it with anybody.

In January of 2026 Melancholics Anonymous, a Twin Cities-based theatre company, workshopped The Meeting and will be presenting the full length version in a public reading at The Black Forest Inn (1 E 26th St. in Minneapolis) on April 4 at 7pm. The reading is free to the public. Doors open at 6:30pm.

From April 1-6 LA-based Theatre Unleashed will be presenting the “fringe” edit of The Meeting as part of the Frigid NYC Fringe Festival. Performances at April 1, 2, 3, and 6 at 7:55pm and April 4 at 10:35pm. All performances will take place at The Chain Theatre studio space 312 W 36th St. in Manhattan. Tickets can be purchased in advanced at this link.

Shake Rag Alley Arts Center in Mineral Point, Wisconsin will present a reading of the full length version of The Meeting on April 26th at 4pm. Tickets are only $5 and can be purchased at this link.

In August of 2026 the official World Premiere of The Meeting will be presented by Space Pirates Theatre Collective in Los Angeles. The play is scheduled to run from August 28 through September 25. Location and ticketing to be announced later.

Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, WI to Present THE MEETING

April 26 at 4pm

Description

Join us for a special Alley Stage Reading Series event, featuring a new play by Brian James Polak. In The Meeting, five former theater makers convene a meeting in a near-future, fascist America, 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. 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.

Featuring local actors and community members, including Nathan Gieseke, Ashley Calderon-McHugh, Kayla Beck, Christina Harrington, Heather Harris, and Judy DeVido, The Meeting will engage us all in important conversations about the role of art and what matters.

Additional support for the playwright and actors for this special event is generously provided by Marcia Jablonski.

• Tickets: $5  (available online and at the door)

On Our Stage Ep. 2 - The Meeting with Brian James Polak and Richard Piatt

On Our Stage is a podcast about theatre and those who make it, by those who facilitate it. Hosted by Greg Crafts, of the StageCrafts.

On this episode I spoke with Greg and Richard Piatt, the director of The Meeting, which will be presented in FRIGID’s NYC Fringe Festival April 1-April 6 at The Chain Studio in Midtown Manhattan.

We discuss the origins of The Meeting and how the play meets the current moment in our culture.

Click here to watch our conversation on YouTube. And click here for tickets to The Meeting.

THE MEETING Coming to NYC Fringe April 2026

Theatre Unleashed, the Los Angeles-based theatre company that presented THE MEETING in the 2025 Hollywood Fringe Festival will be taking the show on the road to FRIGID’s NYC Fringe Festival in April 2026.

THE MEETING will be presented April 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. Performances begin at 7:55pm with the exception of the April 4th performance, which will start at 10:35pm. All performances will take place at The Chain Studio Theatre 312 W 36th St. 4th floor, New York, NY 10018. Each performance of THE MEETING is approximately 60 minutes.

Click here for a rundown of all performances in the 2026 NYC Fringe Festival.

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

Podcast Interview: Mouthing Off from Bad Mouth Theatre

I was recently interviewed for Mouthing Off, a Twin Cities-based podcast. We talk about the origins of The Subtext Podcast and how I came to write my play The Meeting. We discuss the origins of that play, Theatre Unleashed presenting it at the Hollywood Fringe, Melancholics Anonymous workshopping it, and how the context of what's going on in the Twin Cities directly intersected with the content in The Meeting.

Role Reversal to Celebrate 10 Years of The Subtext Podcast

An episode 10 years in the making.

Several people have suggested I turn the tables on an episode of The Subtext Podcast and have somebody interview me. I always felt like that was a little too self-indulgent because this podcast was built to be a platform that shares other playwrights with the world. I am on every episode already and I talk about myself practically nonstop so what would be the point?

When The Subtext hit its 10 year anniversary in June I thought I would create some sort of retrospective or special episode but life got too busy and I just couldn't pull it off so I let the moment pass with little fanfare. That is until Crystal Skillman reached out.

We talked it through and made a plan: The entire episode would be Crystal's and I would step back and simply be the guest. She interviewed me when I was in New York over the summer. She wrote and recorded the opening monologue and the credits herself. The entire edit of the episode was up to her and I am so thankful to her for her ideas, her thoughtfulness, and her friendship.

Most podcasts don't last this long and I am really proud of myself for working through all the challenges over the years, keeping it going, and making something worthwhile to many people. This podcast has given me the opportunity to meet some of the most incredible writers in existence. I've met heroes and strangers who became heroes and made many friends along the way. I appreciate all 130+ playwrights I've interviewed over the years and look forward to those to come - this isn't the end by any stretch. I already have the next four months of episodes recorded and ready to go.

Thank you to everybody who listens and supports this project of mine. I appreciate all of you.

(a special thank you to Rob Weinert-Kendt for saying yes when I pitched this to him years ago. Being part of the American Theatre magazine family gave this little pod a new life and is the only reason I'm able to keep this going).

Interview: The Lucille Lortel's Conversations from the Alcove

I have known Caridad Svich for several years now and she has invited me to be part of several initiatives she spearheaded. Thanks to her I was able to contribute a play to the After Orlando project, an international playwright-driven theatre action including over-seventy playwrights writing n response to the aftermath of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub mass shooting. These plays were performed all over the world. Caridad published an anthology of essays I contributed to called "Stages of Resistance: Theatre and Politics in the Capitalocene." And this year Caridad, in her role as Artistic Director for New Work at Lucille Lortel Theatre, offered me a commission to finish writing my play "Here Rests the Heart." All of this is to say Caridad has been incredibly generous to me over the years and I am forever grateful.

Earlier this year she interviewed me for the Lortel's ongoing playwright series "Conversations from the Alcove" which was just released today.

Third Avenue PlayWorks to Premiere The Call List September 2026

Third Avenue PlayWorks in Sturgeon Bay, WI will present the World Premiere of The Call List as part of their 2026 season. The Call List will also be TAP’s contribution to World Premiere Wisconsin, a year-long festival celebrating new plays throughout the state of WI.

About The Call List, a deadly serious comedy about being alive

Meet Sam—a restless dreamer, anxious doodler, and professional wanderer in search of purpose. When her law firm boss hands her a simple list of names and one chilling task—call them all and announce a client’s death—her mundane workday takes a bizarre turn. Curiosity pulls Sam into a mystery that’s equal parts darkly funny and unexpectedly heartfelt. Armed with only her notebook and razor-sharp wit, she chases clues that lead to something far deeper – and more personal – than she expected.

New Play Commission from Off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Theatre

I have been honored with a play commission from the Lucille Lortel Theatre’s Alcove New Play Development Program. Over the course of the next year I will be reworking, revising, blowing up and starting again my play Here Rests the Heart.

The Alcove is run by the Lucille Lortel’s Artistic Director for New Play Development, Caridad Svich. In its 4th year of commissioning new plays, this program has supported dozens of playwrights. Click here to read about the group of writers selected alongside me.

Here Rests the Heart 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 Polish history and on one trip in particular I was able to connect with my Polish cousin, Magda, 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.

If this play interests you and you want to support it and/or my work in general, feel free to contact me.