THE MEETING Opens Tomorrow At Thymele Arts

Theatre Unleashed returns to the Hollywood Fringe Festival this June with The Meeting, a powerful new play by acclaimed playwright Brian James Polak that imagines a not-so-distant dystopia in which all forms of artistic expression are banned. Running from June 14 to June 28 at Thymele Arts in East Hollywood, the production invites audiences to reflect on the role of art in society—and what’s at stake when it’s taken away.

Set in a fascist future where even uttering art-related words is forbidden, The Meeting follows five former performing artists as they secretly gather to question what it means to live in a world where their life's purpose has been outlawed. The show blurs the line between performer and spectator, as both actors and audience members sit in a circle together, gradually realizing that even the harshest regimes can’t suppress the human drive to create, express, and connect.

Directed by actor and director Richard Piatt, The Meeting features a diverse cast of Fringe veterans including Veronica Matthews, Julia Plostnieks, Kristen Bennett, Marcela Barrientos, and Mitch Lerner. Piatt, who recently directed the successful Three Can Keep a Secret in both Los Angeles and New York, describes the piece as a timely and unsettling reflection of the world we live in. “For those of us who are makers of art, it doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch at this moment in history,” he said.

The production is led by Theatre Unleashed co-founders Greg and Jenn Crafts, who both see The Meeting as not just a piece of theater, but a call to action. Greg Crafts, who is also producing the show, said he created the piece out of a deep emotional response to the current sociopolitical climate. “Since last November, I’ve woken up most days with a sense of loss and foreboding,” he said. “So I’m doing what I know how to do—make art that gives people hope, that makes them think, that makes them feel.”

Jenn Crafts echoed the urgency of the piece, noting that when she first encountered the concept, she almost couldn’t bring herself to read it. “It’s just too real right now,” she said. “But that’s what makes it special. The play is so beautifully written, and it truly feels like you’re sitting in a room with other concerned citizens. It’s exactly the kind of experience people need right now.”

In conjunction with the production, Theatre Unleashed is offering a free workshop on Augusto Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed, led by Richard Piatt. The session will take place on Saturday, June 21 at 10 a.m. in Joyce Hall at Thymele Arts, and will provide audiences with tools to engage with theatre as a form of resistance, healing, and community empowerment.

The Meeting continues Polak’s body of socially conscious work, which includes The Call List, This is the Subtext, and Take Me. His newest piece arrives at Fringe not as a hypothetical warning, but as an urgent reflection of present-day anxieties.

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