Review: Immersive "The Meeting" Sets an Urgent Agenda
The Meeting Written by Brian James Polak Directed by Richard Piatt Presented by Theatre Unleashed at Chain Theatre 312 West 36 Street, Floor 4, Manhattan, NYC April 1-6, 2026 Mitch Lerner as Joe. Photo by Matt Kamimura, courtesy of Theatre Unleashed. Since last January, the United States has seen certain words, particularly related to climate science or diversity, effectively banned by the federal government in, for instance, higher education programs, museum displays, and grant applications, including in the arts; the ego-driven renaming and planned shuttering of one of the nation's premiere arts centers; and, this week, governmental threats to jail journalists for doing journalism. So the fascist dystopia in which Brian James Polak's The Meeting immerses audiences, where all forms of art are prohibited and saying a banned word can trigger omnipresent sensors, feels entirely too recognizable. As discomfiting as it is reaffirming, The Meeting is part of the 2026 New York Cit...
