Every month on The Subtext, Brian speaks with a playwright about life, writing, and no matter itches we’re scratching.

On this month’s episode, Brian speaks with playwright and essayist Mashuq Mushtaq Deen. They talk about his strategy to staying forward of the viewers, the selection to take away the character of Deen from his autobiographical play (Draw the Circle), and his expertise revisiting prose writing. Deen earned an MFA in theatre with a playwriting focus from the now-separate Actors Studio Drama College/New College for Drama.

Mashuq Mushtaq Deen is a CORE author on the Playwrights’ Heart, and winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Draw the Circle, which was produced at PlayMakers Rep, Mosaic Theatre, and Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre (revealed by Dramatists Play Service). His different full-length performs embody: The Vessel, which was commissioned by the NYU graduate performing program); Flood, which had its world premiere at Kansas Metropolis Rep in 2023, and its Chicago premiere at Shattered Globe in 2024; The Betterment Society, which is revealed in The Methuen Drama E-book of Trans Performs; The Shaking Earth, which has gained two 2nd place worldwide playwriting awards (Worldwide Woodward Prize, and the India’s Worldwide Sulthan Padamsee Prize), and has been nominated for each a Weissberger Award and a Venturous Fund award; and The Telegram, a live-staged radio play which was commissioned and produced by Eager Firm.