DRAW THE CIRCLE Joins an Unforgettable Repertory at Mosaic Theater Company

The fourth production of Mosaic Theater Company's third season will be Draw the Circle, a solo show written by and starring Mashuq Mushtaq Deen and directed by acclaimed writer-director-producer, Chay Yew (most recently, director of Oedipus El Rey at The Public Theater).

This moving piece of transformational theatre depicts Deen's gender transition journey, told entirely from the point of view of his Muslim-American immigrant family, cohort of friends, devoted life partner, and other assorted characters.

"Draw the Circle is the perfect example of the kind of programming we are striving to produce at Mosaic," says founding Artistic Director Ari Roth. "In addition to being an incredibly intimate and honest depiction of the process of gender transition by a transgender writer-performer-community activist, it also explores family dynamics, culture clashes, surviving hardship and triumphing over adversity-with humor, love, and compassion for all involved. Deen is an incredibly precise and probing writer, and a very sensitive community facilitator, so we're also thrilled he'll be very involved in community dialogues with us following performances."

Draw the Circle had its world premiere at PlayMakers Rep in Chapel Hill, where it was called "truly a tour de force...universal in its observation of love within the family structure" by Triangle Arts & Entertainment. After playing at Mosaic Theater, Deen will be taking this production, directed by the heralded Chay Yew (artistic director at Victory Gardens Theatre) to Rattlestick Theatre in New York City, and then to InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia.

"I knew what my journey was like because I had lived it. As a writer, I was interested in the journey of those around me -- how they struggled with this thing that they had not asked for -- the distances they were willing to traverse for love, however fraught, however difficult," said Deen. "That, to me, is the heroic journey of the heart."

Additional Information about Draw the Circle:

Opening Night: Sunday, December 3 at 7:30 PM

Special Performances and Post Show Discussions: PWYC preview on December 1 at 8 PM; Weekday Matinee at 11 AM on December 14; Open Captions provided at 3:00 PM on December 9 and at 7:30 PM on December 10. A full list of discussion dates and discussant bios will be available on mosaictheater.org/discussions.

For more about the show, go to www.mosaictheater.org/draw-the-circle.

About Mashuq Mushtaq Deen

Mashuq Mushtaq Deen (Performer & Playwright) is an award-winning queer theater artist and a resident playwright at New Dramatists (class of 2022). Full-length plays: The Shaking Earth, Draw the Circle, Tank & Horse, and Shut Up! Deen's plays have been produced and/or developed by New Dramatists, The Public Theater, NYTW, InterAct Theatre, Page73, Ma-Yi, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, Georgetown University, BEAT Festival, PACE University, Hampshire College, Averett University, Dixon Place, Passage Theatre, Queens Theatre in the Park, Tofte Lake Center, Berkshire Fringe. Awards and Grants: Helene Wurlitzer's Chesley/Bumbalo Foundation Award, MacDowell Colony's Arch and Bruce Brown Fellow (2015-16), New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow. Fellowships: MacDowell Colony Fellow (2015), Bogliasco Foundation Fellow (2016), Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Fellow (2016), New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellow; Writing Groups: Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group (2009), Page73 Interstate writing group (2014); Other: Jerome New York Fellowship finalist, O'Neill Conference semifinalist, Weissberger Award nomination, Playwrights Center Core Writers Finalist, James Baldwin Award, Dennis Johnston Playwriting Prize honorable mention, Literary Committee of Queens Theatre (2014-15). Teaching Artist: Lower Manhattan Cultural Council SPARC Fellow, Community Voices Workshop with Second Generation Theatre, Mind the Gap (NYTW), and various colleges/universities while touring with Draw the Circle. Member: NYTW Usual Suspect, Ma-Yi Writers Lab, Public Theater Alumni Writers Group, Dramatists Guild. He earned his MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School/New School for Drama. He is represented by the Gurman Agency LLC. In his spare time, Deen is also an activist and a man of many hobbies, including bread baker, monster-maker, and student of the classical guitar. (mashuqdeen.wix.com/playwright)

About Chay Yew

Chay Yew's New York production credits include The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Playwrights Realm, New York Theatre Workshop, National Asian American Theatre Company, and Ma-Yi Theatre Company. Regionally, he has directed at Victory Gardens, Goodman Theater, Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Kennedy Center; Mark Taper Forum, American Conservatory Theater, Huntington Theatre Company, Long Wharf Theatre, Denver Center Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Empty Space Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Cornerstone Theatre Company, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Boston Court, East West Players amongst others. His opera credits include world premieres of Osvaldo Golijov and David Henry Hwang's Ainadamar (co-production with the Tanglewood Music Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic); and Rob Zuidam's Rage of d'Amours (Tanglewood Music Center). A recipient of the Obie Award and DramaLogue Award for Direction, he is also the Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago.

About Mosaic Theater Company of DC

Independent, intercultural, entertaining, and uncensored, Mosaic Theater Company of DC is committed to making transformational, socially-relevant art, producing plays by authors on the front lines of conflict zones, and building a fusion community to address some of the most pressing issues of our times. Dedicated to making our theater a model of diversity and inclusion at every strata, on stage and off, Mosaic invests in the new as we keep abreast of our changing and challenging times to ensure that our theater is a responsive gathering space, all the while nurturing and producing art of the highest order. Visit us at mosaictheater.org.

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