Draw the Circle

Photo credit to Mark Garvin.

As a queer, trans non-binary person, I’m always on the lookout for representation.  And while there’s a lot more of it now than throughout most of my twenty years being an out queer person, there’s still not a ton of it.  Especially when it comes to the trans part.  There’s a lot more awareness now, and it continues to rise, but we still don’t have a very loud voice.  Draw the Circle presented some of the best trans awareness I’ve seen in a very long time.  From all aspects of this show, from the writer, to the performer, to the crew, this play brought so much up for me.  It was stunning.

Draw the Circle is a one man show that is a true story.  It is about a man’s lifelong transition from woman to man.  And it blew my mind.  Joseph Ahmed brought so much to the stage, as they embodied a whole cast of characters.  There was a small screen above the stage that said who they were currently speaking as (Mother, Father, their partner Molly, and a whole host of others), as well as a lighting change for each character.  It was incredibly beautiful, and Ahmed moved from character to character seamlessly.

I know I speak for a lot of people on the alternative gender spectrum when I say it’s not an easy life.  We hurt a lot.  Sometimes there are words for how we identify, and sometimes there aren’t.  We hold a lot in, because it’s really hard to let it out.  Seeing Deen’s story, I felt so much of my own.  Draw the Circle captured so much of this.  Deen talks about being a self harmer, and being suicidal.  I’ve been there, too.  He talks about what it’s like to have body dysphoria, and the struggles of having a partner going through this with him, too.  But Deen turned the hurt into something really beautiful.

Something I absolutely loved about this piece is how it was presented.  Like I said, we see various characters speaking about Deen.  We see all of the important people in his life and what they have to say about him.  And the whole show, I was thinking, “When do we get to hear from Deen himself?”  I watched as we circled through various characters again and against.  Mother.  Father.  Molly (his partner).  Rubia (his niece).  Various people from across his life.  And finally, as the show is closing, we get to hear from Deen.

The LGBTQ+ community has a lot to say.  Unfortunately, we’re not always listened to.  That’s why we need shows like Draw the Circle.  Deen brings something forward that you can’t help but listen to.  It’s real, and it’s raw.  It’s painful, but it’s hopeful.  We see what everyone has to say about this person, this one person who really does have so much to offer.  And whether you’re a part of the LGBTQ+ community, an ally, an ambivalent standby, or even someone who is against us, Deen’s story speaks loudly.  I don’t know how someone could not walk out of there changed.

I came out as non-binary almost ten years ago.  But even before that, I knew I was somewhere on the gender spectrum other than “female”.  There just wasn’t language for me at that point.  I didn’t have the words for it.  Finding those words was amazing for me.  Falling on weird places on the gender spectrum is not an easy thing.  Draw the Circle spoke to that.  It hit me super hard.  It also hit my mother super hard.  She’s been on this journey with me for a long time.  And I think a lot of Draw the Circle spoke to her, too.  In a different way, but still life changing.

There is, of course, some very well known queer theatre out there.  We have shows like Angels in America and The Laramie Project.  But there’s not a ton of well known shows that address gender issues.  And there definitely aren’t many that you’d get to see in a tiny, historic theatre like Hedgerow.  I think they did something really special by bringing Draw the Circle in.  A little, trans non-binary person such as myself got to see something even closer to home than anything in Philly.

By the end of Draw the Circle, my mom and I were both in tears.  We knew the story.  Maybe not the exact story, but it certainly resonated with what I went through with my gender identity, what she went through with my gender identity, and what we went through together with it.  That was part of the pure beauty of this play.  It spoke to us.  We listened.  And I know we weren’t the only ones.  As we squeezed each other’s hands, tears streaming down our faces, I felt myself so grateful I got a happy ending.  I felt myself so grateful that Deen got a happy ending, and that we got to see him get a happy ending.

Although I hate to say this show was a risk, I think it sort of was.  But I also think it’s going to change Hedgerow’s audience’s lives.  Between director Andrew Watring’s guidance, Joseph Ahmed’s acting, and of course, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen’s writing, this gem of a play does something that we all need more of in our lives.  Draw the Circle is definitely going to change the world in its own, quiet way…it certainly changed mine, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.