The Subtext is a podcast where playwrights talk to playwrights about the things usually left unsaid. In a conversation that dives into life’s muck, we learn what irks, agitates, motivates, inspires, and ultimately what makes writers tick.

This month Brian speaks to Kristin Idaszak (The Liar Paradox, The Surest Poison, Second Skin), award-winning playwright, 2-time Jerome Fellow, and Goodman Playwright’s Unit alum.

Kristin covers a lot of ground, from finding breakthroughs while rock climbing to being inspired by Nietzsche and Proust. Kristin discusses how she has been writing in a journal since she was old enough to hold a pen.

As a child she recalls being incredibly interested in point-of-view, to the point of writing, at age seven or eight, Little Red Riding Hood from the perspective of the cookies in Red’s basket.

The local community theatre is what channeled her seemingly innate yearning to write stories. It was when she attended graduated school at UC San Diego thatshe locked into being a playwright. It was there that playwright Naomi Iizuka was able to get Idaszak to write from a personal place by forcing her to tell stories about herself, in place of writing, for several weeks until she found comfort in sharing personal stories. She eventually won the Paula Vogel Award and Jean Kennedy Smith Award for her play Second Skin.

Kristin is a big thinker, bursting with ideas and inspiration, which includes writing an epic play on the entire history of humans on Antarctica.

Download the episode here.

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