Charles M. Getchell New Play Contest

About the Play

25 Light Years From Now

In 1942, Josie and Fran’s love is tested when Fran reveals she is leaving to help the War effort with the WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.) Josie, unable to move past her family’s painful history with war, deserts Fran and they never speak again until Josie hears of Fran’s death in the War. 25 years later, Josie receives a letter from Fran’s grown daughter, Isabella, who found an old photo of her recently deceased mother and Josie together. Josie sets off to meet Isabella, leaving her daughter, life, and the present behind to revisit the past one more time as she attempts to fix her broken heart from 25 years ago.    

About the Playwright

Rachel Bykowski, a Chicago playwright, writes to explore the many facets of the female identity. Her full-length play, Tight End, has been featured with The National New Play Network (NNPN) in a workshop at the Kennedy Center for the MFA Playwrights’ Festival in 2016, was a top 20 finalist for CulturalDC’s Source Theatre Festival in 2017, and received Honorable Mention for the Jane Chambers 2017 Student Playwriting Award. Her full-length play, Rev, was the runner-up for the 2018 Todd McNerney Playwriting Award, the winner of the 2019 SETC/Stage Rights Ready to Publish Award, and is now available for purchase on Amazon. Rachel’s other plays have been produced and featured in festivals across the United States. Rachel is a playwriting alumna with NNPN and a member of the Dramatists Guild. She received her BFA in playwriting from the Theatre School at DePaul University and her MFA from Ohio University. www.rachelbykowskiplays.com

2020 Respondent

Craig Pospisil

Craig Pospisil is an award-winning playwright and filmmaker. He’s the author of Months on End, Somewhere in Between, The Dunes and Life Is Short, published by DPS. His work has been seen in New York, LA, around the U.S., and in 17 countries, and has been translated into seven languages. His short film January was screened at over a dozen film festivals, including Bahamas, Berkshire, Big Apple, Hollywood Sky and Roma Cinema. He has written more than 60 short plays, including It’s Not You (theAtrainplays), Dissonance (Best American Short Plays 2010–2011), and There’s No Here Here (Best American Short Plays 2014–2015).