Rachel Bykowski Blog
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I write plays. I tell stories. I create content. I vent. I offer advice. I hope people will learn from my mistakes. I write to explore the many facets of my identity and raise awareness to social issues. Since 2006, I have been writing plays that explore middle class America, matriarchies, privilege, gender roles, and how women contribute to the legacies of their families.
Rachel Bykowski Blog
5M ago
I, along with roughly a hundred other playwrights who were listed as semi-finalists, received our O’Neill National Playwrights Conference rejection email for my play How to Kill a Caribou. The institutions that produce these playwriting competitions typically send an email rejection letter. The National Playwrights Conference’s email was sincere and empathic. It states that we playwrights should be proud of making it to the semi-finals. People at O’Neill championed our work. And the fact that we made it to a select group of 250 plays out of 1500 that submitted is, “a full-throated affirm ..read more
Rachel Bykowski Blog
1y ago
"You are in Control"
This phrase has been on repeat in my brain since I returned to Chicago. Since mid-August, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to attend the La MaMa Umbria International Playwright Retreat. For ten days, 18 brilliant playwrights and myself stayed in a breathtaking villa in Spoleto, Italy. Our guest instructor, Chay Yew, led us through various writing prompts, imagination exercises, and thought starters to help us craft our writing.
To say I was intimidated by this talented group of people is an understatement. I was terrified. I was sure my attendance in the program ..read more
Rachel Bykowski Blog
1y ago
When I started writing Murder, We Spoke, I wanted to explore my personal fascination with true crime. What was it about this genre that compelled me to watch, investigate, snoop, dig, research? Over the course of three years, the podcast series developed and evolved into a much larger question, why true crime now?
If you were to do a basic Google search and start typing, “Why is true…” Google search will auto populate the following:
Why is true crime good?
Why is true crime bad?
Why is true crime unethical?
Why is true crime popular?
Love it or hate it, it cannot be denied that p ..read more
Rachel Bykowski Blog
1y ago
Recently, I had the privilege to go back in time. Depending on your relationship with your past, I highly encourage everyone to time travel. It’s pretty simple to do (for me at least). Here’s how I time traveled.
I got in my car – a deep blue, Jeep Wrangler – and turned on some music. I found an old playlist that migrated from my 2004 iPod (remember those?) via iTunes to my Apple playlist. The playlist is titled, “Hyper.” I can’t quite remember why 15/16-years-old Rachel chose that title. Maybe I needed it to get revved up for school?
I guess “hyper” at the time meant a mixture ..read more
Rachel Bykowski Blog
1y ago
In honor of spooky season, I’m writing about ghosts...ghosting...theatre companies whose spirits haunt playwrights with echoes of promises like, “We love your work! We just don’t have the budget to produce it...right now.” Or something like, “You’re a promising artist. We can’t accept you into the program this year, but please apply again next year…and next year, and next year, and next year, neeeexxxxttttt yyyeeeeeeaaaarrrr….” On and on, those words are whispered into our ears and when we turn to see where the sound is coming from – WHOOSH – it disappears into the night.
When I started my p ..read more