Synkroniciti is thrilled to announce the winner of our “Dignity” Short Play Contest, Aaron Westlake, with his evocative and deeply human work, “The Veil.” We received a number of intriguing submissions for this theme, but “The Veil” distinguished itself through its moving portrayal of a mother and son navigating end‑of‑life choices, and through its insightful, compassionate approach to the ethical questions surrounding those choices.
In Aaron’s near‑future world, Selene is terminally ill and has chosen to end her suffering with the help of a Fourdim, a four‑dimensional being who enters our time and space as a shadow projection—much as we cast shapes upon a wall with our hands. Fourdim are widely used in hospice care, their touch offering profound comfort to the dying. Bonding with them to create new Fourdim, a process that amounts to assisted suicide, is illegal. Selene’s son, Thom, arrives to stop her. What follows is a poignant exploration of the dignity of life and death, the freedom to choose one’s path when recovery is no longer possible, and the transcendent power of love and connection.
We will share more, including an excerpt, in Aaron’s Artist Feature this Fall.
You can read “The Veil” in Synkroniciti’s “Dignity” issue, which is now available for pre-order here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/. The issue debuts September 15th.
Aaron Westlake is a playwright based in Saint Joseph, Missouri, where he lives with his wife, three kids, six cats, and an elderly puggle. His recent work uses the short science fiction form to explore the difficulty of connecting with other people in worlds that increasingly push us to connect with technology instead. Having spent the last decade focused on writing code as a data engineer, he has rediscovered creative impulses, finding time in the day to write for the stage. He holds degrees in theatre and computer science from Missouri Western State University, a Master of Arts in Theatre from the University of Central Missouri, and completed doctoral coursework at Wayne State University, where his play “Mirror on the Wall” received second place in a staged reading at the Heck Rabi Festival. “The Veil” is his first contest win.