Unexpected Stage Company Presents Tanya Saracho's FADE Next Month

As part of its thirteenth season, Unexpected Stage Company presents Fade by Tanya Saracho (How To Get Away With Murder, Looking), directed by Dylan Arredondo (Parlor Games, Chushingura). Fade will run October 20 to November 13 in the Fireside Room, an intimate 30-seat venue, at the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation building, located at 6301 River Road in Bethesda.

General admission tickets, priced $12.50 to $37.50, are on sale via phone at 301-337-8290, online at unexpectedstage.org/tickets, and at the door subject to availability. A special Pay-What-You-Wish preview performance is scheduled for Thursday, October 20, at 7:30 p.m. For information, please call 301-337-8290 or visit www.unexpectedstage.org.

A few years after the publication of her hit debut novel, Lucia lands her first TV writing job at a cutthroat network studio, where she struggles to find her place on the white male-dominated set. She and the only other Latinx employee there, a janitor named Abel, quickly become close, even as they wrangle over differing points of view. But as Abel shares his stories with Lucia, similar plots begin to find their way into the TV scripts that she writes. Infused with humor and sharp insight, Fade explores class and race within the Mexican and Mexican-American communities, and asks whether status can change who you are at your core.

Born in Sinaloa, México, Tanya Saracho is a playwright and television writer who's worked on How to Get Away With Murder and HBO's Looking, among other shows. She also was the creator and showrunner of the series VIDA on Starz. Named "Best New Playwright" by Chicago magazine, Saracho's plays have been produced at 2nd Stage, Theatreworks, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, Teatro Vista, and Teatro Luna, among others.

"Saracho perfectly captures how both our sense of self and purpose can fade away when ambition and need for attention take over," shares Unexpected Stage Company Co-Founder and Co-Producing Director Chris Goodrich.

Director Dylan Arredondo is known to area audiences from his work as a director and actor, most recently directing Parlor Games at 4615 Theatre Company and Cushingura at We Happy Few, as well as assistant directing Quixote Nuevo at Round House Theatre. He's been seen onstage in productions such as Much Ado About Nothing at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (Benedick) and Beauty & the Beast at Olney Theatre Center (Cogsworth).

The cast of Fade features Michael Burgos as Abel and Camila Calderón as Lucia. Burgos has toured internationally with his own one-person shows (The Eulogy and Tiramisu) and, most notably, won Best Comedy at the Adelaide Fringe. D.C. audiences have seen him as Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream (NextStop Theatre Company). Calderón recently graduated from Shenandoah Conservatory with her BFA in Acting. Her stage credits include Love's Labour's Lost (Island Shakespeare Festival) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shenandoah Conservatory).

In addition to Arredondo, the creative team includes Simone Schneeberg (set design), Jozef Orisich (lighting design), Sharlene Clinton (costumes), Matthew Mills (sound design), and Paige Willis (stage management).

Fade is presented through a special arrangement with Concord Theatricals.

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