Current Production

Fade, by Tanya Saracho

October 20 – November 13, 2022

Helen Hayes Awards Recommended

“Engaging and thought-provoking” — MD Theatre Guide

“Sharp, witty, sensitive, and yes — unexpected — Fade offers insights into race and class within the Mexican-American community.” —K Street Magazine

“Lively, sharp, witty, and challenging, Unexpected Stage Company’s Fade makes you question if we have to leave pieces of ourselves and our culture behind as we climb to “the top” and if, in the end, that climb is worth the cost.” —DC Theater Arts

Directed by Dylan Arredondo

Featuring Michael Burgos and Camila Calderon

Stage Managed by Paige Willis

Designed by Sharlene Clinton, Matthew Mills, Jozef Orisich and Simone Schneeberg; Board Operator Matthew Datcher

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, become close quickly 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 Lucia writes. Infused with humor and a 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.

Audience members will be required to wear masks in the theater.