Fade unfolds in
real time, shortly before
sunset inside a
large mountain estate in the Adirondacks.
Gertie and Albert—a
wealthy couple who commissioned the summer
home—have just arrived in
the living room. The room is chock-full of
moving boxes. The
Housekeeper, a young woman hired from a
neighboring town, is busying
herself with unpacking.
GERTIE
(Soprano)
is your
classic society lady—the last of her kind, in
a way. While she
never had a formal job, she has spent years
involved in variety of
charities. These include raising money to
fight poverty and famine in
developing countries, AIDS prevention in
Africa and most recently,
environmental causes. She was the chief
organizer for a large dinner
party where Al Gore spoke.
ALBERT
(Baritone)
married
up. GERTIE comes from old money but
ALBERT
had to work for it. He
retired recently from his position as CFO of a
large accounting firm in
the city. They have a penthouse on the East
Side.
The
HOUSEKEEPER
(Mezzo-Soprano) has been separated from her
husband for a little over a
year. She
has two kids at home. She makes very little
money. High-school
graduate, but no college. Attractive, dressed
in jeans and nice
button-up shirt with somewhat stylish jacket.
She works hard and
parties hard with friends but has vowed to
stop dating deadbeats. The
HOUSEKEEPER came recommended by a local
landscaper who worked on the
grounds.
This
house was
custom built for ALBERT and GERTIE. He had
the old house (falling
apart for decades) bulldozed and built a
"green," opulent mansion on
the same spot. GERTIE can
remember the summers she spent
as a child
playing there. She inherited the house. The
nearest town is a five-mile
drive down mountain roads.
It’s
mid-summer.
When the action begins, it is roughly thirty
minutes before sunset,
before
the complete extinguishing of light on the
horizon. The single location
is one of the house’s large, comfortable,
modern living rooms. There
might be a large, unseen bay window downstage,
allowing the fading
light of the sunset to enter the playing
space. Since this is ALBERT
and GERTIE's moving day, there are
boxes
stacked in the room. Besides
the boxes, the room includes a sofa, chairs
and a table.
Synopsis
The
Housekeeper introduces herself and the three get
to know each other. We
learn that the new house was built on the
demolished remains of
Gertie's grandmother’s estate. The couple goes
upstairs with their
travel bags. Left alone, the Housekeeper muses
cynically on her new job
as a maid (“Slavery was abolished ages ago”) and
sorts through the
boxes with curiosity.
Albert
and Gertie come back down to announce that he
wants a drink. He
offers the Housekeeper one, but she’s driving.
Albert asks the
Housekeeper what she thinks of the house.
Environmentally concerned
Gertie expected it to be more eco-friendly.
Albert replies that it is
(“It’s thirty percent Green”). Gertie isn’t
convinced and thinks
there are too many rooms.
The Housekeeper
excuses
herself to prepare dinner. Gertie gazes out the
bay window and sees
the setting sun reflected on the lake (“Look,
look at the light”). In a
nostalgic reverie, she recalls the summers she
spent at the estate as a
girl. Meanwhile, Albert, not listening, is
irritated that he can’t get
a signal on his cell phone; he grumbles that the
landline hasn’t been
installed yet, either. He pours himself another
drink.
Suddenly,
there’s a blackout. The only light comes from
the setting sun through
the windows. The Housekeeper enters. Neither she
nor Albert knows how
to fix the fuse box, or whether a half-solar
house even has a fuse box.
They decide to wait it out. Tension arises in
the silence. Gertie
becomes more nervous, alluding to sinister news
that day. Albert
brushes it off. Gertie, her mind racing, begins
talking about the
poor and her work in charity. Albert replies
cynically that the poor
are lazy.
Finally,
the Housekeeper, worried about her two children
back in town, announces
that she must go to them, since she can’t call.
Gertie initially
objects, but Albert quiets her, saying that they
understand. The
Housekeeper leaves.
Albert and Gertie
sit in the gathering darkness, as the tension
grows. Gertie worries
about their families, frets that the Housekeeper
might not work out.
Then she tells Albert to get the keys, they
should go. Albert, who has
been drinking steadily, heads off but stumbles
into a piece of
furniture, painfully stubbing his toe. Tipsy and
furious, he sits and
sulks in the gloom.
Gertie is transfixed
by the
sunset. She invites Albert
to come watch it with her, but he refuses.
Slowly, the light dies.
Artistic
Vision
Fade
is a
contemporary slice-of-life tale with dark
undertones. It
begins in a spirit of light satire and comedy;
there’s a crack in the narrative with the
blackout;
then it
proceeds to a nervous, dislocating
ending.
The
piece
is meant to resonate on a number of levels. It
contains several
oppositions: wealth and privilege versus poverty
and dependence;
architecture
versus the
land; consumerism versus conservationism;
modernity versus tradition; and connection versus
isolation.
Without
becoming preachy
or
allegorical, it
is a story about America in this
historical moment.
In
thirty
minutes, the
piece charts a
journey from comedy to a more ineffable mood of
fear, paranoia
and—oddly—rapture (Gertie can’t
take her eyes
away
from the setting
sun).
Both in its
language and music, Fade
evokes a
simple but gripping mood piece that covers a
spectrum of emotions and
ideas, providing performers, designers,
directors
and players a chance
to collaborate on a haunting chamber work.