Shadows Doth Make Bright
by Ethan D. Fried
A new play about love … and loss
What is “Shadows Doth Make Bright” about?
This play follows the late-in-life love affair of Daniel and Gerri. Daniel is a widower in his 60s, Gerri is a divorcee in her 60s. they meet, spend time together, and travel. It is then that Daniel’s ghosts appear and disrupt this happy, light, affair. Daniel and Gerri break up and go back to the dating pool. Soon they come to realize that they are, in fact, made for each other and they decide to take a pied-a-terre together in New York City, midway between their homes on on Long Island and the Jersey shore.
But just when things seem to be going well, a routine screening test will reveal a devastating diagnosis and plunge their new love into patient and caretaker roles. Ultimately, death will claim this relationship.
I wrote this play to bring to the stage the real and growing phenomenon of late-in-life love. Through it I hoped to acknowledge that older couples who have gone through painful life events can still find love and have a fulfilling life. The story also acknowledges the very real fear that late-in-life love will bring which is that it too can be cut short unexpectantly.
Follow the Journey
This play began its life in the summer of 2025 as I sat on a flight from New York to Memphis for a temporary job. The first scene of the second act was written first and I decided that I liked the characters so much that I wanted to write more. I knew that something had to happen in this play and so I mapped out the events of the second act. When completed, I thought that the ending of this act was too depressing and so I undertook the writing of the back-story of the couple leading up to the events of the second act. Finally, I had a full length play in two acts that would follow the light and romantic story of these two people who want to have love and joy after more unfortunate circumstances. Just when their love becomes real, they are confronted by, and ultimately defeated by the inevitability of growing older.
This is a story that has not been told enough. We all want love and joy. We all deserve to pursue it. But life has a way of reclaiming what must be.
This story is, largely based on real events and thus I know it will be relatable to audiences. It is available for staged readings or full productions. It has never been produced before.
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