 |
| Kevin Newbury, Stage Director of Fellow Vacationers. © Marcus Shields |
Within the 2025/26 season, Seattle Opera will current Fellow Vacationers, probably the most incessantly carried out new operas of the previous decade, in collaboration with New York-based inventive collective Up Till Now, as a part of a nationwide undertaking that brings this necessary story to levels throughout the nation. This particular
initiative, which is launching in Seattle, is among the largest consortium initiatives throughout the US opera
business and is headed by director Kevin Newbury (The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs ’19) and producer
Jecca Barry.
Fellow Vacationers has been a relentless companion in my life for over fifteen years. This story — and this opera — has gifted me lifelong friendships and lifelong collaborators and it has been a constant catalyst for connecting with 1000’s of viewers members from many disparate backgrounds… throughout many generations… throughout the nation.
I can keep in mind each second of the journey. From the primary time I learn Thomas Mallon’s novel (in a single sitting) … to the second I burst out laughing studying librettist Greg Pierce’s first crack on the opening scene… to the second I received goosebumps first listening to composer Gregory Spears’ wealthy chord cluster that sparks when Hawk & Tim’s eyes first meet.
I keep in mind directing our very first workshop when nobody wished to depart the room… and I keep in mind our opening evening in Cincinnati… and each opening evening since … when nobody wished to depart the theater.
As we put together to open the subsequent chapter in our Fellow Vacationers journey to have a good time the opera’s tenth Anniversary, I’ve been reflecting rather a lot on my values as an artist, particularly as a Queer artist making work throughout these unsure instances.
I imagine within the energy of historical past. I imagine that we stand on the shoulders of the those that got here earlier than us who fought so arduous and sacrificed a lot for us to have the rights we’ve to at this time. I imagine within the energy of artwork to construct neighborhood. And I imagine within the energy of an excellent love story.
What can I say? I’m a sucker for an excellent love story. And Fellow Vacationers is, at first, an excellent love story. I invite you to seek out me within the foyer after the present and inform me yours.
Fellow Vacationers opens February 21, 2026, at McCaw Corridor. Be taught extra at seattleopera.org/fellowtravelers.
