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| Kevin Newbury, Stage Director of Fellow Vacationers. © Marcus Shields |
Within the 2025/26 season, Seattle Opera will current Fellow Vacationers, one of the ceaselessly carried out new operas of the previous decade, in collaboration with New York-based creative collective Up Till Now, as a part of a nationwide mission that brings this necessary story to levels throughout the nation. This particular
initiative, which is launching in Seattle, is without doubt one of 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 needed to depart the room… and I keep in mind our opening evening in Cincinnati… and each opening evening since … when nobody needed to depart the theater.
As we put together to open the following chapter in our Fellow Vacationers journey to have a good time the opera’s tenth Anniversary, I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on my values as an artist, particularly as a Queer artist making work throughout these unsure occasions.
I consider within the energy of historical past. I consider that we stand on the shoulders of the people who got here earlier than us who fought so laborious and sacrificed a lot for us to have the rights we’ve to right now. I consider within the energy of artwork to construct neighborhood. And I consider within the energy of a superb love story.
What can I say? I’m a sucker for a superb love story. And Fellow Vacationers is, at the beginning, a superb love story. I invite you to search 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.
