Fellow Travelers
Composer Gregory Spears | Librettist Greg Pierce
Based on the novel by Thomas Mallon
Dates:
Friday, June 21, 2024 7:30 PM
Saturday, June 22, 2024 7:30 PM
Sunday, June 23, 2024 3 PM
Ticket Prices: $50 – $120; $30 (Student)
Venue: Presidio Theatre, San Francisco | Get Directions
The West Coast premiere of the opera adaptation of Thomas Mallon’s novel Fellow Travelers, a tender love story and political thriller set in the corridors of power during the McCarthy era. Adapted by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Greg Pierce, Opera Parallèle and the Presidio Theatre are proud to bring this contemporary classic to the West Coast, a beautiful opera with the message that love will always flourish under persecution.
Sung in English with supertitles | Runtime: 2 hours, 15 minutes, including intermission
Fellow Travelers follows the story of Hawk and Tim, who become clandestine lovers at the height of the McCarthy Era in 1950’s Washington D.C. Recent college graduate Timothy Laughlin is eager to join the crusade against communism, and a chance
encounter with handsome State Department official Hawkins Fuller leads to Tim’s first job—and his first love affair with a man.
Drawn into a maelstrom of deceit, Tim struggles to reconcile his political convictions and his forbidden love for Fuller. The piece uses the love affair of Laughlin and Fuller to shed light on the ‘Lavender Scare’, an often-overlooked period of McCarthyism that resulted in the mass firings of suspected homosexuals from the United States government. With Senator McCarthy’s investigations into ‘sexual subversives’, Tim struggles to reconcile his political convictions, his love for God, and his love for Fuller.
Sung in English with supertitles | Runtime: 2 hours, 15 minutes, including intermission
Cast & Creativesfor Fellow Travelers
Cast
Jonathan Pierce Rhodes*
Timothy Laughlin
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Hometown: Orlando, FL, USA
Recent engagements:
- Candide, Leonard Bernstein, (The Glimmerglass Festival)
Past engagements:
- Turandot, Giacomo Puccini, (The Washington National Opera)
- Blue, Jeanine Tesori, Tazewell Thompson, (New Orleans Opera)
Photo credit Julius Sanchez
Joseph Lattanzi*
Hawkins Fuller
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Hometown: Atlanta, GA, USA
Recent engagements:
- The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Mason Bates and Mark Campbell (San Francisco Opera)
- I Pagliacci, Leoncavallo (Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera)
- Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini (Atlanta Opera)
Upcoming engagements:
- L'elisir d'amore, Donizetti (Minnesota Opera)
- Don Giovanni, Mozart (Atlanta Opera)
- Sacrifice of Isaac, Leshnoff (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra)
Photo credit Patricia Westley
Maya Kherani
Mary Johnson
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Hometown: The Woodlands, TX, USA
Recent engagements:
- L'Orfeo, Sartorio, Aureli (Opéra national de Montpellier)
- L'incoronazione di Poppea, Monteverdi, Busenello (Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and Château de Versailles Spectacles)
- Pay the Piper, Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade, Anna Appleby, Cecilia Livingston and Ailie Robertson, Hazel Gould (Glyndebourne)
Upcoming engagements:
- Don Giovanni, W.A. Mozart, Da Ponte (Boston Baroque)
- L'Orfeo, Monteverdi, Striggio (Pacific MusicWorks)
- Women of the Baroque, Barbara Strozzi (Bellingham Symphony)
Photo credit Veronique Kherian
Kurt Winterhalter
Tommy McIntyre
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Hometown: Northridge, CA, USA
Recent engagements:
- The Shining, Paul Moravec, Mark Campbell (Opera Parallèle)
- Le Nozze di Figaro, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lorenzo Da Ponte (Prague Summer Nights)
Photo credit Greg Crowder
Elena Galván
Miss Lightfoot
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Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
Recent engagements:
- Le nozze de Figaro, Mozart (Syracuse Opera and Tri-Cities Opera)
- L'elisir d'amore, Donizetti (Livermore Valley Opera)
- We Wear The Sea Like a Coat, McCune (Opera Ithaca)
Photo credit Jessica Osber
Cara Gabrielson
Lucy
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Hometown: Portland, OR, USA
Recent engagements:
- Carmina Burana, Orff (San Francisco Symphony)
- Idomeneo, Mozart, Varesco (The Metropolitan Opera)
- Acis & Galatea, Handel, Gay/Pope/Hughes (Opera Idaho)
Upcoming engagements:
- Florencia en el Amazonas, Catán, Fuentes-Barain (Opera San José)
- The Elixir of Love, Donizetti, Romani (San Francisco Opera Guild)
https://www.caragabrielson.com/
Photo credit Jiyang Chen
Daniel Cilli
Estonian Frank/Interrogator/Senator McCarthy
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Hometown: Emeryville, CA, USA
Recent engagements:
- Boheme out of the Box, G. Puccini, Illica, Giacosa et al. (San Francisco Opera)
- Proving Up, Missy Mazzoli, Royce Vavrek, Karen Russell (Pasadena Opera)
- Sharaku Unframed, Hiroya Miura (Left Coast Chamber Ensemble)
Upcoming engagements:
- Fellow Travelers, Gregory Spears, Greg Pierce (Opera Parallèle)
Photo credit Daniel Cilli
Bradley Kynard
Senator Potter/General Arlie/Bartender
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Hometown: San Francisco, CA, USA
Recent Engagements:
- Prospero's Island, Shearer, Stevens (Ninth Planet)
- The Difference, Patzner, Patzner (Rific Records)
Upcoming Engagements:
- Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet, BWV 212, Bach, (Rific Records)
- A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil, Wold, (Wold Fabrications)
Photo credit Will Manuel
Matt Lovell
Potter’s Assistant/Bookseller/Technician/French Priest
Composer & Librettist
Gregory Spears
Composer
Greg Pierce
Librettist
Creative + Production
Jaymes Kirksey
Guest Conductor
Brian Staufenbiel
Stage/Creative Director
Jacquelyn Scott
Scenic & Props Designer
Y. Sharon Peng
Costume & Hair and Make-Up Designer
Mextly Couzin
Lighting Designer
*Making Opera Parallèle debut this season
Supporters
Support for Fellow Travelers is provided in part by Robert Ripps & Steven Spector.