spotlight as one


or anything well done, it speaks to you, person- ally. I always find it really fascinating, if you look back at the history of classical music or opera, even Mozart was considered a radical for his time. Even just choosing a subject, in a libretto sense.


I think that’s specifically what is remarkable about As Oneand the reason it’s been done so much. People talk about how it’s small and less expensive for a company to produce, but beside all of that it’s a really good opera with great music and an amazing libretto. It’s so human and something everyone can identify with in some way. I have always said when describing it to people—especially family members or whoever may have some sort of baggage about the word transgender—it is about that but it’s also not about that. It’s about the bigger things that everyone experiences, not feeling comfortable in your own skin and how do you become yourself. I couldn’t agree more. I think that’s why it’s so important that people see


As One. In Colorado last winter, we often did a talk back session after the show. Obviously, you have a sizable liberal community and a large gay com- munity there, with a really great organization called One Colorado, who were a big part of our discus- sion and were members on the panel. We had a couple of transgender people stand up and speak in such heartfelt ways, about how they were so excited and pleased to see their story being told. We also had this clearly conservative, older white guy stand and say, “Well, I don’t really know about all this stuff, but I could kind of appreciate it.” You could tell it affected him in a way that he wasn’t really even able to verbalize. I don’t know how other people feel, but that is why I do this show. I feel like it makes some sort of a difference to people. You and Kelly Markgraf were both heavily involved from the very beginning. Kelly and his wife Sasha did the premiere and so


before that happened, Laura [Kaminsky] had writ- ten about two thirds of it at that point. She had not written the entire third part and there were several parts in, that had since been taken out, replaced with something else and skimmed down. The very first iteration of it, Charles Jarden from American Opera Projects called me and said, “I have this project that I really want you to be a part of. I think it will be re- ally great for you.” I had just gotten through having a young son and working on an amazing project and I felt like, “This is what I want to do, I want to do things that really mean something.” It just felt so


32 RAGE monthlyRAGE monthly | NOVEMBER 2017


good to feel like I was working with a bigger vision and had something not just about themselves. I had this year where nothing happened and I was


so sad, I remembered just sitting in my living room with my son next to me and I was like, “I really need the universe to throw me a bone…I just need something and I don’t care what it is.” I needed to be passionate about something and feel like it’s going to make a difference in the universe. A piece that offers something to people, shakes things up and changes people’s minds…and I swear, literally, that day Charles called me. I love it. What an amazing story. How have the responses differed as you’ve gone through the process of performing it? You know, to be totally honest I’ve never had a negative response from anybody. My dad is always the ultimate test for me and as he says, “The music is really weird honey, but you sounded great…” Like he doesn’t get it, but he loves the music. He loved when I did Hansel & Gretel, that was totally his jam. (Laughs) But withAs One, he’s still a little uncomfortable with the subject matter. When I told him I was first working on the project, he was like, “Well, okay I don’t really understand all of that but, good for you.” He hasn’t seen a whole production yet, only some excerpts online, but I think he actually likes it. In interviews that I do and people that I talk to, I look for the things that are talking about change and about trying to enlighten the process. Conversations with or about people who have preceded change or brought change with them and things that do that. That’s one of the reasons I was so drawn to and fascinated withAs One. There’s this magical thing that happens with music, it can imbue the experience of emotion


musically and this opera absolutely does that. Yes. It’s really hard for both of us to do, emotion-


ally, too. Unfortunately, there’s a section where they list the murdered and missing trans people and every time that we do it, Mark [Campbell] and Kim [Kimberly Reed] make changes to the list and add people. It’s like a constant reminder this is not in the past, this is something that is happening today. People don’t believe it when you say that it’s hap- pening, they’re like “What are you talking about?” I think until it’s become more prevalent in the media, people don’t know...and to be completely honest, I had no idea either. Every single time we doAs One, I feel so humbled


by the people that we meet and the reaction. It sounds funny, but it’s kind of a relief to be a part of something that you feel like is making a difference. When I was in Utah this woman came up to me at the dinner afterwards...she was a young woman in her early 30’s, with five kids and Mormon. She was very sweet and polite and said “Thank you so much for your performance. I think that everyone in Utah needs to see this.” I was just floored and she said she felt it was so important because she thought it would help people understand each other better. This sweet, simple, small town Mormon girl, totally got it. There was also a faculty member who reached out to us and said she was going to begin her transition. Having her community see this and have such a positive reaction really helped her to know she wasn’t going to be completely shunned. There are other people in her community who didn’t approve and had a problem with it, but I feel that’s the impact it has. It’s great when it’s done in the city because everyone gets to see it. But, when it’s performed in those tiny communities like that, I feel like it’s really getting to people.


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