Fellow TravelersFellow Travelers

At the height of the McCarthy era in 1950s Washington, D.C., recent college grad Timothy Laughlin is eager to join the crusade against Communism. A chance encounter with handsome State Department official Hawkins Fuller leads to Tim’s first job, an illicit love affair with a man, and an entanglement that will end in a stunning act of betrayal. Based on Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel, Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce's Fellow Travelers is an extraordinary personal journey through the intriguing, gut-wrenching world of the 1950s American witch-hunts, and the often overlooked “Lavender Scare.” Directed by Kevin Newbury and featuring the American Composers Orchestra in the opera's New York debut, this acclaimed Cincinnati Opera production pairs American Minimalism with troubadour-like melodies, reflecting the tension between two men’s professional, public lives and their private, forbidden longings.

A Cincinnati Opera Production. Developed and Co-Commissioned by G. Sterling Zinsmeyer and Cincinnati Opera.

Fellow Travelers was developed through “Opera Fusion: New Works,” a joint venture between Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; a residency at the MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH; and a residency at the Copland House, Cortlandt Manor, NY, as a recipient of the Copland House Residency Award.

Used by arrangement with European American Music Distributors Company, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Schott Helicon Music Corporation, New York, publisher and copyright owner.

Fellow Travelers is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Based on the 2007 novel Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon.

Photos by Jill Steinberg.