FELLOW TRAVELERS
An Opera by Gregory Spears
Daria Zholnerova, co-director
Greg Eldridge, co-director

Based on the 2007 novel by Thomas Mallon, Fellow Travelers was originally workshopped at CCM in 2013 as part of the college’s Opera Fusion: New Works (OF:NW) partnership with Cincinnati Opera. Cincinnati Opera presented the world premiere of Fellow Travelers in 2016 with a production that was conducted by CCM faculty member Mark Gibson and featured several alumni in the cast. A decade after its OF:NW workshop, Fellow Travelers finally makes its debut on the CCM stage! Fellow Travelers takes place in 1950s Washington, D.C. Timothy Laughlin is a recent Fordham graduate and devout Catholic who is eager to join the crusade against Communism. A chance encounter with a handsome, profligate State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim’s first job in D.C. and — after Fuller’s advances — his first love affair. As McCarthy mounts his desperate bid for power and internal investigations focus on “sexual subversives” during the “Lavender Scare,” Tim and Hawk find it dangerous to navigate their double lives. Drawn into a maelstrom of deceit and intrigue, Tim struggles to reconcile his political convictions, his love for God and his love for Fuller — an entanglement that will end in a stunning act of betrayal.