Seattle Opera’s ‘Fellow Travelers’ Explores Queer Love and Resilience During the Lavender Scare
Watch the full interviews on “We Live In Color” tonight, Thursday, February 26 at 8 p.m. on all Converge Media streaming platforms.
“We Live In Color” host Deaunte Damper recently stopped by McCaw Hall for Seattle Opera’s production “Fellow Travelers,” an operatic romance that delves deep into queer love and resilience during the 1950s Lavender Scare. During his visit, Damper met with “Fellow Travelers” lead performers Jarrett Ott and Colin Aikins, and director Kevin Newbury.
Jarrett Ott: Reliving History Through Hawkins Fuller
Ott, a baritone who stars as the politically connected Hawk, described “Fellow Travelers” as a beautiful yet emotionally devastating love story. Playing a character forced to hide his core identity at the State Department resonated deeply with Ott, who recalled having to "mask" his true self while growing up in a small town. He noted that during rehearsals, the emotional weight of the past often broke him down.
"It's gut-wrenching to think about what these people had to go through in that time period," he said.
Despite the trauma embedded in the history, Ott emphasized the necessity of this production.
"We have to tell these stories in order for other people to come to realize that it's okay," he said, adding that queer people are "beautiful, bright human beings that add so much to society.”
Colin Aikins: Finding Authenticity in Tim Laughlin
Aikins, a tenor playing the leading role of Tim Laughlin, an idealistic and religious journalist whose world is turned upside down when he falls for Hawk, found an immediate connection to the character. Having been raised in a strict Italian Catholic environment, Aikins viewed Laughlin’s journey as a universal struggle for queer people who must often "recreate ourselves and find truly who we are in this world.”
For Aikins, the production is about more than just a historical narrative; it is about the power of the community to thrive in the face of hardship.
"The queer community finds a way of not just surviving in hostility, but creating beauty," he said, explaining it is time for these narratives to take center stage in the opera world. "Queer voices deserve and should be as loud and proud as every straight story that's being told.”
Kevin Newbury: Directing a Second Lavender Scare
Director Kevin Newbury has been developing “Fellow Travelers” for 15 years, premiering it originally in Cincinnati before bringing the updated version to Seattle. Newbury highlighted the historical gravity of the Lavender Scare, a 1950s "witch hunt" where thousands of queer people were fired from government service under an executive order, they said.
The director cautioned that this history is not just a thing of the past, suggesting we are currently "living in the middle of a second Lavender Scare" due to modern rollbacks of rights, viewing the opera as a source of catharsis that bridges generations.
"The opera never fails to move people and to foster these kinds of amazing intergenerational conversations," they said.
Ultimately, Newbury sees their work as an act of gratitude for those who paved the way. "We stand on the shoulders of the people that came before us who fought so hard for us to have the rights that we have right now.”
“Fellow Travelers” runs through Sunday, March 1, 2026 at McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St, Seattle. Get your tickets here.
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