AS ONE
A journey of self-discovery, As One tells the story of Hannah as she realizes and uncovers her true self. With evocative music by Laura Kaminsky and a stirring libretto by Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed, As One has quickly become the most performed contemporary opera in North America. This Florida premiere production brought the audience onto the Pensacola Little Theatre mainstage for an intimate performance consisting of two singers (Robert Wesley Mason and Elise Quagliata, sharing the role of Hannah) and the Polymnia String Quartet, surrounded by an original film projected behind them to create the transformative atmosphere.
The incredible thing about the opera As One is the fact that it continues the tradition of the performing arts to give a voice to the voiceless. As I considered how best to market this piece to our largely conservative city of Pensacola, we found that giving context in the form of a series of panel discussions allowed the traditional opera patron to better understand a transgender person’s journey.
Alongside that, I shifted our focus away from our traditional ad structure and instead focused our small marketing budget into a photo series titled “Identity in Focus”. Inspired by a series of interviews conducted by Portland Opera, this series of professional portraits will showcase the passion and joy of the transgender community within Pensacola. The opera As One discusses the struggles and challenges that the main character goes through and we wanted to showcase the joy and life that is at the end of that journey of self-discovery. What I had noticed is that when you look for images of individuals who have transitioned, there is always a seriousness to it, a focus on the strength it takes to find yourself, but people are so much more than their journeys. They are dynamic, kind, hilarious, whimsical, fabulous, and imaginative, all of which are words that the models chose to have displayed next to their photos. Not only that, but our models are our own neighbors that live and thrive in Pensacola. We brought in seven transgender individuals and provided them with free professional hair and makeup (done by Haley Mitchell) and a 30-minute photoshoot around Pensacola provided by Meg Burke Photography. This exhibit was designed to be portable and I got to use my mediocre carpentry skills to assemble an assortment of A-frame signs in my garage to ensure that we would be able to have the photos displayed during our panel discussions as well as in the theatre during the opera.
This shift from traditional ads led to more than four multi-page articles across four separate publications in Pensacola, each focusing on a different aspect of this performance. As One was a sold-out performance and the opera gained a new forward-thinking audience.