In a 2018 interview, composer Gregory Spears explained that he was drawn to the subject matter of Fellow Travelers because he “really wanted to write an opera about ordinary people,” and he “liked that the central characters weren’t historical figures.” This seemingly simple juxtaposition—ordinary people versus historical figures—raises complex questions. Who gets to be an operatic subject? What kind of stories is the art form best equipped to tell? Can opera make the ordinary extraordinary? […]

Fellow Travelers dramatically portrays how anti-gay prejudice shaped the lives of gay men and lesbians during the Lavender Scare of the 1950s. Given the tremendous pressures to resist or hide being gay, lesbian, or transgender in those years, it would be easy to think that LGBTQ life disappeared, or was a miserable existence.  But in fact, many people managed to enjoy a fun, if very underground, nightlife in Boston and other cities. Some even organized political and social resistance movements against the laws and customs hemming them in. […]

The overwhelming threat hanging over the heads of the characters in Fellow Travelers was known as Executive Order 10450, which prohibited the federal government from hiring gay and lesbian people. Signed by President Dwight Eisenhower in April 1953, the Executive Order was drafted by Robert “Bobby” Cutler, a noted Bostonian who was the first person appointed as National Security Advisor to the President of the U.S.  It remained in full force until 1973 and was only revoked in its entirety in 2017. […]