As One chamber opera explores the story of a transgender woman named Hannah as told through the voices of Hannah Before and Hannah After and a simple yet evocative string quartet. Charleston’s Holy City Arts and Lyric Opera (HALO) company will bring the famous opera to the Queen Street Playhouse downtown at 7 p.m. June 22 to June 25.
When critically acclaimed baritone singer-actor Lucas Bouk takes the stage as Hannah Before, it will be his fifth time performing in a production of As One.
“Hannah’s story is about a woman’s coming of age, and I have been on a similar journey coming into my own self over the past five years as a trans man,” Bouk told the Charleston City Paper.
Bouk, who lives in Manhattan, performed as a mezzo soprano for 10 years prior to 2020. In 2019 he starred as Hannah After in As One with Alamo City Opera in Texas and again at Alchemical Studios in New York City. He is the only artist to perform as Hannah Before (baritone) and Hannah After (mezzo soprano).
“I came out in 2017 to myself and in 2018 publicly,” he said. “I wanted to transition with testosterone, but my career had been taking off, so I didn’t want to take the time to retrain. It changes your voice when you take this testosterone. I retrained during the pandemic, and performed the baritone role of As One twice this past fall.”
To Bouk, the opera is an intimate portrayal of the “all-American girl’s story” of finding yourself and figuring out how to live in the world. There will be Q&A sessions after the 75-minute performances during which the audience can get to know the cast and ask about material.
The audience meets Hannah’s character during childhood, around second grade, when she starts to experience a lot of shame.
“She starts to express things about herself that are true,” Bouk said, “and she’s told that she can’t, that it’s not right. And I went through that exact same thing. I didn’t have words for it. But in first and second grade, I also tried to express certain things about myself and just learned that I couldn’t express them. I had to hide.”
In high school, Hannah becomes a star quarterback and becomes the “perfect boy,” he said.
“And I did the same thing,” he said. “I became the perfect girl. I was the valedictorian. I was really good at music and just hid behind perfection. If I was perfect, then maybe people would leave me alone, maybe I could survive. So I identify with those two things about Hannah: having to hide something … and then trying to be perfect to cover it up. It’s a wild ride starring in this show.”
As One is a singular concept
The English language opera As One, composed by Laura Kaminsky, is one of the most-performed operas in the United States.
“My job is to create a sonic landscape in which the story is told so that the sound world supports the emotional truths of the story,” Kaminsky told the City Paper. “I create a sonic universe that is real that people are absorbed into.”
The libretto, or text of the opera, is by Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed. Hannah’s character is modeled after Reed’s own life story. As One is the first opera with a transgender protagonist, and it debuted at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2014.
“There are these beautiful projections throughout the show by Kimberly Reed,” Bouk said, “which makes it really accessible to a modern audience.”
When award-winning mezzo singer-actor Heather Jones (who uses they/them pronouns) takes the stage as Hannah After, it will be their second time performing in a production of As One.
Jones, a Charleston native who now lives in Brooklyn, started their performing arts education at Charleston County School of the Arts. They have been singing for 15 years as a soprano, mezzo and alto soloist and are also an accomplished dancer and pianist.
The series of scenes see Hannah in different times of life, like check-in points, Jones said. The opera approaches character development through memory narration and traces Hannah’s story, which includes an assault and suicidal thoughts. Themes of self-discovery and self-protection wind throughout the dynamic production that conceptualizes freedom in its truest form: fractured yet joyous.
Jones fell into the world of opera in 2014.
“Me being a trans non-binary person in opera has felt very isolating,” they said. “Opera is a really cisgendered space, like ‘women do this, and men do this.’ My job is to be an actor, but it felt like in order to get jobs, I had to act like those roles. And it really wore on me.”
There is a lot of attention on your body as a performer, Jones said.
“Opera turned into a mirror and asked: How are you doing with this world? And ‘not well’ was the answer,” they said. “In performing, your body is your instrument. And once I came out as non-binary, the sort of work that I got was only [roles] I love to do.”
When Jones first starred in the production in 2021 with Opera Main, they said confinement fell away from their acting persona in a beautiful way.
“HALO has provided this amazing landing place of both professional employment and identity validation and a safe place to do that in my hometown. I love being able to come back here and work.”
Jones will go on to reprise the role of Hannah in 2024 with the Kentucky Opera.
“As One has been a new chapter of my singing career and of my personal identity. As cliche as it sounds, sometimes you need to see something in art before you can see it in yourself.”
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