AS ONE librettist takes NY Times through a day in the life of a transgender person

As One co-librettist and transgender filmmaker Kimberly Reed has created a video for The New York Times showing a day in her life - specifically April 7, when the AOP-commissioned opera opened at Utah State University. In the video, Reed shows glimpses of the various ways she has introduced the quotidian stories of transgender individuals - through documentaries, news interviews, spoken word performances, and now the critically-praised opera As One. Reed explains, "It’s not unusual for me to be the first transgender person someone has known. I’m happy to be in that position, because the best way to dispel misunderstanding and increase empathy for The Other is to simply get to know someone. ... For this video essay, I wanted to let you get to know a real, live trans person. I decided to record the day leading up to the premiere of an opera, As One, for which I created a film and co-wrote the libretto."

View the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdN8smSEekg

As One premiered in September 2014 in a production by AOP at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Fisher Center. The production toured to the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University in April 2015. A new production of As One by West Edge Opera will open in July 2015.