Trans opera baritone Lucia Lucas stars in a risky production of the opera Don Giovanni mounted in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the new documentary The Sound of Identity. The documentary follows the trans artist as she strives to fill the opera house in red-state America.

Lucas said of the pre-pandemic event:

It’s meaningful because any time something happens for the first time, it’s meaningful, but it shouldn’t be meaningful. Trans people shouldn’t have a barrier to entry, except for just talent.

Despite her general confidence, doubt occasional;y creeped in, she told NPR:

I was concerned that it would be too uncomfortable for me to present as a man onstage, to sing with my baritone voice onstage. But instead of questioning these things and thinking about how it would psychologically affect me, I decided to just do it. And so I did the next week of performances and said, ‘Oh, I can do this. This is fine. As long as I don’t have to pretend offstage, I can pretend onstage.’

In case you want to hear her range, here she is performing a classic from Verdi’s Macbeth:

Image: YouTube / Shout Factory