American Apollo, Geter

West Edge Opera presents the west-coast premiere of American Apollo by Damien Geter an Lila Palmer

at the Oakland Scottish Rite Center on Lake Merritt.

American Apollo imagines a relationship between the celebrated American Portrait artist John Singer Sargent and his muse and model, Thomas Eugene McKeller, a Black hotel worker. Though McKeller’s body shaped some of Sargent’s most iconic works, his name and identity were largely erased from history. What begins as an artistic opportunity evolves into an intimate exploration of race, class, power, and sexuality. American Apollo is a love story that explores who gets immortalized, who is left unnamed, and what it means to claim your own story.