Becoming the Moon is an opera that illuminates the story of Tecciztecatl—a gender-expansive Mexica moon deity. Combining original poetry with translations of a 16th-century Nahuatl manuscript, the performance unfolds through song, animation, storytelling, and movement. This original opera is written, performed and created by Lu Coy, a queer mixed-media artist and musician of Mexican and Ashkenazi heritage based in Los Angeles.

On November 20–22, we will be presenting an excerpt of Becoming the Moon at the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) as part of their 2025 New Original Works Festival. This marks a significant milestone in Lu’s practice as it is the first time a theatrical work of theirs has been supported and produced at this scale.

As part of NOWfest, REDCAT has generously provided rehearsal space, production support, technical support, artist fees, and professional development opportunities. This support has allowed the work to evolve in exciting and unexpected ways, including new elements which now fall outside the scope of our proposed budget.

We need your support!

We are setting a fundraising goal of $2,000 to cover unanticipated production costs.

Funds raised here will go towards:

Compensation for two additional performers

A makeup artist

Additional rehearsal time and space (outside of what REDCAT is providing)

Costumes (for additional performers)

Finishing touches for production elements

These funds will ensure that the performers and collaborating artists are compensated and cared for, and that the production reflects the depth of the story we are telling while making the most of this important opportunity of showing the work as part of NOWfest.

Words from the Lu:

When I read the Florentine Codex’s account of Tecciztecatl I definitely saw something of myself reflected in their journey–Tecciztecatl is first described as a masculine deity who volunteers to be sacrificed in hopes of becoming the sun. For a moment he succeeds, but is deemed too “delicate” to hold the role. Struck down and sent into the underworld, Tecciztecatl transforms into a feminine lunar deity, controller of the tides and nightly tasks.

I recognize this arc of rejection and transformation. This myth speaks to a broader trans and queer experience: we are often cast to the margins, yet it’s there in the shadows that we discover our brilliance. In this time of great unrest—as our world edges further into fascism and our settler colonial government seeks to erase, villainize, and criminalize indigenous, queer and trans bodies—I believe it is critical for us to create work which seeks guidance from the sentinels of an Indigenous, gender-expansive past.

Your support will help nurture this work, the collaborators who bring it to life, and the histories and futures it seeks to embrace. If you are able, please donate and share.

Thank you so deeply.