Meet Perry Payne Millner

One foot in business, one foot in art, both feet firmly rooted in the Lynchburg community

By: Helen Berry

Perry Payne Millner wants you to give the opera a shot.

As someone who grew up in theatre—a student of EC Glass High School’s Theatre program and then an actress, voiceover artist, and cabaret performer in adulthood—Millner was relatively unfamiliar with the opera until she moved back to Lynchburg after a creative career that relocated her from DC to New York City to Charlottesville.

After four years leading the Virginia Theatre Association, Millner returned to her roots in Lynchburg, where she was offered a role as Executive Director for Opera on the James.

“I didn’t feel like I knew opera,” Millner admitted, referring to the hesitation she initially felt at accepting the role at the esteemed local opera house. “But Peter Leonard, General Director of Opera on the James said, ‘Darling, it’s all theater.’ And he’s absolutely right.”

Fast forward to today, Millner is firmly rooted in her role at Opera on the James and has developed an extreme passion for opera and Lynchburg’s place in a globally beloved art.

Opera on the James, which is celebrating its 21st Season, was created by a group of city leaders and opera lovers to share the power and beauty of live opera with diverse audiences in Central Virginia and beyond. What newcomers and community members may not realize is that, unlike a performing arts center that simply hosts a performance, Opera on the James fully produces their own performances. Composition, casting, props and costuming, and design and technical production are all handled in-house by Opera on the James’ small but mighty team, with Millner at the helm.

“We partner with so many community organizations to bump up the value that our community has in the opera,” Millner explained. “It’s rare for a town of this size to have an opera of this size, a symphony of this size, and a performing arts center of this size. I would put the production values of this company up against the production value of any company across the country.”

That commitment extends beyond the stage. Through programs like “Opera Curious,” school partnerships, and accessible supertitles during performances, the organization is actively working to make opera more approachable for first-time audiences.

As a cultural asset in the Lynchburg community, Opera on the James currently supports two residencies each year—one in the spring and one in the fall—which brings in talent from across the country. Performers and stage members are often MFA-level performers from Juilliard and other notable colleges and universities and competitively audition to be a part of this local program.

Under their current structure, Opera on the James produces one major and one smaller production annually, though Millner hopes to see that increase to two major productions per year.

“We can afford to do one major production and then one smaller production per year, alongside other smaller pieces per year for fundraising and community involvement,” she said. “As time goes by, I’m excited to expand our reach so we can do two major productions per year. We aren’t touring productions—we produce our own work. We do our own casting, we hire our own orchestra. We are producing new work. I look forward to expanding our reach so we can continue to do good work.”

And for those who may still feel unsure about stepping into the world of opera, Millner keeps it simple: “Come to the opera—and give it a shot.”