A Living Documentary
Photo by Jeff Sugg
This is a preview from a new work in progress by Cynthia Hopkins titled A Living Documentary: a musical performance experiment exploring the challenges of earning one’s living as a theater artist in the 21st century. Come see the World Premiere at New York Live Arts in March 2014!
Artist Statement: Whatever enrages, disturbs, and/or frightens me most becomes the subject of my work. My creative process is a survival technique that alchemizes a combination of inner and outer (personal and socio-political) demons into works of intrigue and hope, for the audience and for myself. Through the integration of my work as a writer, composer, and performer, I strive to investigate new forms of theatrical narrative, and thereby to create a unique communication with my audience: one which provokes emotion, stimulates the senses, and enlivens the mind. My goal is to obscure the distinctions between edification and entertainment through the creation of works as philosophical as they are entertaining, as intellectually challenging as they are viscerally emotional, as deeply comical as they are tragic, and as historically aware as they are immediately engaging.
About Cynthia Hopkins: Cynthia Hopkins is an internationally acclaimed musical performance artist: she writes songs, records albums, and creates groundbreaking multi-media performance works that intertwine truth and fiction, blurring the lines between edification and entertainment. Through the process of making performances, she attempts to alchemize disturbance into works of intrigue and hope that simultaneously stimulate the senses, provoke emotion, and enliven the mind. She has produced five performance works and eight albums of original music. Her work has been honored with many awards, including the 2007 Alpert Award in Theater and a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship. Her most recent show This Clement World (a musical performance work addressing the climate crisis) premiered in early 2013 at St. Ann’s Warehouse and the Walker Art Center. She is currently at work on A Living Documentary, an experimental piece exploring the challenges of earning one’s living as a theater artist in the 21st century.
Upcoming for A Living Documentary: World Premiere at New York Live Arts March 5 – 8, 2014