Cynthia Hopkins will develop the world premiere of A Living Documentary, a comedic, no-nonsense reflection of the trials and tribulations of earning a living as a professional theater artist in the 21st century. Intertwining elements of musical comedy, autobiography, documentary and fiction, A Living Documentary intersperses live interviews with portrayals of semi-fictional comedic characters, all the while asking myriad questions about the realities of professional artistic life in New York City.
A Living Documentary is part of our new partnership with New York Live Arts, in which we collaboratively select one artist to work at The Watermill Center as part of our Residency Program. In addition, the project receives commissioning support from New York Live Arts’ Studio Series residency program. The final work will have its world premiere on New York Live Arts’ season, supported by Live Arts’ Dance Theater Workshop Commissioning Fund.
A Living Documentary will premiere in its entirety on March 5, 2014, at New York Live Arts.
A Living Documentary was also developed through a New York Live Arts’ Suitcase Fund residency at Bunker in Ljubljana, Slovenia with support from the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
Cynthia Hopkins is an internationally acclaimed musical performance artist: she writes and sings 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 – This Clement World (2013); The Truth: A Tragedy (2010); The Success of Failure (or, The Failure of Success) (2009); Must Don’t Whip ‘Um (2007 Bessie Award for design); and Accidental Nostalgia (2005 Bessie Award for Creation) – and eight albums of original music: The Truth: A Tragedy (2010); The Success of Failure (or, The Failure of Success) (2009); Must Don’t Whip ‘Um (2008); Accidental Nostalgia (2005); Alas Alack (2002); Devotionals (Songs for Shunkin) (2001); Hooker (2000); and Gloria Deluxe (1999). Her band Gloria Deluxe (1999-2009) developed an enthusiastic following for its unique blend of folk, cabaret, rock, blues and country music, producing multiple albums and performing hundreds of concerts, opening for legendary artists such as David Byrne and Patti Smith. Her music compositions include Song Before Love Songs (a post-apocalyptic requiem for the human race), a composition commissioned by Bang on a Can which premiered in February 2005. Her work as a writer, composer, performer, multi-instrumentalist, and theater artist has been honored with many awards, including a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2007 Alpert Award in Theater. 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.
In addition to her work as a creator, Ms. Hopkins has also worked as a composer, musician, and performer for many projects, including Big Dance Theater’s Antigone, Shunkin, and Another Telepathic Thing (for which she received a 2001 Bessie award for composition and a 2000 Obie award for performance); and Ridge Theater’s production of Mac Wellman’s at jennie richee (for which she won a 2001 Obie Award as part of the collaborative team).
The script of The Truth: A Tragedy was published in 2010 by Samuel French; a short story by Ms. Hopkins titled Quantum Gravity was included in Amplified, a collection of short stories by songwriters published in 2009 by Melville House; and Accidental Nostalgia was published in 2007 in Issue #3 of Play: A Journal of Plays.
The work of Cynthia Hopkins has been supported and/or presented by venues including St. Ann’s Warehouse, the Walker Art Center, the Wexner Center for the Arts, On the Boards, the Philadelphia Performing Arts Festival, PICA’s Time Based Art Festival, Les Subsistances in Lyon, France, the Traverse Theater in Edinburgh, Scotland, and REDCAT; by residencies including Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the Hermitage Foundation; and by funding foundations including the Jerome Foundation, NYSCA, the Greenwall Foundation, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, APAP’s Ensemble Theatre Collaborations Grant Program, the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, the Jonathan Larson Foundation for the Performing Arts, and the MAP Fund.
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