Bio
Cynthia Hopkins (Brooklyn, NY) is an internationally acclaimed musical performance artist. Her multi-media performance works incorporate music, text, video, and theatrical design to create imaginative stories interweaving truth with outlandish fiction. She is best known for “The Accidental Trilogy,” a series of full-length pieces consisting of Accidental Nostalgia, which premiered in 2004 (2005 Bessie Award for Creation); Must Don’t Whip ‘Um in 2007 (2007 Bessie Award for Design); and The Success of Failure (or, The Failure of Success), which premiered in 2009 at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. In addition to her theater work, Hopkins was a founding member of the band Gloria Deluxe, which recorded eight full-length albums while active from 1999 to 2009. The band developed an enthusiastic following for its blend of folk, rock, blues and country music, opening for legendary musicians David Byrne and Patti Smith. In addition to the many Bessie Awards won for “The Accidental Trilogy,” she is the recipient of a 2001 Obie Award, the 2007 Alpert Award in Theater, a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship, and the 2015 Doris Duke Artist Award. Hopkins’ work has been presented at venues across the world, including MASS MoCA; On the Boards, Seattle; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Philadelphia Performing Arts Festival; the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn; and Les Subsistances, Lyon, France.