Cynthia Hopkins
This Clement World
Work In Progress
SUN JAN 8 . 7:30 PM
SAT JAN 10 . 5:00 PM
Run time: 45 minutes
ABRONS ARTS CENTER EXPERIMENTAL THEATER
466 Grand Street
This Clement World is a new musical performance work by Cynthia Hopkins that poetically but urgently addresses our global climate crisis. The work is a live documentary film infused with three fictional characters that serve as tour guides for an imaginary exhibit conveying the wonders of our currently clement world. These guides in the form of the ghost of a Native American woman of the Cheyenne, a neutral alien observer visiting from the far reaches of outer space and a child from the not-so-distant future who has traveled back in time to visit the present, interpret this imaginary exhibit according to their own uniquely informed perspective. This Clement World uses original avant-folk orchestral songs, fantasy, imagination and storytelling to convey vital information regarding the climate crisis through a deeply personal and idiosyncratic lens.
This Clement World is scheduled to premiere at Les Subsistances in November 2012, followed by presentations at Walker Art Center and St. Ann’s Warehouse during the 2012-13 season. In May 2012, a work in progress concert version of the piece will be presented at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn.
“a triumph of disciplined thinking, narrative fluidity and musical accomplishment.” – Ginia Bellafante, The New York Times