A purveyor of outlandishly theatrical fictions and original avant-folk orchestral songs, Cynthia Hopkins is an audaciously charismatic talent that fans will follow anywhere: from memoir, murder, and memory loss in the South to ’70s pop stardom, the CIA, and Moroccan Sufism to evolution in outer space—all have figured in her trilogy of previous works at the Walker.
In her new piece, This Clement World, Hopkins grapples with the environmental crisis with her most expansive avant-folk rock orchestration to date. Presented as a live documentary film set in and out of the Arctic, this skillfully crafted, richly narrative performance questions how—or whether—one can act now to maintain a livable climate for generations of people we will never meet.
Tag along with Hopkins; her longtime collaborators, director DJ Mendel and designer Jeff Sugg; and a stellar ensemble of Twin Cities–based musicians—Parker Anderson-Genne, Lauren Asheim, Leslie Ball, Erica Burton, Jesse Edgington, Zack Lozier, Crystal Myslajek, Jonathan Sunde, Jason Sunde, Karen Townsend, and Larry Zimmerman—on a voyage of discovery that’s global in scope, playfully idiosyncratic, and utterly necessary.
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