Photo Flash: SoHo Rep Presents THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY

With THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY, writer, composer, performer Cynthia Hopkins transforms Soho Rep into a cabinet of curiosities as she weaves real and fictional narrative into a living museum of oddities and artifacts from one man's life nearing its end. Using song, dance, and text Hopkins leads us into an engrossing multi-faceted world-a tragedy that is funny and an epic in minature-that asks questions about modern tragedy. The production will encompass Soho Rep. performance and public space unlike any past production in the theatre's history. THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY is a co-commission with Soho Rep. and Les Subsistances Lyons, France.

THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY is written and performed by Cynthia Hopkins, directed by DJ Mendel, choreographed by Faye Driscoll (WOW MOM, WOW) and designed by Jeff Sugg (33 VARIATIONS, BOOK OF GRACE).

In addition to the regular performance times, Soho Rep will offer FREE Sunday museum hours 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. where the public can experience the museum for the show.

Soho Rep. will continue FEED, its new humanities program which accompanies all main stage productions. All events are FREE to the public. In addition to the web content -- which is currently live and found on the Soho Rep. website (www.sohorep.org/feed) -- the following live FEED events for THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY are scheduled:

NEUROLOGICAL ILLNESS & THE FAMILY
Tuesday May 18, 2010; from 9pm-10pm
Cynthia Hopkins is joined by moderator Dr. Richard Brockman (Columbia University), Parkinson's Disease expert Dr. Claire Henchcliffe (Cornell Medical Center) and noted Fox News journalist Morton Kondracke whose book "Saving Milly" charts his wife's decline from Parkinson's Disease. The panel will discuss and respond to THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY both from an artistic and a medical perspective.

THE TRUTH: ANCIENT TRAGEDY VS. MODERN TRAGEDY
Thursday May 20, 2010; from 9pm-10pm
An intimate post-performance discussion between two artists, musician-performer Cynthia Hopkins and the playwright Craig Lucas (PRELUDE TO A KISS, THE SINGING FOREST, SMALL TRAGEDY). Both have mulled over the idea of what constitutes tragedy throughout their careers. Is there a difference between tragedy of old and our contemporary understanding of the term? Find out as they examine THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY and other works from their careers.

THE TRUTH: A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
Thursday May 27, 2010; from 9pm-10pm
Aside from being a sit-down performance, THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY is also a magical museum that audiences will be able to explore. The museum portion of the production is based upon the 17th-century German phenomenon of ‘Cabinets of Curiosities' (or wunderkammer). Learn more about this fascinating subject -and how it relates to Cynthia Hopkins's performance - when three national experts gather with Cynthia Hopkins to speak about the topic: moderator D. Graham Burnett (Professor of the History of Science, Princeton University), Lawrence Weschler (former staff writer for The New Yorker and author of the seminal book Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder), and Dave Herman, President of Williamsburg's famed City Reliquary Museum (itself a local wunderkammer).

The recipient of the 2007 Alpert Award in Theater, honoring her work as a writer, composer, performer, multi-instrumentalist, and theater artist, Ms. Hopkins is the co-founder and artistic director of The Ensemble Company Accinosco - a collective of performing artists, designers, and musicians dedicated to creating groundbreaking original works that meld music, text, technical and theatrical design, and video with unbelievable fact and outrageous fiction - with whom she has created ACCIDENTAL TRILOGY, which is made up of: ACCIDENTAL NOSTALGIA, which premiered in 2004 (for which Ms. Hopkins received a 2005 Bessie Award); MUST DON'T WHIP 'UM, a prequel to ACCIDENTAL NOSTALGIA which premiered in 2007 (winner of a 2007 Bessie Award for design); and THE SUCCESS OF FAILURE (or, THE FAILURE OF SUCCESS) - which premiered in 2009. These works feature the band Gloria Deluxe which Ms. Hopkins formed in 1999 and which has since produced seven full-length albums and performed at numerous venues in New York City and elsewhere. Ms. Hopkins has also created solo music/theater works including TSIMTSUM, a piece commissioned by Dance Theater Workshop for the May 2006 SOURCING STRAVINSKY FESTIVAL; and 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. In addition, Ms. Hopkins has 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).

Now in its 34th year, Soho Rep.'s 2009-10 season is the third under the leadership of Artistic Director, Sarah Benson, and the second for Executive Director, Tania Camargo. Soho Rep. is dedicated to cultivating and producing visionary, uncompromising, and exuberant new plays. They perform to one of the youngest adult audiences in New York City, with over three-quarters aged 18-40.

Critics continue to herald Soho Rep. as the go-to theatre destination for new and original works. New York Magazine states, "this indispensable theater offers more excitement per chair than any space in town," Time Out New York says, "Soho Rep. is the best theater in NYC (official)," Variety exclaims "[Soho Rep.] has claimed an increasingly vital spot...the venue has suddenly become one to watch for Manhattan theatergoers starved for new work," and the New York Times declares Soho Rep. to be "one of the most daring companies."

Over the last decade, Soho Rep. productions have garnered eleven OBIE Awards -- most recently for Sarah Benson (director) and Louisa Thompson (set designer) for last season's critically acclaimed New York premiere of Sarah Kane's BLASTED; six Drama Desk nominations, two for BLASTED (Outstanding Director of a Play - Sarah Benson and Outstanding Actor in a Play - Reed Birney) and four for their critically acclaimed production of FRANKENSTEIN, the Oppenheimer Award for EVERYTHING WILL BE DIFFERENT, and two Kesselring Awards for Melissa James Gibson and Mark Schultz. In recent years, Soho Rep. has presented plays by established and emerging theatre artists such as Richard Maxwell, Mac Wellman, Young Jean Lee and The Flying Machine. Earlier this season Soho Rep. presented Young Jean Lee's LEAR.

Scheduled through May 30th, performances of THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY run Tuesdays - Sundays at 7:30pm at Soho Rep. (46 Walker Street - between Broadway & Church, 2 blocks south of Canal Street). Tickets are 99 cents for all Sunday performances, $30 for general admission and $40 for premium reserved seating and can be reserved by calling TheaterMania at 212-352-3101 or online at www.sohorep.org.

For additional information about THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY or Soho Rep., call 212-941-8632 or visit www.sohorep.org

Photo Credit: Paula Court