Danielle Hopkins

Throughout her four years of training in UNC Greensboro’s BFA in acting program, Danielle Hopkins has been a significant presence on the stage, demonstrating particular talent in musical theatre. The School of Theatre provided her the training and opportunity to develop her gifts, including working toward a minor in musical theatre. With post-Showcase attention from the Clear Talent Group in NYC, Hopkins’ road to Broadway clearly became more attainable.

Hopkins got a little help from some musical theatre “friends” to support her artistic training and reduce the cost of her college education.

John and Louise Lowe Burns were a devoted couple and musical theatre performance duo who delighted audiences as they toured around much of the world. The Burnses’ love of the performing arts and Louise’s roots in Guilford County led their family to establish the Dr. John T. and Mary Louise Lowe Burns Memorial Scholarship in Dance and Musical Theatre with testamentary gifts from the Burnses’ estates in 1993.

The timing of the scholarship award elevated Hopkins’ ability to focus on her craft. She recalls,

“When I received the scholarship, it was right around the time I took on the lead role of Caroline Thibodeaux in the School of Theatre’s Fall 2016 musical, ‘Caroline, or Change.’ Working on that role and getting to take on that challenge was the pinnacle of the training I would receive here at UNCG. In order to focus on the demands of that experience, I had to take a step back in the student employment opportunities I had taken on at the university for the last three years. Because of the generosity of the Dr. John T. and Mary Louise Lowe Burns Memorial Scholarship, instead of having to worry about what I was missing by taking time off, I was able to focus on being a powerful, dynamic artist with an important story to tell … We were truly able to do something bigger altogether by bringing beautiful, mind-changing theatre to UNCG and the Greensboro community.”

Hopkins’ musical theatre mentor, UNCG alumnus Dominick Amendum, describes Hopkins’ progress:

“Danielle has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years as she has worked towards her minor in musical theatre at UNCG. She is among our first students to declare the minor, and has been cast in multiple productions (‘Into The Woods,’ ‘Caroline Or Change,’ ‘A New Brain’). She is an exceptionally strong worker and is so committed to her craft and her own personal growth. She will make UNCG proud as she enters the ‘real world’ of theatre.”

High praise, indeed, from the music director, conductor, and associate music supervisor of Broadway’s smash hit, “Wicked,” based on L. Frank Baum’s book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

With such positive feedback, Hopkins may follow her own yellow-brick road from UNCG to NYC.

Story by Zoe Dillard, Donor Relations