Community Musical Theatre: The Queer Experience

Queer experience has, until very recently, been invisible or significantly misrepresented in cultural and scholarly fields of record including history, sociology, and ethnography. Self-recording of our lives, communities, and culture has occurred almost exclusively through non-formal means. Queer heritage has seen recent scholarly study of these non-formal means in the form of archives of oral histories, ephemera, and ethnographies. This work emphasises the critical role safer community, social, and performance spaces play in containing, creating, and disseminating queer histories and heritage. Despite this increased visibility, the need for more grassroots expressions of nonnormative genders and sexualities remains crucial for queer people to find support. As part of my wider work exploring the potential live action role-playing games (larps) might have for the exploration of gender subjectivity through play, in this paper I suggest that larps can also provide a space to document, disseminate, and educate on queer experience, history, and culture. Larp is a democratic form of expression that does not require performance skill or training, but rather allows people to experience empowerment, including for those who come from marginalized backgrounds, i.e., through emancipatory bleed (Kemper 2020; Baird 2021; Cazeneuve 2021). Larp has on occasion been used for non-formal education on queer history, such as in the larp Just a Little Lovin’ (2011) about the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s, which includes educational workshops and debriefs on notable historical and cultural themes (Groth, Grasmo, and Edland 2022). Larp used this way is not dissimilar to the way queer social and performance space has been co-created as a container for both meaning-making and heritage for LGBTQIA+ people. On this basis, I argue that game design that seeks to reflect and represent this kind of queer cultural production in social and performance spaces may allow for the non-formal education on LGBTQIA+ lives and heritage, as well as opportunities for personal (gender) expression, exploration, and embodiment.

Low-cost flats in Malaysia provide only minimal communal facilities, with likely impacts daily life and satisfaction. Despite their importance to residents’ social interaction and well-being, few studies assess how specific communal spaces of the low-cost flats are used and rated. This paper evaluates usage and residents’ satisfaction across three low-cost flats. A mixed-method design was used. First, semi-structured interviews with the Joint Management Body (JMB) identified various communal spaces and their typical uses. Survey with residents then measured frequency of use and satisfaction of the communal spaces. Descriptive statistics and cross-comparisons classified spaces into high/low use and high/low satisfaction categories. Findings suggest that everyday community life is anchored in informal (emergent), unscheduled areas. Open yards, corridors, and parking are heavily used for casual play and socialising. Where provided, formal communal space (programmed) such as multipurpose hall and surau achieve the strongest combination of use and satisfaction. With flat without an indoor hall, the parking lot became the default gathering space resulting to high use but low satisfaction due to heat, limited seating, and safety concerns. High-use/low-satisfaction spaces emerged as priority future improvements. Low-cost, basic upgrades matter, ensure at least one dedicated indoor communal room and humanise informal outdoor areas with shade, seating, lighting, and maintenance. It implies that combining management insights with resident feedback offers a practical framework to target optimal improvements and guide more liveable, inclusive communal environments in low-cost housing.

The purpose of this thesis is to expand the conceptual framework of Pinayism created by Dr.Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales.This thesis expands on the five pillars of Pinayism to also center the voices and experiences of Queer Pinxes.The informants of this thesis include self-identifying Queer Pinays and Pinxes who are educators, artists, as well as activists.All informants share their personal journeys navigating as a Queer Pinx within family, education, and work.Frameworks on Feminism, Pinay Studies, and Queer of Color Critique serve as the foundation for this thesis.Utilizing Grounded Theory and Profiling with semi-structured interviews, I expand how Pinayism has and can encompass Queer Pinx experiences.v

Montreal playwright Steve Galluccio states, “Italian immigrants, they weren’t gay.” The traditional values of Italians in Canada have often led to the marginalization of members of the LGBTQ+ community. For some, being queer and being of Italian origin is irreconcilable. Traditionally, the queer experience is not acknowledged in Italian immigrant homes. Today, there is still some reticence in the Italian-Canadian community, in both private and public spaces. Galluccio writes about his Italian origins and about being openly gay. Through his writing, he brings together two communities (LGBTQ+ and Italian Canadians) that often seem disconnected. This paper discusses Galluccio’s contribution to Italian-Canadian literature. It introduces his works, from the very popular Mambo Italiano to the most recent At the Beginning of Time, and looks at the connection between his literary contribution, Italian heritage, and queer identity.

In an effort to continue bringing light to underrepresented queer histories and experiences, this exploratory project investigates and maps the queer geographies of Columbia, Missouri from 1991 through 2021. I argue that Columbia is an ideal site for research into queer geographies of small cities as it falls outside of the geographic parameters of similar studies. Building on a foundation of queer theory and queer geographic work engaging with lived queer experiences, this study uses semi-structured interviews and secondary archival and media research to identify spaces and places that have played significant roles for queer people in Columbia as well as individual experiences associated with said spaces and places. Themes collected through participant interviews show that the fluid and contradictory nature of queer experience is indeed present in Columbia's specific queer history and culture, with various queer identity groups experiencing place and space differently. Locations and associated times identified through these interviews were used to create digital maps that reveal geographic patterns and shifts over time. These maps show that the number of queer-intended spaces and places in Columbia has been decreasing since 1991, yet those spaces that do exist have moved increasingly closer to the central, high-visibility downtown area. I argue that these trends are due to both an increase in societal acceptance of queer people over time as well as the characteristics of Columbia as a unique place.

STORIES FROM MY YOUTH: THEATER BASED ON LIFE HISTORIES OF LGBTQ OLDER ADULTS WHO LIVED IN SAN FRANCISCO AND THE BAY AREA DURING THE AIDS EPIDEMIC

The scarcity of urban land restricts outdoor communal spaces, especially in low-income high-rise complexes. As a result, indoor communal spaces become essential in stimulating social interaction among high-rise residents. This study, therefore, investigates how the layout of indoor communal space in low-income high-rise apartment buildings affects social interactions between residents using a combination of comparative floorplan-analysis and semi-structured interviews. The investigation draws on data collected from four low-income high-rise building complexes in Hanoi, Vietnam. Space syntax analyses, including the visual integration and connectivity drawn from Visibility Graph Analysis (VGA), were used for the comparative floorplan-analysis. Thematic analysis was used to analyze semi-structured interviews to understand residents’ perceptions and use of communal spaces for social interaction. Findings indicate that residents are more likely to use functional communal spaces when they are accessible, visible, and flexible. Small-scale corridors and sequences of spaces can provide a platform for interaction and, at the same time, guarantee privacy. The seating options, advertisement screen display, (digital) community noticeboards in the common area, and good lighting/ventilation can invite people to stay longer and interact with others. The results of this study offer design implications, suggesting that indoor-communal spaces are significant for social interaction.

The study aims at analyzing the communication mechanisms within the theatrical space under the influence of digital evolution. Communicative space is considered within the system of such key categories of linguistic pragmatics as addressee, addresser, communication strategy. The research also focuses on defining communicative space regarded as conventional and regulated. Theatre is viewed as a functioning social cultural institution addressing the preservation of existing moral values together with the formation of new both moral and cognitive ones. The study also focuses on introducingtypology of theatrical discourse participants and at defining the addressing vector direction. Communication code is due to moderate theatrical communication processes as well as to indicate communication success / failure. The audience is viewed as an addressee – an element mandatory for externalization of theatrical discourse. The audience’s behavioral pattern is regulated by the existing communication code: the audience is conscious of their silent role, the verbal communication being somewhat one-way. Conversely, theatrical discourse implies reaction on behalf of the audience. At the same time, the focus is on the changes to theatrical space due to the modern tendency towards digitalization. The emphasis is on immersive performances that suggest actors – audience interaction as long as VR-performances. The latter are known for audience moving within the theatrical space and interrelating with the surrounding objects which is later synchronized with the video series.

This article draws on a study conducted over a period of 17 months, including chatnography and semi-structured interviews with 30 female platform drivers working in China’s hail-riding industry, and makes three important contributions to the labour process and the social reproduction process scholarship. First, it fills a gap in the burgeoning literature on the gendered experience of gig work and of work–family flexibility in an on-demand economy. Women’s surplus production, as a means of subsistence for oneself and the family, is contradictory to childcare commitments in the labour process. Second, it theorises that the communicative space is a space for social reproduction in which labour-power is replenished outside the household. Labour productivity is not solely determined by algorithmic logic and platform control, but rather is organised by the social reproduction process. Third, it discusses how female platform workers negotiate technological insecurity and resist the platform’s control over and sexual exploitation in the communicative space. This sheds light on how the social reproduction process creates a potential for women’s solidarity. Women fight against sexual harassment and gender-based violence by utilising communication technologies, such as WeChat and TikTok. The social reproduction process organises labour resistance in a time of individual and collective crisis.

Being nonheterosexual and noncisgender appears to be more common among autistic people. This intersection of identities is often stigmatized in research and society. However, we know that community involvement can protect against negative mental health outcomes associated with being a minority; researchers found this effect in separate studies examining participation in the autistic and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual plus other gender and sexual orientation-based identity (LGBTQIA+) communities. This study examined how autistic LGBTQIA+ individuals navigate their multiple marginalized identities and the LGBTQIA+ community. Twelve autistic LGBTQIA+ people from the United Kingdom took part in semistructured interviews. Questions focused on identity and community. We analyzed the interviews using reflexive thematic analysis. We identified four overarching themes-Identity (Re)Development, Navigating Authenticity, Exclusion from Community Spaces, and Creating Change. Participants viewed accessing a community of similar others as a means of increasing understanding, self-knowledge, and self-acceptance. We identified several barriers to inclusion, including accessibility and gatekeeping. Participants discussed strategies to combat these obstacles, such as the creation of intersectional community spaces and activism and representation as a means of increasing autism understanding. This study suggests that similar to other marginalized groups, autistic LGBTQIA+ individuals are motivated to engage in communities relevant to their identities. However, community spaces for autistic LGBTQIA+ are often inaccessible due to social, sensory, and identity-based barriers. Participants highlighted autism understanding as a barrier to coming out both in community and noncommunity settings. This suggests that improving autism acceptance and understanding is crucial to achieve accessible, intersectional, and inclusive community spaces.

In this article, I analyzed the narrative features of Sui Yangdi Yanshi, one of the historical romance(历史演义) published in late Ming, focusing on the aspect of representations of the historic space. This is because the literary features of Sui Yangdi Yanshi, which are distinct from the historical narratives of the previous period, and similar to other types of feature-length vernacular fiction, are believed to be closely related to the representation of historic space. Sui Yangdi Yanshi made up a long narrative by modifying, supplementing and rearranging numerous historical events recorded in the previous historical narratives. The most powerful key driver of this work is the representations of historic space. In this work, 长安is represented as a space that reveals the imbalance of power, 西苑 of 洛阳 as a space of pleasure full of luxury and entertainment, 大运河as a space of pleasure and crisis at the same time. And 迷楼 of 江都 is represented as a space created for pleasure but cannot satisfy desires unlike 西苑. Sui Yangdi Yanshi constructs the narrative in a mutual-subjective way that represents space through characters and events and shapes characters and events through the representations of space. As a result Sui Yangdi Yanshi becomes a more self-complete text and produces various meanings.

Abstract. The representation of space in medieval texts, the appropriation of land and the subsequent installation of new structures of power are central research topics of the project “Digitizing Patterns of Power” (DPP). The project focuses on three regional case studies: the Eastern Alps and the Morava-Thaya region, the historical region of Macedonia, and historical Southern Armenia. DPP is a multidisciplinary project, conducted by the Austrian Academy of Sciences the Institute for Medieval Research (IMAFO) in cooperation with the University of Vienna, Department of Geography and Regional Research. It is part of an initiative to promote digital humanities research in Austria. DPP brings together expertise from historical and archaeological research as well as cartography and geocommunication to explore medieval geographies. The communication of space, time and spatial interconnectivity is an essential aspect of DPP. By incorporating digital cartographic expertise, relevant facts can be depicted in a more effective visual form. Optimal cartographic visualization of base data as well as the historical and archaeological information in an interactive map-based online platform are important features. However, the multidisciplinary of the project presents the participants with various challenges. The different involved disciplines, among them cartography, archaeology and history each have their own approaches to relevant aspects of geography and geocommunication. This paper treats geocommunication characteristics and approaches to interactive mapping in a historical and archaeological context within a multidisciplinary project environment. The fundamental challenges of cartographic communication within DPP will be presented. Furthermore, recent results on the communication of historical topographic, as well as uncertain thematic content will be demonstrated.

The community is a totality which is meaningful to the people that form part of it. In this sense community is more than a geographic concentration; it is a concept that implies the inclusion of diversities and their being allowed to share within it. It is related to social support, intersubjective, participation, consensus, common beliefs, and a joint effort which aims at a major objective: intense and extensive relationships. Quality of life is a multidimensional concept (Bramston 2002) and comprises objective and subjective components (Cummins and Cahill 2000). Quality of life in the community is a specificity of quality of life in general, and community well-being is also a predictor of general well-being (Sirgy et al. 2008). Community implies the existence of social cohabitation which is constructed by society in itself as a foundation of democracy and, in this sense, according to Lechner (2002) politics should also take care of people’s subjective experiences. Collective space in communities has become essential to citizens’ rights, as it should guarantee, in terms of equality, the appropriation of neighborhood space by different social and cultural collectives, genders, and age groups; it is the space of representation in which a society becomes visible and at the same time constitutes a physical, symbolic, and political space. The beginning of this century presents us with new models of community which imply that the traditional concept has changed, together with the way people participate in community spaces. Today, the place of residence is not necessarily the space people identify themselves with, and where they participate. The present social transformations have affected the community’s distinctive traditional characteristic as contained within space limits, to the idea of being formed by a few members that daily meet each other face to face. On the other hand, it is necessary to acknowledge the advent of the digital era and the construction of virtual communities; thus, we should nowadays make reference to communities rather than community. The aim of this chapter is to rethink the concepts of community and community quality of life in Latin American countries, reflected by the voices of actual persons; considering the importance of conversation in the intersubjective relations among people in the community and the construction of a collective scenario for the building of a common ground.

<p><em>The existence of animal lovers community when the CFD of Surakarta City produced their community gathering spaces with other animal lovers communities. From 2010 to 2018 these spaces experienced a dynamic. This study aims to: (1) determine the process of production of space carried out by the animal lover community in the Surakarta City CFD (2) determine the development of production of space carried out by the animal lovers community in the City of Surakarta CFD in 2010 to 2018. The research method used in this study is a qualitative method. The research approach in this study is a spatial descriptive approach and regressive approach. Based on the results of the study it can be concluded that: (1) The gathering space of animal lover communities in Surakarta City CFD was created because it was initiated by the participation of these animal lovers communities in CFD to result in social interaction. Animal lovers community practicing spatial practice in CFD. Animal lover communities arrange in such a way as the arrangement of the gathering space of each community (conceived space) using supporting attributes such as using MMT, x-banner, cage, perch and community uniforms that create new spaces of representation. (2) The spaces created by the animal lovers community from 2010 to 2012 occupy random spaces, in 2018 a permanent pattern has been seen in one location and lined up in front of the Surakarta District Court.</em></p>

This study investigates how individual aesthetic expressions are negotiated, repositioned, and reconstituted within a collective visual structure through an arts-based research (ABR) framework, focusing on collaborative learning in visual arts education. Conducted in the Spring semester of the 2024–2025 academic year, the study involved seven senior undergraduate students in a visual arts education program at a state university who collaboratively produced a large-scale acrylic painting. Each participant contributed personal imagery shaped by cultural memory and emotional experience to a shared composition conceptualized through the metaphor of a “stage.” Rather than framing collaboration as a purely harmonious process, the study conceptualizes the stage as a pedagogical and representational space in which aesthetic experience emerges through negotiation, tension, and shared authorship. Data were collected through systematic observations, process documentation, and semi-structured interviews, and analyzed using inductive thematic content analysis. Findings indicate that participants initially experienced uncertainty and tension regarding creative autonomy, intervention, and compositional balance. However, these tensions functioned productively, fostering empathy, reflective thinking, and collective aesthetic coherence. The study demonstrates that collaborative artistic production operates simultaneously as an aesthetic, pedagogical, and epistemic space in which individual creativity is not diminished but reconfigured through collective engagement. By foregrounding collective aesthetic agency and the performative dimension of collaboration, this research extends arts-based research beyond individual-centered models and offers a nuanced understanding of how aesthetic experience is restructured within shared creative practices. The findings contribute to pedagogical strategies in visual arts education that emphasize negotiation, reflexivity, and collective meaning-making.