Thinking through Intercultural Spatialities on Imelda: A New Musical

Abstract

This article examines the performance of culture on a Filipino American musical called Imelda: A New Musical by the Asian American theatre companies East West Players and Pan Asian Repertory Theatre. In so doing, it critically discusses how this musical moved towards a more open conception of spatiality. By analysing the context of production, processes of rehearsal, the performance's dance and costumes, and the musical's reception, this article demonstrates the dialogic and multiple production of cultural space on Imelda. This article also reveals the resulting complexities inherent in trying to affiliate performances to located cultural identities. The implications of these more fluid, shifting geographies for intercultural theatre and the production of identity are then detailed.