ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two important concepts: community and multiculturalism. It begins with reflections upon ethnic and class-based street-level performances of community in the United States (US) and examines how they might be internationally transportable. In the US, community models have the same origin as the American vernacular landscapes. This virtual model is also connected to notions of the "Melting Pot" into which culturally different groups are expected to plunge. The chapter discusses one particular version of the ideal American community and the problems that some groups might have in dramaturgically producing it in front of skeptical audiences. In Prospect-Lefferts-Gardens (PLG) community-organizing efforts were directed at enhancing local performances to meet the expectations of crucial audiences such as banks, insurance companies, police, sanitation, and other public authorities. In the American paradigm of ethnic diversity there have been three major themes: Assimilationism, Cultural Pluralism, and Multiculturalism.
