Communication

Contact: Cleighton@peralta.edu
Office location: Room 554

Dr. Leighton teaches Communications courses for the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies. Dr. Leighton’s research focuses on community and identity in local contexts. Dr. Leighton is also the adviser for the Unity: BCC’s Gay-Straight Alliance club.

To read more about Dr. Leighton’s written or performative work, please see her performance website: www.CoraThePerformer.com

Are you a performer, an artist, a writer, or none of the above but have a story to tell? Please consider supporting the performance showcase Dr. Leighton facilitates: Custom-Made Queer.

• The mission of Custom-made Queer is to encourage the creation and sharing of queer memoir of all kinds!
• Each of us has a story, and the repetition of those stories can help to promote further conversation about how queer happens and what it means to be queer. Stories come in all forms—poetry, narrative, performance, photo-essays, movement, film, song, comedy, and more! Our vision is that by experiencing the complete diversity of queer auto-performance today, you too will be motivated to create your own queer performance in the future.
• Our first Showcase was in May of 2012! We will hold showcases once a year (usually in February), so please contact us (via the facebook link above, or at my email address) if you want to share your own custom-made-queerness!
• Students, faculty, and staff alike are highly encouraged to participate! You do not have to be a pro! This is a great way to workshop or to get your feet wet in front of an audience!

Education   

• Ph.D., Communication Studies, Louisiana State University
  •  Areas of Concentration: Performance Studies, Rhetoric, Qualitative Methods
    •                Dissertation: “Strutting Through History: A Performance Genealogy of the Philadelphia Mummers Parade”
• M.A., Communication Studies, California State University, Los Angeles
  •        Areas of Concentration: Rhetoric, Performance Studies
    •                 Thesis: “The Jester’s Pub: Performing Community, Sexuality, Gender and Race(ism)”
• B.A., Theatre Arts, San Francisco State University       
  •             Upper Division Concentration: Communication Studies, Queer Theory

Publications 

• Leighton, Cora. “Real Girl Dances in Mummer Throng: A Performative Historiography of Gender in the Philadelphia Mummers Parade.”  Text and Performance Quarterly. 32 (2012): 38-58.
• Leighton, Cora. “Book Review: American Aloha: Cultural Tourism and the Negotiation of Tradition” Liminalities 5(2). http://liminalities.net/5-2/rev-aloha.html.
• Leighton, Corey. “Finding Space through Cooperation: Space and Community in a Strip Club.”  Loudmouth Magazine Summer (2005): 24.
• Leighton, Corey. “The Jester’s Pub: A Study of Competition and Cooperation.” Colloquy 6 (2005): 61-72.

Academic Performances        

• “Spectaculum! Women’s Health and Communication” 2010 Solo Performance Resident; 1812 Productions, Philadelphia, PA, July 5-12, 2010.
• “The Castle Plan: Queer Memoir and Addiction” Queer Memoir: Sober, New York, NY, July 2010.
• “Both Forks: Dichotomy Inside of Me” Feature Performer at People’s Improv Theatre, New York, NY, May 2010.
• “Pieces of Me: Tattoos and Transplants, Communication and Representation” Feature Performer in So-Low Performance Festival, Philadelphia, PA, May 2010.
• “That Kidney: Kidney Transplants and Health Communication ” Feature Performer at Rowan Day, Glassboro, NJ, April 2010.
• “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and… Sexual Assault and Representation” Performance Resident, Rowan University, Dept of Fine Arts, Glassboro, NJ, April 2010.
• “I Turned Thirty; and I Like it.” Performance in Women in the Arts Showcase, Louisiana State University, 2008.
•  Performer in “Lawn Balls: A Love Story” Graduate Student Performance Showcase, Louisiana State University, 2007.
• Director, Producer and Performer in “If Our Desks Could Talk: Gender and Academia” Performed at the HopKins Black Box Theatre, Louisiana State University, 2007.
• Performer in “She looked like Mary Queen of Scots.” Performed at the HopKins Black Box Theatre, Louisiana State University, 2006.
• “Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Performance of Hegemonic Femininity of Shoes.” Performance in Women in the Arts showcase, Louisiana State University, 2006.
•  Performer in “Spectacular: The Speculum and the Male Gaze” Graduate Student Performance Showcase, Louisiana State University,  2005.
• “The Jester’s Pub: Community in a Strip Club.” MA Thesis Performance at California State University, Los Angeles, 2005.