<italic>Black Aggie: A Tale of American Folklore<italic> is a musical work written for wind symphony and synthesizer. The piece has the possibility to be performed in two different ways. It can either be performed by a live wind symphony or can be played as an electronic realization with media. The piece was inspired by the legend of Black Aggie - a peculiar grave statue with a series of fantastical stories surrounding her existence. The media presentation is to be played along with the live or synthesized performance. The media consists of photographs and footage of key elements in Black Aggie's legend. All of the media was manipulated with <italic>Photoshop<italic> and transferred to the video editing software <italic>iMovie<italic>. The realization of the music was created using <italic>Finale, Logic Pro,<italic> and <italic>East West Symphonic Gold<italic>. The music and the media together create a vivid depiction of Black Aggie's legend. / Mary Pappert School of Music; / Music Theory / MM; / Thesis;

Through a combination of personal interviews and participant-observation in three field sites ? the Tim Miller workshop and performance of October 2010 and the student organizations Cepheid Variable and the GLBT Aggies ? I argue that manifestations of utopian desire and performance circulate within and among marginalized groups on the Texas A&M University campus, undermining the heteronormative and monolithic utopia the university attempts to present. I participated in each night of rehearsal during the Tim Miller workshop, as well as the creation and performance of my own solo autobiographical monologue as a part of the ensemble. My participant-observation in Cepheid Variable and the GLBT Aggies was concurrent, consisting of attendance at both weekly organizational meetings and outside events sponsored by the organizations over two years. I argue that the Tim Miller workshop and performance is best understood by examining the intersection of queer intimacy, utopia, and performance. I argue that processes of connection, sharing, and mutual transformation allowed it to function as an example of queer utopian performance qua performance at Texas A&M. I explore the links between the ?nerd,? ?queer,? and ?family? identities of Cepheid Variable, arguing that the intersection of these identity-markers and the performance practices which reinforce them enable Cepheid Variable to create a utopian space on the Texas A&M campus for those students who do not fit traditional notions of Aggie identity. I explore two Cepheid performance practices: noise-making and storytelling, arguing that they construct, support, and interweave each element of Cepheid identity, allowing the organization to perpetuate and reaffirm its utopian and counterpublic statuses at Texas A&M. I explore what the GLBT Aggies claims to provide in theory, juxtaposed with what it actually accomplishes in practice. I examine a moment of crisis the LGBTQ community at Texas A&M faced in spring 2011. I argue that the utopia the GLBTA promises remains unfulfilled because the marginalization of the LGBTQ community at large leaves diversity within that community unaddressed. I conclude that utopian communities persist if able to adapt, and that the strength of the intimacy built into queer utopias in particular sustains them through time.