CHIT CHAT

“Play Out the Play”: Theater as a Stage for Nation, Theatricality as Practice for Character  

By José Antonio Arellano 

Each of the plays that constitute the Henriad trilogy, TheaterWorks’ upcoming production, portrays Hal as both an acting character and a character in action, assuming various guises, not least of which is that of a king. Through the transformation of Hal into King Henry, the plays offer a partial tour of the social worlds of the tavern, the royal court, and the battlefield, as well as the competing forms of language these worlds comprise. The plays thus offer a stage on which to ask the questions that continue to be central: What are the boundaries of a nation and the role of law? What qualities make for an effective leader? And why bother with the theater when all the world is a stage? 

Dr. José Antonio Arellano is an Associate Professor of English and Fine Arts at the United States Air Force Academy, where he has taught a Shakespeare play almost every semester for the past five years. Before USAFA, he taught Shakespeare at West Point as a Postdoctoral Fellow and at the University of Chicago as the Teaching Assistant to David Bevington, one of the most prolific editors of Shakespearean and Renaissance drama. Dr. Arellano’s forthcoming Race Class: Reading Mexican American Literature in the Era of Neoliberalism, 1981-1984 is under contract with Cambridge University Press. He is also an art critic who writes for art publications, including the Denver-based art magazine DARIA.    

Organize, Envision, and Build New Futures with Printmaking  

By Morgan Calderini of Ladyfingers Letterpress 

There is a certainty in the printed word, and at Ladyfingers Letterpress, we express that same certainty in the belief that new futures where people are safe, seen, and celebrated are possible. We live in an extraordinary time where incredible injustices are happening every day and where our main vehicle of information is the internet, a place rife with misinformation and where truths are often twisted. Our response comes from a place of organizing and healing, pushing forward a message that people can emotionally and physically hold onto. In the words of Amos P. Kennedy, we “Put the message in the hands of the people and move on.”  

Join Ladyfingers Letterpress as they discuss their approach to message-making, from pen to press. For the past 13 years, they have joined the art of hand-lettering and letterpress as the basis of their creations, often blurring the lines between art and activism creating work from their lived experiences and building a world in which others can do the same. 

Morgan Calderini surrounds herself with rather odd yet satisfying specialties: hot air balloon building, printmaking, and pie baking are all things she takes very seriously. After receiving her BFA in Printmaking from RISD, she founded Ladyfingers Letterpress in 2010 with her spouse and co-conspirator, Arley Torsone. At the helm of the Colorado-based lettering and printmaking studio, classroom, third place and retail experiment, she uses the “power of the press” to produce and disseminate work that mobilizes movements, builds communities and envisions new futures. When she's not baking blueberry pies, she's flying Atlas, her 70ft balloon she built in 2007.