Jay Stratton - Pt. 2

By Daniel Chacón,

Will Rose

Published May 31, 2026 at 11:00 AM MDT

In part two of this Words on a Wire conversation, host Daniel Chacón continues his discussion with actor, director, and UTEP theater professor Jay Stratton. The conversation explores Stratton’s move from New York City to El Paso, his passion for bilingual theater, and his efforts to make Shakespeare accessible to new audiences through innovative productions and the Madeline Park Shakespeare Festival. Along the way, they discuss the unique culture of the borderlands, the challenges and rewards of teaching, theatrical superstitions, independent filmmaking, and the importance of creating opportunities for emerging artists. Filled with humor, insight, and a deep love of storytelling, this episode highlights the power of theater to connect communities across languages, cultures, and generations.

Additional information

For more information about Jay Stratton you can visit: https://www.jay-stratton.com/

Originally aired on May 24, 2026

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Words On A Wire KTEP Programming

Daniel Chacón

Daniel Chacón’s collection of stories, Unending Rooms, was the 2007 winner of the Hudson Prize. He has also been awarded the American Book Award, the Chris Isherwood Foundation Grant, and the Southwest Book Award. His first collection of stories, Chicano Chicanery was a finalist in the Patterson Fiction Prize and his novel and the shadows took him is available from Simon and Schuster. His new book is a collection of stories called Hotel Júarez: Stories, Rooms and Loops. He’s a professor of Fiction Writing, Kafka, and Latino/a literature in the Creative Writing Department at UTEP.

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Will Rose

Will Rose is a longtime technology and marketing executive based out of NYC and Texas. He is the co-founder of Words on a Wire’s publishing imprint, eRadical Books, and now spearheads marketing strategy for the Words on a Wire podcast. He also serves as Chief Technology Officer at the EdTech startup, Student Select, and as Head of Data Science at the artificial intelligence company, Harqen AI.

See stories by Will Rose