Mariya Dempsey - Tré Nation

Unconventional Artistry

In the midst of change, social and political disarray, and division, art is something that has the power to bring people of all walks of life together. For some, communal artistry can lie in painting or animation; for me, the heart of it lives in the theatre. When I was around 6 years old, I remember going to Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. for the first time to see its yearly production of A Christmas Carol. As a young girl, always inspired by the theatre, I found joy in watching a produ

art Business

Mariya Dempsey

5 min read

The Pieces That Make the Picture: Paul Tetreault and the Art of Building Community

While we navigate change in our world, trying to fit each other together like puzzle pieces that don’t quite seem to nestle into the right cracks, art has a way of being the glue. Like a puzzle, every piece in the production of theatre has a purpose. Every production is made possible not only by the actors on stage, but also by directors, designers, educators, administrators, technicians, donors, audiences, and more. Each person is a piece of the picture, helping create something that couldn't

art Community

Mariya Dempsey

5 min read

The Mold of Beauty

“Unruly bodies are those bodies that are not doing what's expected of bodies to do.” (Jeff Aziz) Beauty standards shape more than what we think when we look in the mirror – they shape classrooms, conversations, and the way we move through everyday life. To better understand how beauty standards shape our culture, I spoke with two professors from the University of Pittsburgh whose courses examine these ideas from many different perspectives. Jeff Aziz, a senior teaching professor at the Univers

Culture

Mariya Dempsey

3 min read

Diamond Diplomacy: How Baseball Became a Bridge Between Nations

A century before modern diplomacy matured, baseball quietly united the U.S. and Japan. Diamond Diplomacy reveals how Biz Mackey helped transform sport into a powerful global language of connection.

Sports Community

Mariya Dempsey

1 min read

The Power Behind The Curtain: Paul Tetreault

In the midst of change, social and political disarray, and division, art is something that has the power to bring people of all walks of life together. For some, communal artistry can lie in painting or animation; for me, the heart of it lives in the theatre. When I was around 6 years old, I remember going to Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. for the first time to see its yearly production of A Christmas Carol. As a young girl, always inspired by the theatre, I found joy in watching a produ

Community Culture

Mariya Dempsey

5 min read

Hardwired Attraction

“I’ve just never found a dark-skinned woman to be attractive.” During my early years of high school, I remember being a young, impressionable Black girl sitting in my math class at my PWI. I can’t recall which math class it was exactly, but I remember working on an in-class activity while I overheard three boys talking about their types. As I scribbled down numbers to look like I knew what I was doing, I found myself paying more attention to their conversation than my work. One of them – a blon

Culture

Mariya Dempsey

2 min read

The Dawn of Manufactured Beauty

Throughout history, humankind has always concocted different ways to manufacture beauty. Corsets that cinch your waist to the size of a blade of grass, binding feet to fit into a doll-sized shoe, and more things than most of us can probably name off the top of our heads. In the past, a lot of the beauty procedures circling the media seemed as though they were mainly for every unbelievably wealthy woman in Miami or LA, but there has been a very drastic increase in how people go about changing t

Culture

Mariya Dempsey

2 min read