Editors Note

EDITORS NOTE The Bulletin of the Comediantes is proud to offer a special number, American Calderón, dedicated to the four-hundredth anniversary of the playwright's birth. We are grateful to Anne J. Cruz for guest-editing the volume, and we thank the contributors , as well. The essays are based on papers delivered at a symposium , also entitled "American Calderón," organized by Professor Cruz and held on the campus of the University of Illinois, Chicago, in April of 2000. This particular celebration in the Midwest of the United States was a special occasion. Like the Court Theatre production of an English adaptation of La vida es sueño in the fall of 1999, the symposium demonstrated that Pedro Calderón de la Barca still holds our interest, challenges us, and never allows us to rest comfortably as critics. Both the symposium and this number of the Bulletin of the Comediantes honor John J. Allen, professor emeritus of Spanish at the University of Kentucky. Professor Allen's brilliant studies of Cervantes, the picaresque, and other topics in Golden Age literature have won him international renown, but Comedia scholars may be most drawn to his work on the theater, including the groundbreaking The Reconstruction of a Golden Age Playhouse: El Corral del Principe, 1583-1744. In addition to his distinguished research, Jay Allen has won recognition and appreciation as a teacher, mentor, and colleague. We wish him the very best as he enters retirement, which we are certain will be a most productive time. E.H.F. ...