Bad Quarto does a... wait for it... Bad Quarto!

If you've looked at Bad Quarto's website recently, you've noticed a new face.
Hello all! I'm Shannon Schultz and I'm directing the next staged reading being put up by Bad Quarto Productions.

No so long ago, Tony (our fearless leader) got this crazy idea that Bad Quarto needed to put on another "bad" quarto.  I put bad in quotes because most "bad" quartos can actually tell us a lot about textual transmission and rewriting and are often just as good, if different, from the "good" versions of Shakespeare's plays.

To that end, Tony wanted to put up the first "bad" quarto of Romeo and Juliet.  So, he set his brain to work on who he knew that knew the most about Romeo and Juliet.  He landed on me, probably because I wrote both my MLitt and MFA theses on Romeo and Juliet.  His conclusion was that no one in this town knows more about Romeo and Juliet than yours truly.

The only trouble is that I know very little about what makes the first quarto of Romeo and Juliet different from the folio text.  This journey will be just as much about finding out what makes Q1 Romeo and Juliet special as it will be about putting up a staged reading.

Once I have a cast, I'll be sure to post more of my ramblings.

I look forward to taking this journey with y'all.  Here's to Q1R&J!