Theorizing the performance editions does not seek to bridge some imagined gap between text and performance; instead, it underscores the crucial relationships between historically grounded, materially reproduced versions of the plays. Produced on stage, on paper, or on film and video-tape, multiple productions reveal the play as a set of possibilities for material realization. Only exploring the interrelationships of the versions - the work in its range of enactments-can clarify how a given play is constituted as a site for meaning at a given time. Whether the time which interests us is the sixteenth century, the nineteenth century, or the last ten years, performance editions are a crucial component of our investigation into both text and performance.