William Shakespeare was rarely concerned with a back-story. Introductory scenes usually exist only to give us the bare amount of information necessary to set the stage. How we got to that point is of no importance. Events are already in motion; we are there simply to see how it all plays out. And yet sometimes we can't help but wonder, "What led up to this?" In Romeo & Juliet, what was the long-running feud about? In The Merchant of Venice,...