Julie Hammonds's Blog: Author Q&A for the creator of "Blue Mountain Rose", page 2

Pocket Play Review: Twelfth Night at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse

Author Julie Hammonds is on a quest to complete Shakespeare’s canon in calendar year 2025. In these pocket play reviews, she records brief impressions of each show she sees.

The Play: Twelfth NightThe Company: Atlanta Shakespeare CompanyThe Stage: Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse, “America’s only Original Practice Playhouse”Run Dates: April 5–27, 2025Memorable for: The verve and spirit with which the company played this comedy, hitting every note.The Robert Armin Award for Wi...

How did you celebrate your book launch?

Q: Your book Blue Mountain Rose was officially launched on Shakespeare’s birthday, April 23, 2025. A book launch is a big milestone in a book’s life. How did you celebrate?

A: My first idea for launching Blue Mountain Rose was to throw a party at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where my love for Shakespeare’s plays began. Notable actors would present a few scenes from my book onstage. I imagined Tom Hiddleston stealing the spotlight as Peter, Ana de Armas giving us a gorgeous Kate, and Georg...

Pocket Play Review: Hamlet at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival

Author Julie Hammonds is on a quest to complete Shakespeare’s canon in calendar year 2025. In these pocket play reviews, she records brief impressions of each show she sees.

The Play: HamletThe Company: Alabama Shakespeare FestivalRun Dates: April 17 through May 4, 2025Memorable for: Ophelia’s journey into madness, portrayed with aching sadness by Jihan HaddadThe Margaret Graham Award for earning audience adoration with decades of devotion to your craft goes to Greta Lambert ...

When is the “Blue Mountain Rose” launch event and how can I participate?

Q: I hear that a book launch event is a special thing in the life of a book. What’s your launch event, and can I participate?

A: You’re right that a book launch event is special. It can be like a birthday party for a book, and who doesn’t love birthday parties?

Blue Mountain Rose gets to have not one, but two parties to celebrate its release, and everyone is invited. The first event is on the book’s official release date of April 23, 2025. That’s Shakespeare’s birthday. For a book set in a...

Pocket Play Review: King Lear at the American Shakespeare Center

Author Julie Hammonds is on a quest to complete Shakespeare’s canon in calendar year 2025. In these pocket play reviews, she records brief impressions of each show she sees.

The Play: King LearThe Company: American Shakespeare CenterRun Dates: February 13 through April 19, 2025Memorable for: the intimacy of Blackfriars Playhouse, a re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre, which somehow made the Lear family drama more intimate and painfulThe Helen McKenzie Award for provin...

Pocket Play Review: It’s the Comedy of Errors, Hon! at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Author Julie Hammonds is on a quest to complete Shakespeare’s canon in calendar year 2025. In these pocket play reviews, she records brief impressions of each show she sees.

The Play: It’s the Comedy of Errors, Hon! (actual title; show is based around Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors)The Company: Chesapeake Shakespeare CompanyRun Dates: February 14 through March 9, 2025Memorable for: A script that took liberties with Shakespeare’s text to make The Comedy of Errors funny again...

Pocket Play Review: Romeo and Juliet at Southwest Shakespeare

Author Julie Hammonds is on a quest to complete Shakespeare’s canon in calendar year 2025. In these pocket play reviews, she will record brief impressions of each show she sees.

The Play: Romeo and JulietThe Company: Southwest ShakespeareRun Dates: February 8–23, 2025Standout Performance: The Peter Dunmore Award goes to Israel Campos as Romeo

Pocket Play Review: It can sometimes seem like Romeo and Juliet is relevant only to those for whom young love and romance are life’s pr...

What does it mean to “complete the canon”?

Q: Your author bio says you’re on a quest to “complete the canon” and you have four plays to go. What does it mean to “complete the canon,” and which four plays haven’t you seen?

A: Generally speaking, there are 38 plays in Shakespeare’s “canon,” the accepted group of an author’s related works. (Authorities disagree on the exact number. As modern scholarship reveals more about Shakespeare’s collaborations with other writers, works may be added to the canon.)

I want to complete the canon by...

Did you use beta readers as you created “Blue Mountain Rose”?

Q: When and how did you use beta readers as you worked on early drafts of Blue Mountain Rose?

A: In an earlier post, I wrote about how Blue Mountain Rose went from scattered ideas in a Word document to a completed first draft. [Read “What was your process?” here.]

As soon as I thought my early text could benefit from being read by someone other than me, I invited early readers (aka “beta readers”) into the process. I sent the book to an avid theatergoer who has spent lots of time in Ashla...

When did you first get interested in Shakespeare’s plays?

Q: When did you first get interested in Shakespeare’s plays, and why?

A: I was never frightened of Shakespeare. I know a lot of people have a bad first experience with his plays for one reason or another, which makes me feel sad. But my introduction was perfect for me, and I’m grateful for that.

In my junior year of high school, I took AP English from a teacher named Gerald Berglund. He had served in the US Army and still conducted himself with military precision. He thought it was importa...