This Praxis volume began as two modern stagings of the 19th century play Obi; or Three-Finger'd Jack. The first staging was at the Playwright's Theater in Boston, on July 18, 2000. It included, besides staged portions of the play, papers read by Charles Rzepka, Peter Buckley, Jeffrey Cox and Debbie Lee. These papers formed the backbone of this Praxis volume. The second production was at Arizona State University, at the year 2000 Conference of the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism (NASSR). It included the papers mentioned above and also the essay by Robert Hoskins included in this volume. Video excerpts of the Boston production are included as well, linked to plain text versions of the Obi melodrama and Obi pantomime. A scholarly edition of the Obi pantomime is forthcoming from Romantic Circles, edited by Jeffrey N. Cox.