Mills College — the 148-year-old women's college in Oakland’s Leona Heights neighborhood — has struggled over the past several years to make up for a multi-million dollar deficit. In 2017, the institution claimed a “financial emergency” and laid off staff (including five tenured professors) amidst budgetary problems. Now, the college is selling a treasured copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio and an authentic, handwritten musical score by Mozart as a means to financially catch up.

KQED first broke the news earlier this week that the Oakland institution was gung-ho on selling two of its prized possessions: a 1623 copy of William Shakespeare’s First Folio and a handwritten musical composition by none other than the late Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart himself.

“In order to continue to support Mills’ current programs and people while we build a bridge to a sustainable future, the college has decided to sell two precious assets,” Elizabeth Hillman, the school’s sitting president, wrote in an internal email Thursday that was later published by the media outlet. “These gifts have been treasured deeply by the Mills community and will now be sold in compliance with college regulations.”

Given to Mills College in 1977 by Marie Louise O’Brien — who’s father, Elias Olan James, taught English Literature at Mills and was a namesake of a Shakespeare collection at the campus's Olin Library — authentic copies of First Folios are notorious for fetching millions. And shattering records, whenever those sales are finalized.

The most recent trade of ownership of a copy was sold on the popular bookselling and auctioning website Christies in 2016 for $2.75 million; a First Folio was auctioned at a dizzying $6.1 million in 2001 — which in today’s money, would’ve been sold for the equivalent of $8.8 million — making it one of the most expensive 17th-century books ever sold. (That honor, however, goes to a Puritan book of psalms printed in 1640, one of only 1,700 thought to be made, that was purchased for more than $14 million in an NYC auction circa 2013.)

“It is the first collection of Shakespeare’s [thirty-six] plays and includes [fifteen] that have not been published separately before,” said Thomas Goldwasser, a well-respected book historian and seller in SF, waxed to the news site. “One would have to consider it the single most important work in English literature.” Currently, there are only 235 surviving copies of the book known worldwide.

Interestingly enough, the exact folio Mills College is putting up for sale was already evaluated in 2007 by Stuart Bennett, an SF-based rare bookseller, according to the Bay City News Group. To the news outlet, Bennet admitted that he’d be “very surprised” if the college’s copy didn’t sell for at least $4 milion, perhaps even eclipsing $6 million at its final sell.

Mozart’s score, though, isn’t expected to garner nearly as high of a price tag when all is said and done. Sources put its worth, conservatively, in the six-figure realm. We tracked down a recent like-penned score by the 18th-century-composer that sold in Paris for the equivalent of $420,304.

These two sales are part of the MillsNext Strategic Plan to help safeguard them from looming (and more severe) financial woes. But, with slipping attendance and graduation rates, only time will tell as to how much longer they can hold on by the skin of their teeth.

Related: Mills College In Oakland Votes To Lay Off Faculty Rather Than Admit Men

Image: Flickr via @BenSutherland

SFist’s stance on deplorable teens is well-documented, so we were naturally intrigued to see a new Macbeth send-up that uses inadequately monitored teenagers as symbols of bloodthirsty ambition. MacBitch, playing through August 19 at the Exit Theatre, is a “Frankenplay” that mashes up the seemingly incompatible genres of a Shakespeare palace-intrigue tragedy and a Mean Girls/Heathers-style teen-girl black comedy. Director Ariel Craft, whose recent work The Awakening made the Chronicle’s Top 10 Theater Picks for 2016, creates an all-woman Macbeth reboot that is manic and gruesome, but still a satisfying stab at combining teen comedy and Shakespearean tragedy.

Unlike Mean Girls and Heathers, MacBitch features adult actors mimicking teenage girls with a “we lived through this” sensibility that is unafraid to go full slapstick. Macbeth’s archetypes are mixed with stereotypical teen movie tropes, and the script shifts gears between plainspoken contemporary dialogue and classic poetic verse. Many of the modern updates to the source material are clever gifts that keep giving, like the three witches’ use of "cootie catcher" paper fortune tellers as black-magic talismans, or John Carpenter-inspired visual tricks employed in scene transitions.

In the Macbeth role of “Maxine,” we have Lauren Hayes, who has done legit Shakespeare before (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s Hamlet, 2015) and it really shows. She’s got a technical talent for delivering iambic pentameter credibly to the modern ear, and her comfort with both highbrow and lowbrow elements keeps this curious mashup afloat when it’s not sure which genre to be or not to be. A grisly body count does indeed accumulate in several scenes that are difficult to watch, but Rebecca Hodges (“Seymour”) does some uproarious, heavy comic lifting that takes off much of the edge.

Sketch comedy excess sometimes gets the upper hand in this production, but the hypnotic, almost-constant presence of the three witches onstage keeps MacBitch consistent with Macbeth’s dramatic, psychological roots. These goth witches are mesmerizingly choreographed, and beautiful, horrible monsters you cannot take your eyes off of.

Strict originalist Shakespeare fans may find this zany update to be “not Shakespeare enough.” There are Madonna lyrics interspersed into the Bard’s text. Some of the parody points — like a crude gag on the “washing hands” allegory that I thought was genius — require a certain emotionally arrested, Beavis and Butthead sense of humor to fully enjoy. That won’t appeal to the sensibilities of all Shakespeare people. But if you’re four paragraphs deep into a theatrical review of a teeny-bopper Shakespeare parody, there’s an awfully good chance that MacBitch would appeal to you.

MacBitch’s run coincides with our summer of teen mob attacks on BART, but that’s a Medium thinkpiece for another day. If you’re up for a bawdy but very smart comedic Shakespeare adaptation, the Exit Theatre is the damned spot to be out at for the next two weekends.

MacBitch plays through August 19 at the Exit Theatre. Tickets here.

The annual literary phenomenon known as Litquake is now held in 13 cities around the world, but just like with Major League Baseball teams — the best one is in San Francisco. Litquake was founded here in our fair city, and returns for its 16th year beginning Friday with more than 80 events over nine days at locations both conventional and ridiculous, offering encounters that will appeal to bookworms, poets, writers, bloggers, editors, footnote-takers, and all those who remember these things we used to call “books”.

Look, Litquake has a trailer this year! There’s a huge litter of literary events forthcoming, but we’ve picked out these 16 must-book Litquake 2016 engagements.

Friday, October 7
Shakespeare @ 400: Litquake's Opening Night Gala
William Shakespeare doesn’t look a day over 350, but the 400th anniversary of his death is commemorated at this Elizabethan Opening Night gala with “off-color” performances by SF Shakes, harpist Shelley Phillips and contemporary bard Gary Soto. $30, Green Room San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center, Tickets here

Saturday, October 8
I Thought It Sucked: One-Star Reviews of Best-Loved Books
Terrible comments are read by brilliant writers as random ignorants’ Amazon reviews of great novels are given proper literary readings by Lauren Parker, Lydia Popovich, Na'amen Tilahun, and others. $5, Elbo Room, Tickets here

GONZO: 50 Years of Hunter S. Thompson
Litquake co-founder Jack Boulware does the heavy lifting moderating this all-star panel of Hunter S. Thompson’s friends and chroniclers, featuring Susie Bright, Cintra Wilson and Salon co-founder Gary Kamiya. And did you know that there is a forthcoming Hunter S. Thompson anthology edited by the recently deceased Warren Hinckle? There is, and it will be read from. $20, Swedish American Hall, Tickets here

Teenquake + SFPL: Lit Swap
I’d be deplorable to not mention events in the adorable Teenquake series, which include this free public library bookswap, the October 11 Haiku-a-thon at Moleskine and the October 13 Sci-Fi vs. Fantasy. Free, San Francisco Public Library Main Branch,

Sunday, October 9
Riding Out Doomsday: Michelle Tea with Daniel Handler
San Francisco dykon Michelle Tea reads from her new book Black Wave and holds court with Daniel “Lemony Snicket” Handler. $15, American Bookbinders Museum, Tickets here

Poetry in Parks: An All-Day Celebration on Mt. Tamalpais
Could there be a more elegant Sunday than an all-day outdoor poetry reading on Mount Tamalpais? Sip and nibble on things to a marathon of top Bay Area poets at the Mountain Theater at Quiet Lightning’s 100th show. Free, Cushing Memorial-Mountain Theater, Mount Tamalpais

Monday, October 10
Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
The website you should be paying more attention to Atlas Obscura has a new book out, and Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders gets its San Francisco launch at this unveiling. Free, Book Club of California

Life During Wartime: A Night of Porchlight Storytelling
Porchlight is a big turn-on for longtime Litquake fans, and this set of war stories is accompanied by Marc and the Casuals’ Marc Chappelle and — of course — hosted by Beth Lisick and Arline Klatte. $20, Verdi Club, Tickets here

Photo via Facebook

Tuesday, October 11
Ghostland: Colin Dickey at Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose plays host to an author reading of Colin Dickey’s new book Ghostland followed by a discussion certain to be attended by terrifying ghosts of people killed by Winchester rifles. $15, Winchester Mystery House, Tickets here

I Almost Forgot About You: An Evening with Terry McMillan
Get your groove back with Waiting To Exhale author Terry McMillan, whose new book I Almost Forgot About You is just out to outstanding reviews. $15, Swedish-American Hall, Tickets here

Wednesday, October 12
An Evening With John Doe
X guitarist John Doe has a new book out about the late 70’s and early 80s punk scene, Under the Big Black Sun. He’ll read from it and sign copies at this event co-presented by NoisePop. $15, Swedish American Hall, Tickets here

Image: Ellen Datlow via Flickr

Straight, No Chaser: Writers at the Bar
The quintessential Litquake experience is a free drunk-author reading at North Beach’s Vesuvio Cafe, this one featuring Charlie Jane Anders, feminist Muslim Iranian-American comedian Zahra Noorbakhsh and Salon columnist D. Watkins. Free, Vesuvio Cafe

American Lyric: Claudia Rankine in Conversation
Claudia Rankine has the distinction of writing the only poetry book that’s landed on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list. Swedish American Hall, $15, Tickets here

Reading Roulette: Literary Karaoke With A Twist
Your ridiculous challenge, should you accept it, is to compete in a literary game show by reading random passages from well-known books in a randomly assigned celebrity impersonation voice. Seduction Feroce host Wonder Dave leads a literary panel that will judge contestants. Make-Out Room, $5, Tickets here

Thomas Dolby, The Speed Of Sound
Thomas Dolby has a new memoir out, and he’ll be blinding us with insights in a discussion with ex-Mythbuster Kari Byron. $15, Swedish American Hall, Tickets here

Litcrawl
The booziest and most open container-y event at Litquake’s is the grand finale Litcrawl, a crosstown hopscotch at venues both indoor and out that will turn out more than 10,000 people and incomparable ensembles of hipster apparel. Full schedule here, events are generally free

Image: Steven Damron via Flickr

Related: The 14 Best San Francisco-Set Novels

Tonight at the Cafe Royale in Russian Hill, the San Francisco Theater Pub Company will end their summer season with a production of Bill Shakespeare's Measure for Measure while you get pleasantly drunk.

The production is directed by Stuart Bousel and promises to be "a fast-paced, thought-provoking, atmospheric romp" around the cafe through the play's twelve scenes. The show starts promptly at 8 p.m. and admission is free, but the drinks will cost you. And if you love the production, or just want to tip the players there's a $5 suggested donation. We also suggest you show up early to get yourself a couple drinks and a good seat in the cafe.

Cafe Royale
800 Post Street at Leavenworth
[Event Details]

h/t: Funcheap SF

-- Marke B judges a damp jockstrap contest come midnight at ‘70s/‘80s retro dance club “The Rod.” Damn perverts. All of them. Goes from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. at Deco Lounge, 510 Larkin; $5.

-- Be safe and secure on Friday the 13th at the warm and cozy dance spot, Rickshaw Stop. Tonight “Ginormous” throws down jazz, Latin, post-punk, and p-funk DJ grooves. 10 p.m. at Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell; $7.

-- William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew gets a makeover via an infusion of leather fetishists, commedia dell'arte, hip hop moves added to this production of the classic tale of bitchery. Directed by Rob Melrose. Show starts at 8 p.m. the Magic Theatre, Building D, Fort Mason Center; tickets are $15-$30.

(Photo: Sara Krulwich/"The New York Times")

Other events:
--Always mean to get out to Orinda to see the summer Shakespeare? This year, it's Richard III, and tonight's preview is the first performance. $32 for tonight, and prices will go up once the show starts up for real. (However, for certain shows, folks under 30 can get $30 $15 tickets, and half-price rush tickets always become available 30 minutes before the show.)

--Assuage the guilt of not having read the book by reading it with people who don't know you, at the Books Inc. in the Marina's "Classics I Forgot To Read" book club. This month's book is by Raymond Chandler. 7:30 p.m., 2251 Chestnut (x Scott).

--A movie screening of Only Human, a comedy about family misunderstandings between Israelis and Palestinians at the Yerba Buena Film Center, as part of the SF Jewish Film Forum. $8, 7:30, 701 Mission (x 3rd).

--It's open mic night at Blondie's! Yikes! Signups by 6:30, performances at 7:30 and it goes until closing. 540 Valencia (x 16th).

--Get In Bed with Fairy Butch, with the queer-positive pro-sex erotic cabaret, with a speed dating session. 8 pm for the speed dating, 9 p.m. for the show, $10-20 sliding, and at the Rickshaw Stop (155 Fell, x Van Ness).

--And Paint It Purple happy hour fundraiser for the American Cancer Society at R Bar. $10 donation gets you $1 bud and $3 shots -- plus, there's going to be a raffle and the Tamale Lady may make an appearance! 6:30-9:30 p.m., 1176 Sutter (x Polk).

Anyways, enter away if you want to go-- we'll announce winners on Thursday. Good luck!

Anyhoo, the winner for best picture is Little Children and no, it's not the prequel to "Little Woman." It's a movie that was out for a bout a week, starring Kate Winslet about people making sexy time in the suburbs. In fact, from what we read, it was a movie about alienation and angst in suburbia and you never see enough of those kind of movies. Also from that movie, Jackie Earle Haley won for Best Supporting Actor for playing a child molester and we think that's awesome just because he played the immortal Kelly Leak in the Bad News Bears. Could this mean we could be years away from an award going to the guy who played Tanner?

Also of note, the winner of the Best Actor award is Mr. Borat himself, Sacha Baron Cohen. A lot of people seem to think he's Best Actor material mainly because he never dropped out of his character at any point in the movie. Plus, people who go out of their way to do sacrifice something for the movie-- play ugly, gain weight,etc.-- always seem to get award nominations and we can't think of anyone who sacrificed more for any movie considering he wrestled naked with that big, fat hairy dude. Talk about going all out for the movie.

Here's the other winners
Best Director- Paul Greengrass, Flight 93 (we heard this was good but we think even a Holocaust movie would have been more fun).
Best Actress- Helen Mirren, The Queen (because all old English actresses with a background in Shakespeare have to win awards-- it's in the Film Critics rulebook)
Best Original Screenplay- Rian Johnson, Brick (didn't it start the dude from "Third Rock From The Sun"? It did!)
Best Adapted Screenplay- Director Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children
Best Supporting Actress- Adriana Barraza, Babel

Full list of winners can be seen here

at Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Never underestimate the power of silly. Besides, not all theater has to be Theater. Geoff Sobelle and Trey Lyford mix Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton and Samuel Beckett's existential clowns to create a sort of postmodern interpretation of vaudeville, playing a pair of clowns that have come out of the silent-film era. A hit around the world, All Wear Bowlers arrives at Berkeley Rep in time for the holidays. Apparently, if you wear your bowler, you get a free gift. Report back: I'd love to know what they're handing out.
Playing November 24 through December 23

Gibraltar at The Thick House
Penned by one of our best local playwrights, Octavio Solis, Gibraltar had its world premiere at Oregon Shakespeare Festival a couple of summers ago and finally gets its San Francisco run thanks to Thick Description. This magical plays centers on an artist who's lost her love when he disappears from his boat just beyond the Golden Gate Bridge.
Playing November 17 through December 17

But wait! There's more….

at Berekley Repertory Theatre
The best theater experiences happen when you go in not knowing what to expect, and then the show blows you away. If you agree, then stop reading right now and buy tickets to Passing Strange before it heads to New York. If you need more convincing--or just love your Stage Fog--read on. Now, we really can't call this a review, because we went to a preview, and a first preview at that. The only thing we knew about the show was something about an "African American man's musical search for authenticity." Most musicals in this vein are about as authentic as acrylic nails. (Anyone see the last touring production of Rent?) But Passing Strange made this cynical, 10-year local theater veteran a believer. Penned and narrated by the charismatic Stew, the musical features his band and a group of superb actors. Youth--the main character--escapes the confines of his catty Baptist church in plastic LA for a tour of Amsterdam and Berlin, meeting potheads and performance artists who force him to confront his own self-delusions. Sounds rather typical, but Stew infuses this story with gut-punching songs, some of which don't let the audience off easy like those chirpy Broadway tunes do. Put simply, Passing Strange is authentic to itself. If more new musicals looked like this, we might yet see a revitalization of Broadway.
Playing through December 3

Adam Pascal Live at Post Street Theatre
Ah, Adam, you're not sore about that little dig we made at Rent, are you? We meant the touring production, not the original. (Well, we didn't see the original, nor did we see the movie, but we're sure you were great in them.) And you're not just some musical theater geek, but write modern rock songs, too? (Modern rock?) Baby, you are so gonna steal this show.
Playing October 27 & 28

Chicago at the Orpheum Theatre
As far as we're concerned, the latest film version of the musical practically trumps all revivals. But, the only reason we’re mentioning this is because it stars Huey Lewis in the role of Billy Flynn. We'll give you a moment to let this sink in. Huey Lewis. Wait, it gets better. John O'Hurley also performs two performances only (run kids, get tickets now). Yes, as in Family Feud. What the short press release fails to mention is his other notable TV appearances in, wait for it, Dancing with the Stars. And the Ms. America Pageant. OK, OK, he was in several Seinfeld episodes. But what a star lineup! Really, the reviews can go either way. Place your bets now.
Playing October 24 through November 5

Hamlet: Blood in the Brain at Intersection for the Arts
OK, seriously. Settle down now, because this show is not to be missed. Now, the last thing we expect from Campo Santo is Shakespeare. So, this isn't your typical Shakespeare. The company has hooked up with California Shakespeare Theater (artistic director Jonathan Moscone directs) and playwright Naomi Iizuka to reimagine the Bard's most famous play in the context of 1980s Oakland, complete with the drugs and the poverty. Remember, like with Stew, authenticity is key. Iizuka and company ran numerous workshops for about three years with the community's residents to create the story of a young man who confronts neighborhood violence and his own familial obligations. Now, this isn't simply Hamlet plopped down in a modern time period, but a new play that merges traditional theater with real vernacular and marginalized genres. In other words, it looks more like a gritty Campo Santo play than a stuffy Shakespeare piece.
Playing October 26 through November 20

Photo of Stew in Passing Strange taken by Kevin Berne.

For more stage options, check out the listings at the Guardian, the Express, the SF Weekly, and the calendar on Theatre Bay Area's website.

There's usually two ways we go about doing this. One of them is to compare something in sports to something in pop culture. Like "What Member of the 2006 Yankees is Like a cast-member of 'Saved by the Bell'" or "the Giants outfield is pretty much the baseball equivelant of Larry, Darryl, and Darryl." The other way is to break something down by relating something to quotes from some popular form of entertainment.

So, in keeping with this tradition, we here at SFist will break down the upcoming NFL season with quotes from one of our favorite personages of pop culture-- Moliere. Cause nothing says American football like Enlightenment-era French dramatists. Grab a seat, put on some chamber music, and put on your favorite wig as SFist takes a look at the new NFL year!