meaning of a sentence
Does this sentence: "given very short notice about the pending playbill" in the following paragraph mean that "printed versions of the stories contained brief information about the live performance as well"?

"Often given very short notice about the pending playbill, Beijing opera stories were drawn, printed, and sold before the opening night of a performance at a cost that was less than the price of a ticket to see the show."

Question

meaning of a sentence
Does this sentence: "given very short notice about the pending playbill"  in the following paragraph mean that "printed versions of the stories contained brief information about the live performance as well"?

"Often given very short notice about the pending playbill, Beijing opera stories were drawn, printed, and sold before the opening night of a performance at a cost that was less than the price of a ticket to see the show."

Answer

If you "give notice of" something to someone, you inform another of something which will happen in the future.  If you "give short notice", there is only a short time between your information and the event itself.

In this idiom, the word "notice" does not mean a physical notice.

"Pending" is an adjective relating to something which is scheduled but has not yet happened.

Answer

No. "To give short notice" means to allow very little notification or warning before something occurs. In this case, the opera stories were produced extremely quickly because they were not told about them until right before they happened.