This book examines the prolific and widely-attended popular theater boom
of the género chico criollo in the context of Argentina's
modernization. Victoria Lynn Garrett examines how selected plays
mediated the impact of economic liberalism, technological changes, new
competing and contradictory gender roles, intense labor union activity,
and the foreign/nativist dichotomy. Popular theaters served as spaces
for cultural agency by portraying conventional and innovative
performances of daily life. This dramatic corpus was a critical mass
cultural medium that allowed audiences to evaluate the dominant fictions
of liberal modernity, to critique Argentina's purportedly democratic
culture, and to imagine alternative performances of everyday life in
accordance with their realities. Through a fresh look at the
relationship among politics, economics, popular culture, and performance
in Argentina's modernization period, the book uncovers largely
overlooked articulations of popular-class identities and desires for
greater inclusion that would drive social and political struggles to
this day.