Ethnic theater in the United States provided both a profession and a social world for early-twentiethcentury immigrants. Cultural and language ties were maintained through the performances and through the act of gathering together to view them. Theatricals provided a festive, nurturing atmosphere, and ethnic theater groups supported other community institutions, from public charities to parochial schools. In the first decade of the century, when immigration was at high tide, ethnic theaters flourished not only in urban areas but also as traveling troupes. Yiddish theater was especially popular in the East, but many other ethic groups also had their own theater troupes. Mexican American repertory companies had been active since the last third of the nineteenth century, and more than a hundred troupes toured Texas, New Mexico, and California during 1900-1909. The best known was the Hernandez-Villalongin...