Theatre has had a long vigorous history in Latin America beginning with the missionary theatre of the colonial period. At the time of Independence, theatre was a popular spectacle in the cities of Mexico and Lima. In the nineteenth century, European opera companies travelled to Latin America often risking attacks by bandits and political turbulence, and Italian theatre companies often toured the River Plate region. In addition to this fashionable theatre, fiestas had always had a theatrical side in rural Latin America and with emigration and urbanisation, there also developed a popular tradition of the travelling ‘carpa’ (the circus tent) where the urban popular classes saw melodramas and comic acts. This grass-roots theatre tradition was continued into the age of mass culture as carpa comedians like Cantinflas became popular in film and travelling theatre companies adapted their work to radio.

Despite the popularity of theatre and spectacle, Latin-American theatre has, in general, not been as innovative as the novel and lyric poetry.

At the turn of the century, the Argentine writer Roberto Payró (1867–1928) along with Uruguayan writer, Florencio Sánchez (1875–1910) introduced naturalist drama to the River Plate region. Sánchez was the first Spanish-American dramatist to attempt to reflect the contemporary problems of immigration in plays such as M'hijo el dotor [My Boy, the Doctor] (1903) and Barranca abajo [Downhill] (1905) which centre on the trials and tribulations of immigrants.