A major development in research in latin american humanities in recent years has been the emergence of theater as a recognized research discipline, and a consequent, although uneven, increase in published investigation. Further, there has been a major shift in emphasis, in that the formerly predominant concentration on the Colonial period and the national approach has been broadened to include a rather considerable amount of material dealing with the 20th century. Before pursuing this further, however, it is necessary to outline certain problems which distinguish research in the field from other specialities within the extremely broad scope of Hispanic literature.