In the 1940s and 50s Hispanic theater waned, only surviving in mutual aid societies, church halls, and lodges for smaller audiences. In 1940, Puerto Rican dramatist
René Marqués began to develop an awareness of the Puerto Rican experience in the United States while studying playwriting in New York. After returning to San Juan, he wrote the play
La Carreta. The story of
La Carreta dramatized a family dislocated from their farm and resettling into a slum in San Juan, and then to New York City. It resonated with many immigrant families who felt that their history, language and culture of the working class were represented in a serious dramatic form. The play was first produced in 1953, directed by Roberto Rodríguez and starring the young actress
Miriam Colón. The success of the play allowed Rodríguez and Colón to form the first permanent Hispanic theatrical group to have its own space, Teatro Arena, Despite its short life though, it still had a huge impact on the Puerto Rican theater scene. Many new groups began to form, inspired by the success of
El Nuevo Círculo Dramatico and another group,
La Farándula Panamericana. Some of these groups include:
El Nuevo Teatro Pobre de las Américas,
Teatro Orilla,
Teatro Guazabara,
Teatro Jurutungo, and most notably
Teatro Cuatro, which still exists to this day. == Puerto Rican Traveling Theater Company ==