Because of its size, it was a popular destination for touring actors and
companies.
But its real importance lies with the Parsi community,
who after 1850 quickly recognized the potential of theater both for
educational, reformist and commercial purposes.
The Parsis of Persian origin were successful merchants and
typical intermediaries or cultural brokers.
They mediated between the English colonial administration and
India's multireligious and multilingual population.
Between 1850 and 1900, Parsis adapted the European proscenium stage,
the genres of melodrama, tragedy and comedy, and
mixed them with Indian mythological stories to produce a remarkable and
commercially successful theater that traveled all over the Indian subcontinent.
As Bombay developed from a colonial port into a major industrial center,
the city's theater houses in their specific urban locations
became indices of emerging social and cultural formations.
The three areas in which theater houses were built in Bombay
formed distinct locations in the urban landscape.