Today, Italian-Americans are largely integrated into the mainstream of American society. Nearly vanished is the simple, lively immigrant culture of the first generation of Italian-Americans. New York City, the center of that immigrant culture, once had a thriving theatre which served a large segment of the city's Italian-speaking population. Although the Italian-American theatre was a major ethnic theatre, its history remains neglected, and is virtually unknown to historians outside the area of Italian-American studies.