The investigation is a historical survey tracing the development of Casa Mañana Musicals, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, from its experimental beginning in 1958 as the first permanent musical arena theatre in the United States, through twenty-three subsequent seasons. The study includes a chapter on the origins of theatre and the influences behind its concept dating back to the 1936 Casa Mañana produced by Billy Rose. Subsequent chapters deal with the theatre's seasons and its struggle to gain acceptance. The theatre's more recent financial and labor problems are also considered. Major sources include such unpublished data as production and financial records of the theatre, contracts, correspondence, minutes of the board of directors, and interviews. Published sources include accounts in newspapers and periodicals.

This study analyzed The Children's Hour, The Little Foxes, Watch on the Rhine, Toys in the Attic in terms of the forms of human love delineated by Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving. The motives and actions of one or more principal characters and their dramatic situations were studied. It was discovered that, in the plays that were examined, each character responded to his or her situation in a loving or a hateful manner and that these choices with regard to love provided the dramatic matrix of the play.