The relationship between literary text and theatrical performance is the subject of intense discussion and occasional animosity between those who believe that performance is only the faithful translation of the text from one medium to another and those for whom a playscript is only a starting point or a secondary element to performance. We do know, however, that the comedias were written to be performed, that there are performance signs imbedded in the texts themselves, and that if we ignore performance altogether we end up teaching the literary texts as though they were novels or poems. The problem that this essay hopes to address is the manner in which one can adequately and meaningfully approach the comedia as theater as well as drama.