What are the defining characteristics of Ontario's French language theatrical institution between 1971 and 1991, the period during which it distinguished itself from the larger French-Canadian theatrical institution and attained an unprecedented autonomy? History informs us that from the creation of the Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario in 1971 onward, a small community of semi-professional artists scattered throughout the province and inspired by a sense of nationalism not unlike that felt in Québec during the same period worked to create an autonomous French-language theatrical institution grounded specifically in Ontario. Their efforts took the form of a community-inspired, popular and highly-politicized practice which, had it attained the desired goals, would have directly contributed to the creation of a Franco-Ontarian nation, or at the very least, of a new identity free of the submissive characteristics and folkloric tendencies which defined the French-Canadian identity prior to this period. During the 1980's, confronted with the partial success of the aforementioned project, the growing hostility between a bilingual population and artists who refused to work in English, their limited resources and their need to improve the quality of productions in order to increase public funding, members of this same community abandoned practices which linked them too closely with their immediate audience base. They then set out to build institutional links with Québec and more specifically, Montréal, that offered the resources necessary in order to attain new goals. The changing organization of the Franco-Ontarian institution during this period and the evolution of structures and norms that accompanied a trajectory which led practitioners from dreams of autonomy to those of metropolitan consecration, represents the principal object of inquiry of this thesis. Elements of Pierre Bourdieu's writings on processes linked to "institutionalization"--seen as a process--allow for the identification of those control mechanisms specific to French language theatrical practice in Ontario through which this institution defined and governed itself: particular emphasis is placed on mechanisms and norms which are geographic, ideological and esthetic in nature.