In Citizens on Stage, James F. McGlew analyzes Athenian Old Comedy as a model for understanding political life in Athens during the late fifth and early fourth century B.C. During this period, new concepts of political participation developed--both supportive of democracy, and hostile to it--that reshaped notions of citizenship. Old Comedy gives Citizens on Stage its theoretical backbone; the career of Aristophanes roughly defines the period on which the book concentrates. These plays often enacted fantastic stories of common individuals triumphing over the social and political dilemmas of democratic Athens. McGlew shows that these plays rehearsed the emerging relationship between Athenians' private lives and their political involvements, reaffirming ties between the desires of individual citizens and the will of the collective body. In particular, McGlew argues that these comedies helped to transform citizens' private fantasies of personal power and pleasure into a collective possession and a touchstone of each Athenian citizen's democratic identity.