This paper examines the early representations of the "gecekondu mahallesi," the informal settlement or the shantytown in Turkish theater. First staged in 1964, the epic play, “Keşanlı Ali Destanı” can be understood as a critique of the policies of urbanization (or lack thereof) of Turkey under Democrat Party (1950-1960). Haldun Taner’s representation of the migrant as poor and wholesome—a stoic, larger than life figure—bears close resemblance to the Turkish “humanist” discourse in art and literature of the same period, which underplayed ethnic difference and aestheticized an “authentic” culture. The success that the play enjoyed in its first decade makes it relevant beyond the sphere of influence of Turkey’s left-leaning humanist intellectuals, however. Taner’s play pioneered in a new genre in mass culture, prompting a slew of new films representing gecekondu in Turkish cinema. Central to this inquiry will be the intersection of a literary topos—that of “gecekondu”—with a political geography and real urban spaces.