Šiauliai Drama Theater was founded on September 23, 1931. It was the second professional theater in Lithuania, whose mission is to nurture and spread theater art throughout Northern Lithuania. The first director of the theater was the well-known cultural figure, director and actor Juozas Staniulis, who managed the theater in 1931-1942. The first performance is the fairy tale "Princess Turandot" directed by Boris Dauguvietis by Karl Goccio. in 1935 the theater was moved to Klaipėda, but after four years, the troupe returned to Šiauliai after being dispersed. Despite the difficult working conditions, famous actors of that time worked in the Šiauliai Drama Theater: Potencija Pinkauskaitė, Elena Bindokaitė, Stepas Jukna, Juozas Rudzinskas, Galina Jackevičiūtė, Stasys Pilka, etc. In 1940, the theater moved to a permanent theater building. Prominent actors worked in the theater: Kazimieras Tumkevičius, Stasys Paska, Naubertas Jasinskas, Alfonsas Dobkevičius, Liudas Dapšys, Leonas Zmirskas, Albina Simokaitytė, Vytautas Benokraitis, Pranas Piaulokas and others. The following directors worked in Šiauliai Drama Theater: Juozas Stanulis, Josif Šeinas, Mamerts Karklelis, Kazimieras Tamkevičius, Aurelija Ragauskaitė, Saulius Varnas, Gytis Padegimas, Rolandas Atkočiūnas, Peteris Stoičevas, Sigitas Račkys, Rimantas Teresas, Regina Steponavičiūtė, Algimantas Pociūnas, Vytautas V. Landsbergis, Aidas Giniotis, Arvydas Lebeliūnas, Sigitas Račkys, Jonas Vaitkus, Antanas Gluskinas, Albertas Vidžiūnas and others.
The Šiauliai Drama Theater has the status of a state repertory theater. The Great and Small halls are open in the theater. The repertoire includes performances for adults and children. The theater tours in various cities of the country, participates in festivals, and organizes educational activities. Every year, 4-6 premieres are presented to the audience during the theater season.
Since 2016 the theater is managed by Aurimas Žvinys, currently the artistic director is Nomeda Šatkauskienė.
During that time, the repertoire of the theater was significantly updated. Along with classic, well-known works (T. Williams' "The Tram of Desires", Eugene O'Neill's "Love under the Elms", Aldo Nicolaj's "Autumn Story", Petros Vaičiūnas' "Patriots", W. Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"), modern dramaturgy is abundantly staged , which includes a variety of innovative dramatic forms of expression. During the last five years, many young directors with distinctive creative features have worked in the theater: Paulius Ignatavičius, Agnius Jankevičius, Šarūnas Datenis, Artūras Areima, Monika Klimaitė, Goda Palekaitė, Aleksandras Špilevoj, Jonas Tertelis. In 2020, one of the most famous contemporary directors, Oskars Koršunovas, created the performance "Remyga" based on a play written especially for the theater by Rimantas Kmita.
The theater actively participates in the cultural life of the city and is open to new creative initiatives and cooperation.
