The conservatory, which was founded in İstanbul in 1914 under the name “Darülbedayi-i Osmaniye”, influenced the development of Turkish theater a great deal. Hence the first significant contribution to the transformation of the theater into a contemporary branch of art during the Republic era came from the eminent dramaturge Muhsin Ertuğrul, who took charge of the Darülbedayi in 1927. The Darülbedayi which was affiliated to İstanbul municipality in 1931, was renamed the İstanbul City Theater in 1934. Moreover, Turkey’s first Children’s Theater, another venture by Muhsin Ertuğrul, was established in 1935 on the sidelines of the İstanbul City Theater.

In parallel with these important developments, the Ankara State Conservatory was inaugurated in 1936 and the Tatbikat Sahnesi (Applied Theater Hall) was established in 1941, when the conservatory produced its first graduates. The law establishing the “State Theaters and Opera” was enacted in 1949. The State Theaters, which are run by a Directorate General under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism since 1970, keep serving the theatergoer through its directorates in various provinces. During 2006-2007 season, the State Theaters showed to 823,000 theaters goers nearly 3,000 performances through February 2007 of 117 different plays, 65 Turkish and 52 foreign, at the 45 stages on tours of Gaziantep, Çorum and Aydın as well as regular theatre directorates.

The State Theaters organized tours in 81 provinces, sub-provinces and villages during the fall season between October 2006 and May 2007 and has planned to organize tours in provinces, sub-provinces and villages during the summer season. With the Ancient Theaters Meeting first organized last summer, it was planned to stage plays in ancient theaters in Side, Efes and Aspendos.

In addition, a variety of international and national theater festivals are organized in Turkey every year.

Amateur groups also sprouted up in the 1960s and theatrical activities became more widespread. The Dormen Theater, founded in 1955, assumed its place among the successful groups of the 1960s in terms of selection of plays, working discipline and direction of plays. The Oraloğlu Theater, founded in 1960, and the Gülriz Sururi-Engin Cezzar Ensemble, founded in 1962, managed to maintain a certain artistic level in their performances until recent times. The Ankara Sanat Tiyatrosu (Ankara Art Theater), which was set up in 1963 and is still performing today, has been receiving critical acclaim for the direction and artistic quality of its performances. Many of the private theaters set up in the 1960s and 1970s included children’s theaters and scores of private children’s theaters were also established.