University of Utah Department of Theatre photograph collection, circa 1920-2007

The study of dramatics was first introduced at the University of Utah by Maude May Babcock in 1895 when she presented the Greek drama Eleusthenia as a part of elocution and physical education. In the early 1900s, the theatre (or theater) curriculum became a part of the Speech Department. In 1930, theatre got its first official home on the University of Utah campus when Kingsbury Hall was opened. Theatre was separated from the Speech Department in 1962 when the Department of Theatre and Ballet was created. This department was later divided into the Department of Theatre and the Department of Ballet in 1966. Film studies and video production were later added to the department's curriculum in the 1970s. In 1976, the University of Utah established a Musical Theatre degree program.

As part of its mission to train students for careers in acting and stage production, the University of Utah Department of Theatre (or Theater Department) has operated the 125-seat Babcock Theatre in the basement of the Pioneer Memorial Theatre as its main stage and the Lab Theatre/Studio 115 in the Performing Arts Building as a venue for more independent and experimental student productions. The annual Classical Greek Theatre Festival was begun in 1971 and has performed throughout Utah and in other western states.

In addition to providing theatre education for college-aged students, the University of Utah has a long history of providing education in dramatics to children and youth, as well as producing theatre for youth audiences. Maude May Babcock frequently cast children and youth eighteen and under in her dramatic presentations, and her University Dramatics Club regularly included teenagers under the age of eighteen. Under Theatre Department Chair C. Lowell Lees, several productions for young people were offered at Kingsbury Hall a year. In 1943, Vern Adix established Young People's Season, or Young People's Theatre. In 1982, Dr. Xan S. Johnson was recruited to the Department of Theatre to build a graduate program for Child Drama; the next summer, in 1983, Dr. Johnson founded the Theatre School for Youth. In 1999, the Theatre School for Youth was renamed Youth Theatre (YTU) and placed jointly in the Department of Theatre and the Department of Continuing Education. In 2001, Amy Oakeson re-established the Young People's Season of Plays at the Babcock Theatre.