The theatre program really began when the Communications Department was founded in 1977. A degree in theatre became available at this time and students began performing shows in the Little Theatre in the basement of Duns Scotus. The first show was Blithe Spirit, written by Noel Coward. Over the next years, the department performed all sorts of shows through plays, musicals, student-directed scenes & one-acts, reader's theatre, and children's theatre. 
          Rose Klassen, who is credited with starting the theatre major, was a director and costume designer at Stritch until she transferred to SUNY-Fredonia in 1985 and stayed there until her retirement in 2000. David Oswald, who arrived in 1978 and had split directing duties with Klassen while also doing technical direction, took over central duties when she left. He continues as departmental chair of Stritch theatre today. In 1988, David Krajec arrived and became the full-time technical director and Robert Liebhauser, who arrived in 1989, now works mainly as full-time costume designer and director.
          In 1984, due to extensive flood damage in the Little Theatre, the department reduced the number of shows per-year to two, essentially doing one musical and one "straight play". In 1986, Androcles and the Lion became the first department show performed in Schroeder Auditorium. 
          By 1989, The Little Theatre was in shambles. During the fall and the following spring it was underwent major renovations, including a new lighting grid. The next fall, Stritch began it's current three shows per-year format and the first show in the "new" Little Theatre was Waiting for the Parade in February 1991. Unfortunately, its use remained limited as flooding was still a problem. The final show in the theatre was Dancing at Lughnasa, which closed on March 5, 1995. The Little Theatre was demolished in the summer of 2000, when Stritch completely renovated the basement of Duns Scotus for new classrooms for the College of Business & Management.

          On May 4, 1997, Little Shop of Horrors was the final Stritch show performed in Schroeder Auditorium. The Communications/Fine Arts Building was now completed with a new up-to-date main-stage theater and a studio theater space. To commemorate the new space, the very theatrical musical The Sound of Music was performed to sold-out audiences.
          The studio theatre space is used as a showcase for students to experiment and direct their own shows. Directing class scenes have been performed in the space, along with original shows and post-modern, rarely-produced works. In 2000, to grab more attention to the Studio program, two moderately mainstream plays were performed, with successful student-directed productions of Glengarry Glen Ross and Jake's Women produced during the year.
          In 2001-2002, there were more opportunities for students than there has been in a long time, with a total of six shows: On the mainstage, Dracula was staged in October; Medea was performed in February, and Two By Two in April on the mainstage. In the studio theatre, Oleanna was performed in October, Antigone in December and a "Scene Night" in May. For the first time in about fifteen years, a children's theatre show [Androcles and the Lion] was performed by Stritch theatre.