The Theater Department began to function in 1963 when as small academic group for specialized theatrical and film studies in the framework of the Institute of Fine Arts. The first full time collaborators were Nevyana Indjieva, Lada Paneva, Alexander Alexandrov, Chavdar Dobrev. From 1966 till 1973 there is a separate department History and Theory of Bulgarian Theater and Cinema. Initially the small group of scientists and later the department laid the grounds of the scientific study of the history of the Bulgarian theater. Discussed were also the theoretical problems of the aesthetic of theater.
Head of the Theater Department is Assoc. Prof. Rumyana Nikolova