There has always been theater in Hildburghausen. It all began with comedic popular entertainment and school theater. Lucas May, a pupil of Melanchthon, a playwright living in Hildburghausen, wrote a comedy in 1562 entitled „Von der wunderbarlichen Vereinigung göttlicher Gerechtigkeit und Barmherzigkeit“ (On the Wonderful Union of Divine Justice and Mercy). A court comedian is mentioned for the first time in 1717. Around 1720, „Hildburghausen court comedian troupes“ were on the road in Germany, e.g. in Stralsund and Naumburg. In 1721, a ball and fencing house was built in Hildburghausen for sporting exercise, a prefiguration of tennis. Comedies were also performed there. This makes the Stadttheater Hildburghausen the oldest free-standing theater in Germany in which theater was performed without major interruption. 

Following extensive renovation and expansion, the theater is now available as a modern venue with around 400 seats for theater performances, concerts, shows, lectures and conferences.