Founded in 1978, The Studio Theatre is Washington's premiere stage for the best in contemporary theatre. Led by Founding Artistic Director Joy Zinoman, The Studio Theatre has built a national reputation for the production of area premieres of bold American and European works, innovative revivals and arresting performance art. A highly energetic, eclectic urban theatre, The Studio is dedicated to the primacy of performance, intimacy between actor and audience, and the highest standard production values. The Studio Theatre has received nearly 200 Helen Hayes Award nominations for artistic excellence since the awards were founded in 1985.

Joy Zinoman founded The Studio Theatre in artistic association with Resident Set Designer Russell Metheny. Virginia Crawford, an advocate who shared their vision for a new professional theatre in Washington, DC, joined them.

For two years a studio space at 1443 Rhode Island Ave, NW was shared with The Dance Exchange and Zenith Gallery. Sets had to be dismantled after each performance for the group's use. In 1980, Joy, Russell and Virginia rented a warehouse at 1401 Church St, NW, which had been used to store hot dog vending carts. The intimate 110-seat theatre they built in that space served The Woolly Mammoth Theatre and later The Studio Theatre Secondstage from 2000 to 2001.

Sold out houses soon dictated a need for a still larger space. In October 1987, the theatre moved to its current location at 1333 P St, NW, an historic Peerless and REO automobile showroom that had become the Petrovich Auto Repair Shop. The Studio Theatre converted the ground floor into the 200-seat Mead Theatre and built offices and classrooms on the third floor. In 1993, the Theatre purchased the building, successfully completing Phase I of the Campaign to Secure the Future. In March 1997, The Studio completed a sweeping $5.5 million renovation (designed by Russell Metheny) of the building, successfully completing Phase II of the capital campaign. The major component from the renovation was the addition of the Milton Theatre, a 200-seat sister space to the Mead Theatre, making The Studio Theatre a national trendsetter and developer of the two-theatre model. Studio completed the final phase of the campaign, which was to provide long-term security for the organization, when the mortgage was paid off in 1999.

The Studio Theatre continued changing the face of DC's Logan Circle neighborhood and enhancing opportunities for artists by taking on the first major project of its kind on 14th St, NW. On October 9, 2001, The Studio Theatre embarked on a bold new expansion and announced the purchase of two buildings adjoining the current facility - this first step in an $11 million capital campaign: The Changing Face of 14th Street. With the addition of the property at 1509 14th St, NW, The Studio is now the owner of two of the six historic automobile showrooms built in the 1920s on 14th Street. The Studio, a champion in historical preservation and developing found-space theatres, is once again having award-winning Resident Designer Russell Metheny head the project to adapt the new buildings. Metheny continued his industrial urban design style from the current building into the new ones including a stunning plan to heighten the two-story central building (1507 14th St, NW) with a breathtaking glass atrium. Two additional theatres were added to the complex and the interior spaces of the three buildings will be opened up allowing artists, patrons and staff to easily flow from space to space. The buildings' exterior was unified while maintaining the architectural integrity of the historic facades.

The Studio Theatre helped pave the way for the revival of the Greater 14th Street Historic District, which has recently experienced an explosion of development. With the expansion underway, The Studio Theatre continues to strengthen its foothold as an economic cornerstone in this neighborhood, which Joy Zinoman describes as "urban and alive and a place where people from all communities of this area come together. And you should see it at night with the lights of the theatre shining!"