The National Theater is the first Albanian professional theater and was established on May 17, 1945. Under the direction of Sokrat Mio, the comedy "Topazi" was put on stage and was considered " the founding show of the Theater”.
In the period before the 90s, the Albanian state tried to orient the Theater (which was called the People's Theater during that period) in providing a repertoire of "socialist realism" plays by authors from the Eastern countries, but in addition to them, premieres were also staged from world dramaturgy such as: "The Auditor" by Gogol, "Othello" by Shakespeare, "Servant of two masters" by C. Goldoni.
Called the People's Theater until 1989, today it is called the National Theatre.
After the 90s, there is a wider presence of foreign repertoire with works by well-known authors such as: "The Two Gentlemen from Verona" by Shakespeare; "Fernando Kraft wrote me a letter" by T.Dorst, "Dom Juan" by Moliere; "The True Apology of Socrates", "Quo Vadis"; "Dream of a winter night" by I. Kadare; "Man, virtue, animal" by L. Pirandelo; "Enemy of the People" by H. Ibsen, etc.
The National Theater is located in the premises of the ArTurbina building. This building aims to preserve the memory of the old building and transform it into a turbine that produces art. Almost all the spaces of the building are multifunctional. Together with the new public square, ArTurbina creates an art platform.
In the most visible upper corner, there is a transparent cylinder, which creates one of the most suggestive elements of the building for visitors and artists. The cylinder has served as the artistic signal of many art events until now.