The inaugural performance was scheduled to be Giuseppe Verdi's Aida but illness struck the title-role singer Emma Renzi and the production was replaced by CAPAB Ballet's Sylvia.

Other productions in the opening season were Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in Afrikaans and Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

The complex includes: The Artscape Theatre Centre was originally commissioned by the Provincial Administration of the Cape Province and run by CAPAB (Cape Performing Arts Board).

The development and design was contracted to Murray and Roberts Construction now called Concor.

The centre was privatized and renamed in March 2001, when the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) was dissolved.