It was founded by Karl Schuch and was situated in Behrenstraße, replacing the temporary wooden stages on the Gendarmenmarkt nearby.
From 1768 on Karl Theophil Döbbelin served as an interim director and after Schuch died on 3 January 1775, Heinrich Gottfried Koch took over on 10 June the same year.
When Koch died in 1775, Döbbelin became the theatre's director on 17 April.
Among the most notable premieres where Goethe's Götz von Berlichingen in 1774 and Lessing's Nathan the Wise in 1783.
In 1892 the Komische Oper Berlin was erected basically at the same location, restarting the theatrical tradition, though mainly concentrating on operettas and musicals while more serious plays were performed in the National-Theater at Gendarmenmarkt from 1802 onwards.