It was the first theatre in the Ottoman Turkey where plays were performed by Turkish actors, whereas previous theatres in the Ottoman Empire had only employed Western travelling theatre troupes or non-Muslim Ottoman people such as Armenians.
Güllü Agop of the Oriental Theater became the director of the Gedikpaşa in 1867.
He founded a theater company called Ottoman Theatre, which performed at the Gedikpaşa; the name of the building and the name of the theater company performing there therefore became synonyms.
Modern theater in the Ottoman Empire was long dominated by first foreign actors, and then from the 1850s by Ottoman actors from the religious minorities, primarily Christian Armenians.
After the closure of the Gedikpaşa, the modern theater in Istanbul was dominated by the Ottoman Theatre Company (1884-1908), composed by several actors from the Gedikpaşa Tiyatrosu, until the foundation of the Darülbedayi in 1914 (Istanbul City Theatres known as 1934).