Disenchanted with Broadway, they intended to form a theater with a resident acting company, to perform classic plays in rotating repertory, while maintaining the highest professional standards.

In 1959, Sir Tyrone Guthrie published a small invitation in the drama page of The New York Times soliciting communities' interest and involvement in a resident theater.

Throughout the 1960s, the Guthrie found critical acclaim in its productions of Henry V, St. Joan, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Three Sisters and The House of Atreus.

[2] Also starting in 1968, the Guthrie established the tradition of producing plays on smaller stages within the Twin Cities area, including the Crawford-Livingston Theater in St. Paul and The Other Place.

In 1971, Michael Langham became the Guthrie's next artistic director, staging classic productions which included Oedipus Rex, Love's Labour's Lost, She Stoops to Conquer, and A Streetcar Named Desire.

Wright shared with his predecessor Ciulei a vision for the theater which included the desire to have a second, smaller stage which could serve as a kind of laboratory, enabling exploration of new work and performance techniques.

Wright was able to combine critical and popular success with a series of productions that helped reestablish a large, enthusiastic and loyal audience base.

Productions from this period include The Misanthrope, Richard III, The Screens, Medea, As You Like It, and a trilogy of Richard II, Henry IV (Parts I and II) and Henry V. Wright also cultivated a series of outreach programs, which were designed to garner expanded interest in theater among young people, involving high school and college instructors in the effort.

Paired with an innovative philosophy that included a resident acting company with high professional standards was a unique design concept in the stage itself.

Rapson had also worked on some preliminary sketches of the Walker Art Center, which donated land on Vineland Place for the Guthrie's construction.

Guthrie and Rapson selected a modified theater in the round design that featured a thrust stage projecting from a back wall with seating surrounding nearly two thirds of it.

Jean Nouvel was in association with dUCKS scéno and Jacques Le Marquet for the scenography of the theaters and the acousticians of The Talaske Group and Kahle Acoustics.

The first Guthrie production at the new location, The Great Gatsby (adapted for the stage by Simon Levy and directed by David Esbjornson), opened on July 15, 2006.