[1] MRT operates under the leadership of the Nancy L. Donahue Executive Artistic Director Courtney Sale Merrimack Repertory Theatre was co-founded in 1979 by Barabara Abrahamian, John Briggs and Mark Kaufman, who had met while working at a New Hampshire summer stock theatre (where a young Michael Chiklis, a Lowell native who went on to appear in several MRT productions before moving on to a film career, was appearing in a production of Bye Bye Birdie).

Dan Schay was hired as producing artistic director in 1982 and, in 1983, the company moved to its current location at Liberty Hall, changing its name to Merrimack Repertory Theatre.

Schay produced MRT's first world premiere (Jack Neary's First Night) in 1987, and has been succeeded by David Kent (1989-2001), Charles Towers (2001-2015) and Sean Daniels (2015–present).

In 2015, MRT launched the Cohort Club, an audience engagement program modeled after a similar initiative at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York.

The Cohort Club is composed of community members who are given access to a show's entire rehearsal and production process, and are then asked to write about their experiences in a format of their choice.