It is named for the Provincetown Players, who converted the former stable and wine-bottling plant into a theater in 1918.

The original Provincetown Players included George Cram Cook, Susan Glaspell, Eugene O'Neill, John Reed, Louise Bryant, Floyd Dell, Ida Rauh, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Djuna Barnes.

Ann Harding, Bette Davis, and Claudette Colbert made their New York stage debuts in the facility.

That same year, New York University proposed to demolish the entire building and rebuild a facility for its law school, as well as a new theater.

However, during construction, NYU tore down parts of the walls they had promised to preserve, a fact revealed by GVSHP.