About a century later, Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse, built a court theatre open to the citizens.

The architect Georg Moller built a theatre with 2000 seats and advanced stage machinery, opened in 1819.

Director Gustav Hartung [de] (1920–1924 and 1931–1933) made the theatre famous for premieres of contemporary authors.

After the war a provisional stage was found in the Orangerie, where the company played for almost three decades.

[3] In his influential tenure as Intendant from 1976 to 1984, Kurt Horres directed highly regarded contemporary operas.

[11] The building was designed by the Darmstadt architect Rolf Prange[12][13] who had won a national competition in 1963.

[18][19] It was reopened with Leoš Janáček's Schicksal and Lélio oder die Rückkehr ins Leben by Hector Berlioz on 22 September 2006, and a day later Schiller's Don Karlos.