TSF presents four weeks of performances during late June and July of five productions in repertory: two plays by Shakespeare, a classic, a musical, and a children's show.
[1] The brainchild of Raymond Caldwell, a faculty member within the theatre program at Kilgore College and subsequent Artistic Director of the Festival,[1] the first season of TSF consisted of two plays by Shakespeare and The Daisy Bradford 3, a regional work commissioned for the celebration telling the story of the East Texas oil boom by Gifford Wingate, all performed by a small company of professional actors.
The overwhelming popularity and quality of the summer theatre experience for the people of East Texas catapulted what was to have been a one-time event into an organization that is celebrating its second decade of performances.
[2] The Festival continues to audition and employ professional directors, actors, designers, and technicians, as well as giving many university students from all across America their first summer theatre experience.
In 1999 a production of Angels in America produced by the Kilgore College Theatre Department and directed by Caldwell, led to death threats, anti-gay protests and a withdrawal of more than $50,000 in funding by the Gregg County Commissioners.