The first professional stationary theater in Ternopil was founded in 1915 on the initiative of the famous Ukrainian theater actor and director Les Kurbas. The first performance of the Ternopil Theater Evenings team based on the play by I.P. Kotlyarevsky "Natalka-Poltavka" was held with great success in the hall of the current Philharmonic. Regional Ukrainian Drama Theatre. T. Shevchenko started working in Ternopil in 1945 in the premises of the current cinema named after I. Franko. The theater was created by merging the teams of the Akhtyrka Second Mobile Workers' and Peasants' Theater, which came from the evacuation to the Ternopil region and the Ivan Franko Ternopil Drama Theater.

In 1953, the Taras Shevchenko Drama Theater became the second in the list of the best professional theaters in Ukraine. In 1957, for the group popular in the city, its own theater building was built with an auditorium for 600 seats, in 1987 the Small Stage for 80 seats was equipped. In 2000, the theater was awarded the title of "Academic". There is a monument to Taras Shevchenko in the square next to the theater.