Established on 1950. It is composed of the East China Second Art Troupe, some literary and art workers in the liberated areas and people in the Shanghai drama and film industry. The first dean, vice president Huang and Lu Fu. 1954 East China Repertory Theatre was merged into the theatre, 1960 Little Bee Crosstalk Theatre and Chaoyang Popular Repertory Theatre were placed under the theatre. At that time, there were one or two operas in the theater, including dialect repertory theatre and crosstalk theatre, with more than 400 people. During the "Cultural Revolution", Shanghai Youth Repertory Theatre was once merged with the theatre and renamed Shanghai Repertory Theatre. After Jiang Qing's counter-revolutionary group was crushed, 1978 restored the original organizational system of Shanghai People's Art Theatre, separated the youth repertory theatre and the crosstalk theatre from the theatre, restored the Shanghai youth repertory theatre and established the Shanghai crosstalk theatre. Most of the staff of the dialect drama troupe have also been transferred, and the original organizational system has not been restored. Since1960s, Huang has been the dean. In1980s, Huang was the honorary dean, followed by Sha and Yang Shaolin.