In 1962, John Dietrich of the Department of Speech established the Performing Arts Company, which was to “consist of a select group of graduate student/performers/artists/technicians who, augmented by the best of the undergraduate talents, were to present productions in the Fairchild Theatre and tour the state, as well as present productions originating in the Arena Theatre in the living-learning dormitories created by [President John] Hannah with their unique "Kiva" spaces.”

The first state-wide tour of the Performing Arts Company took place in 1963-1964 with productions of MEDEA and RHINOCEROS. Tours to cities outside of Lansing were sponsored by secondary schools and civic organizations. In the fall of 1995, the faculty voted to discontinue the usage of the Performing Arts Company label. Instead, the production work was known as the “Department of Theatre presents”. This decision was prompted by the need to provide stronger identification for the department. The Performing Arts Company was an outgrowth of the concept of the university resident acting company consisting primarily of graduate students. Since most of the productions were auditioned across the whole of the student body, the idea of a resident company no longer existed. [Source: A Brief History of Theatre at MSU from http://theatre.msu.edu/Department/History/]