The Department of Theatre Studies was founded in 1989 (Presidential Decree 378/89) and accepted its first students in the academic year of 1992/1993. It was one of the first departments of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Patras.

The Department has 15 members of Teaching and Research Staff that cover a wide range of disciplines from ancient Greek and modern theatre to dance, modern literature, literary theory, the history of cinema and the history of the arts. It also has five members of Special Teaching Staff and one member of Specialized Laboratory & Teaching Staff, as well as several teaching staff members employed on contract basis every year. The enrolled students amount to 795.