The Mississippi Theatre Association has been in business under its present structure since the early 70′s, but dates back to the mid 50′s as the Mississippi Little Theatre Association.

In the past the organization served primarily as a sanctioning organization for the festival and convention and the college theatre festival under the wider aegis of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, theAmerican Association of Community Theatres and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (SETC, AACT and MTA/KC/ACTF as they are more widely known).

In recent years, MTA has included workshops for the high school and community theatre divisions of MTA. In 2003, MTA established a scholarship program for high school students pursuing a degree in theatre at a Mississippi institution. In 2004, MTA established the College/University High School Senior Auditions that allows high school seniors to audition for college/universities during the annual festival/convention.

Also in 2003, MTA hired an Executive Director, Stephen Cunetto, who will serve as a central point of contact for the organization.