The idea of establishing the Center belongs to two well-known Russian playwrights — Aleksey Kazantsev and Mikhail Roshchin. It was in the late nineties when the absence of a new generation of playwrights, directors and actors was strongly felt in the theatrical world. A. Kazantsev and M. Roshchin organized the Center to give a chance to young theatre makers of expressing themselves and realizeing their ideas. The playwright and director theatre opened its first season in 1998 with the production of "Judith" by a young Moscow playwright Elena Isaeva (directed by Vadim Danziger). The following performances have been produced by the center since its foundation: “Shopping and Fucking” by M. Ravenhill (directed by Olga Subbotina), “Hopscotch” by J. Cortazar (directed by Vladimir Ageev), play-action “Moscow, an open city”, consisting of short plays by young playwrights produced by several directors. V. Sigarev's "Plasticine" (directed by Cyrill Serebrennikov), and “Oblom-off” (written and directed by Ugarov). The centre does not have its own company, but there is a group of directors and actors co-operating with the Center on a permanent basis. Many young actors well-known now played their first notable roles in the performances of the Centre. The Playwright and Director Centre Theatre took part in performances shown at international theatrical festivals in Germany, France, Poland, Lithuania, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia, Finland, participated in the Moscow “New Drama” festival, in the third World Theatrical Olympics and repeatedly — in the International Theatrical festival named after A. P. Chekhov.