The Hogwarts Student Theatre Ensemble was founded in 1747 to establish a resident quasi-professional ensemble for the production of quality entertainment and educational programs for the region, and to promote the theatrical arts. With visionary start-up support from the school and Hogsmeade area patrons, the Ensemble presented two plays on the stage of the Ignatius Flemming Theatre in south-central Hogsmeade, which became their home for the next three decades until it burned to the ground during an experimental rendition of Dante's Inferno in 1779. The following year, the Ensemble took up residence within the School itself, where they remain to this day. The Ensemble is currently celebrating its 250th anniversary throughout the 1997-98 season.
On their traditional Mainstage in the Great Hall, the H.S.T.E. has produced over 590 plays. The production history includes classics by Euripedies, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Moliere, Checkov, Shaw, and Malécrit, as well as adventurous contemporary plays and musicals such as The Mandrakes of Wrath, The Man Who Would Be God, Pan, and Hair. Ensemble-written adaptations of literature include Homer's epics of the Trojan War and Odysseus, the seasonal productions of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (over 650 performances), Barrie's Peter and Wendy, and Lewis Carroll's Through The Looking Glass.
In recent seasons, the Ensemble has created original works based in regional history and "folklore". Letters to the Headmaster, which dramatized letters to the school administration from Medieval times to the present, toured abroad, both on the Continent and in America, and was recorded for distribution over the WWN. Both the Daily Prophet and Wizard Theatre Monthly profiled Letters, and the script has been published by the Hogwarts department of Publishing and Distribution of Student Works.
The Hogwarts Student Theatre Ensemble today combines the artistry of the resident student Ensemble with a dedicated and professional staff of administrative and production personnel backed by the School's Board of Trustees and numerous volunteers. With local support from businesses and benefactors, as well as the Hogwarts School itself, the H.S.T.E. continues to grow as an organization and artistic force. It is a group dedicated to awakening the imagination, provoking questions, and emboldening the spirit. We hope the home we have made here will inspire artists and communities elsewhere.