March 1981 marks the date of the first Fullerton College High School Theatre Festival. Some 180 students from a handful of high schools and 18 judges participated.

Throughout the years, the festival has been attended by more than 20,000 students from 150 high schools.

Recent years have seen 60-70 schools attend and 1500-2000 competitors descend on the campus for two days of acting and design competition, improvisation, workshops, and great fun. Over 150 judges adjudicate approximately 30 rooms of competition each hour, and 200 college workers help make this arguably one of the best run theatre festivals in the country. In recent years, the festival has adapted as needed with a fully online festival in 2021 and a hybrid festival in 2022. The 2024 festival will be without performance categories and instead focus on tech, design and workshops.

Much of the success of recent festivals can be traced to the success of the college student leadership teams, who tirelessly work to recruit and organize a labor force of up to 200 theatre students.  Work begins six months in advance of each festival.