The LDS Church continues its sponsorship of drama outside of the university. Amateur activity is popular in Mormon ward and stake houses, which are built with recreational halls and stages. The Mutual Improvement Association also for a number of years held playwriting contests, in which more than 40,000 people participated.

1962 was a banner year in Utah theatrical history. In 1962 the Utah Shakespearean Festival was founded by Fred Adams at Southern Utah University in Cedar City. The festival season currently extends through the summer. Productions are staged at the Adams Memorial Theater, a replica of an Elizabethan playhouse, and in the Randall Jones Theater, which opened in 1989. In connection with the plays, seminars, backstage tours, Renaissance concerts, and feasts are held. In 1981 the Royal Shakespeare Company staged segments for a Masterpiece Theater series at the Adams Theater.

Also in 1962, the centennial year of the Salt Lake Theater's opening, the Pioneer Memorial Theater, a replica of the Salt Lake Theater, was finally completed on the University of Utah campus. The theater contains two stages: the Babcock Theater, named in honor of Maud May Babcock and located on the lower level of the theater, and the Lees Main Stage, named in honor of C. Lowell Lees. Each year the theater presents seven productions. Under Keith Engar's direction, the theater became known for its presentation of musicals with local and visiting professional casts. Some years, more season tickets were sold for the theater than for sports events at the university. Charles Morey became artistic director of the Theater in 1984 and helped bring to fruition Utah's first permanent professional acting company, the Pioneer Theater Company.