The article examines the peculiarities of the formation and dynamics of the development of theatrical amateur art in Russia. The task is to identify the institutional specifics of amateur theatrical creativity, the principles of forming a modern system of relations between amateur theater and other social institutions. Based on the analysis of theatrical, historical and cultural literature on the research topic, as well as the analysis of research papers and interviews with modern directors, art historians, cultural scientists, statements by government officials on the problem of research and the regulatory framework in the field of theatrical art, the author comes to the following conclusions: 1) having passed the centuries-old path of development, the amateur theater has been formed as a socio-cultural institution that solves socially significant tasks for society, primarily on the education of the individual and its integration into the social environment; 2) the reduction of state influence on the activities of the small stage in recent decades has led to the creation of a new, dynamically developing system of interinstitutional relations between theatrical amateurs and the public.