It is said that Nadagam art, which was established marking an important milestone in local drama, set the stage for drama. The pioneer of Nadagam art is Pilippu Sinno. He has used Tamil language and later used Sanskrit and a language close to Sinhala for his works. The specialty of his dramas was the language of which is very close to the Sinhala language. It seems that the art of Nadagam, which began in the 19th century, later became a local drama tradition with local characteristics.

The State Drama Festival was begun in 1959 under the state patronage and it has been providing a strong impetus for the advancement of the art of drama in Sri Lanka. The leading personalities who contributed mostly for the development of this art include Pilippu Sinno, John de Silva, Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Sugathapala de Silva, Dayananda Gunawardhana, R.R. Samarakoon, Gunasena Galappaththi, Henry Jayasena and Dr. Jayalath Manorathna.