The Atlas Performing Arts Center ("the Atlas"), the only community-based performing arts center in Washington, was created as a not-for-profit Washington D.C. corporation in November 2001. Located in a historic movie theatre complex on H Street in Near Northeast D.C., a once-vibrant corridor of the city that was devastated by riots in 1968, the Atlas formally opened its doors formally in November 2006 after four years of renovation.

The mission of the Atlas Performing Arts Center is to foster the artistic growth of professional and aspiring performing artists throughout the region; to energize the revitalization of H Street Northeast; to provide a unique community-centered venue for training and education in the performing arts and stagecraft; and to create a new model for collaborative theatre management.