In 1973, West Midlands Art set out to address the lack of arts and subsidies for the arts in the West Midlands outside of the cities, with theatre maker Sue Dunderdale leading the effort. The following year, the Pentabus Experiment or Pentabus Project was officially founded. It was to be a touring theatre company, aiming to bring "high quality theatre" to rural areas of the five counties of West Midlands. "Pent" referred to the five counties – Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire – while "bus" referred to the old bus the company traveled in. Pentabus was first based in
Kidderminster and then
Areley Kings. Jonathan Cross took over as director from Dunderdale around this time. After being offered in 1983, the company's headquarters officially moved into a disused school building in
Bromfield, Shropshire in 1989. A community arts programme was also launched in
Weobly and
Leominster and broke off in 1992. Peter Cann served as director at this time. followed by Elle While from Motley in 2021. In 2014, Pentabus started hosting early career playwrights at an old country house in a scheme called the Writer in Residence bursary. Simon Longman was the inaugural Writer in Residence, through which he pitched and developed his debut play
Milked. It was initially supported by
Channel 4 before switching to the Clive Richards Foundation in 2018. As of 2024, the Writer in Residence bursary is supported by the
Jerwood Foundation. Amid the 50th anniversary of the company in 2024, Pentabus moved its headquarters from Bromfield to a new premises at the
Ludlow Assembly Rooms. The following year, a youth theatre was established. In 2025,
Marianne Elliott joined the board of Pentabus alongside the likes of
Michelle Terry and Emma Dennis-Edwards. ==Personnel==