Larry Wismer was a theater professor at Chico State and had a profound impact on the theater culture at the university where he founded the Court Theatre, which was open for 40 years. He directed and produced a number of plays at Chico State as well as designed many costumes and sets. He was honored for his contributions to Chico theater with the naming of the Wismer Theatre in the Performing Arts Center at Chico State.

The Chico State theater department put on hundreds of shows in its various theaters. While many students had a positive experience participating in the theater productions, this was not the case for all students. There has been recorded experiences from many students expressing that they had been discriminated against for their race or skin color, and when these experiences were brought up to faculty, no action was taken to remedy the issue. The experiences ranged from students of color only being cast in supporting roles, to the makeup crew refusing to do makeup for an Asian student, to white actors being cast over students of color for roles that were originally non-white.