The Curtain Raiser was organized in 1985 at Madras Kerala Samaj for theater activities. It was inaugurated by Late Sri. T.K.Balachandran (film maker). During its tenure at Madras it had made fourteen theater and TV productions. Second phase of activities of the Curtain Raiser at Thiruvananthapuram was inaugurated by Sri. Adoor Gopalakrishnan in 1994. Around twenty stage and TV productions along with number of cultural workshops were arranged during the period. The Curtain Raiser was less active for last decade due to the professional engagements of the man behind (Sathish.P.Kurup). Now the third phase of activities are started with the launch of the institute.