The Eisenhower Theater seats 1,100, and is the smallest of the theaters on the Center's main level. It primarily hosts plays and musicals, operas, ballet and contemporary dance.

Its namesake, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, signed into law the National Cultural Center Act in 1958, the first time in history that our government backed and helped finance a structure dedicated to the performing arts.

The theater contains an orchestra pit for 40 musicians that is convertible to a forestage or additional seating space. The walls are of East Indian laurel wood. The red and black stage curtain of hand-woven wool is a gift from the people of Canada.