In 1969, Peter Brook and Micheline Rozan created the International Centre for Theatre Research. Brook had previously been sponsored for limited periods by Jean-Louis Barrault or the RSC (at the Round House). Brook and Rozan acquired sufficient funding to sustain Brook's work for three years, with a core company and several visiting collaborators. A budget of $1 million was established: $100,000 to set up the organization, and $300,000 each for 1971, 1972, and 1973. Money was raised from the Ford, Gulbenkian, and Anderson Foundations and from the government of Iran (in the form of a commission for a work at the Shiraz/Persepolis Festival in 1971). Work was begun even though the full three-year budget was not secured at the outset.

The International Centre for Theatre Research is often abbreviated to the acronym CIRT as in French the group is called the Centre International de Researches Théâtrale.