As theatre artists, we often believe fundamentally in the intense potency of our art form to impact people in positive ways. We remember moments where our attendance at live theatre performances impacted us for years to come, and many of us have dedicated our lives specifically to art forms that engage people socially, civically, and educationally. Many theatre artists, however, often fail to consider the ways that opportunistic, oppressive, or even evil groups and individuals can co-opt theatre practices and applied drama methods for insidious or harmful purposes. Theatre historians have chronicled the harmful theatre practices of societies across millennia, but perhaps the most salient examples lie among twentieth century authoritarian governments. These regimes stand out among the most “obvious” for their utility of theatre toward destructive ends. This paper examines on a survey level the theatre propaganda practices of a variety of authoritarian governments in the twentieth century, namely two fascist governments and two communist governments across Europe and Asia, to uncover the similarities among their theatre propaganda practices and the ways that contemporary theatre for social change artists can learn how to maximize effectiveness and avoid harm in their efforts at creating social change through the arts.