This paper explores the definition and history of the washe goulan (theaters), and the yuehu shuhui (theatrical troupes and folk writer societies) in the Song and Yuan periods. Washe and goulan were theaters for all kinds of performing arts in Song and Yuan times, and they were also haunts of singsong and dancing girls, who wished to sell either their arts or their bodies. Theaters were where both the literati and the ordinary people abandoned themselves to pleasure. While the jiren (actors) of the yuehu (theater troupes) were exclusively criminals and of the low class, the shuhui (folk writer societies) were professional organizations for writers, whose members were called cairen (talented writers) or xiansheng (teachers). Actors of the theatrical troupes and talented writers of the folk writer societies were intricately entwined in the washe goulan productions. The writers wrote the stories and the actors played them out. Both the washe goulan and yuehu shuhui greatly contributed to the growth of the Southern Drama and the Northern Drama, fostering the development from xiaoxi (minor drama) to daxi (high drama). Without the existence of washe goulan theaters or the active participation of the yuehu shuhui actors and talented writers of Song and Yuan times, the coming-of-age of Chinese Southern and Northern dramas would not have been achieved until a much later period.