Red Sky Poetry Theatre was the longest running live weekly poetry series and open mic in Seattle history.

Don Wilsun, who previously co-founded Dogtown Poetry Theater with Joe Scozzy, was a driving force in the founding of Red Sky Poetry Theatre. Along with Joe Keppler, Tom Parson, who also started the Bumbershoot Small Press Fair in 1977, and Judith Roche, whose home was used as a meeting place to plan Red Sky Poetry Theatre, Wilsun formed the core of what would become Red Sky Poetry Theatre. Prior to forming Red Sky Poetry Theatre, Wilsun held ad hoc readings which were simply called Poetry Theatre. Wilsun named his labor of love Red Sky because one day he was putting up flyers for his Poetry Theatre in the Pike Place Market and as he was doing so, saw an amazing red sunset. He wrote a poem at the Soup and Salad called Red Sky. It inspired him to name his Poetry Theatre, Red Sky. The first Red Sky Poetry Theatre reading was May 24, 1981.

Bill Shively, Joseph Keppler, Judith Roche, Matt Lennon, and Tom Parsons joined the Red Sky Poetry Theatre board in 1981 and were listed in the original incorporation documents as board members in 1982 with Don Wilsun as President and acting agent. Red Sky Poetry Theatre was a Non-profit Organization existing solely to promote and encourage poetry performance and Performance Art as well as other arts. Elliott Bronstein would join the board a short time later.

Trudy Mercer, an early editor of SkyViews, joined the Red Sky Poetry Theatre board in 1982, the same day Marion Kimes and Michael Hureaux were voted onto the board.

Kay Kinghammer, who performed in Burlesque Theatre and JT Stewart, who formerly taught at Seattle Central Community College, were also part of the early meetings to create Red Sky Poetry Theatre but never actually on the board.

Other early affiliated authors not officially on the Red Sky Poetry Theatre board included Mark Svenvold, who recently did a presentation at the Modern Language Association about the influence of Red Sky Poetry Theatre on the Literary World. Charlie Potts, another well known author, would frequently read for Red Sky Poetry Theatre. Paul Hunter, who collaborated with Red Sky Poetry Theatre early on, would officially become a board member in 1993. These authors added much to the early Red Sky Poetry Theatre creative process.

Charlie Burks, the coordinator of the first Bumbershoot Writers in Performance Competition in 1981, was not officially on the board but collaborated with Red Sky Poetry Theatre on a regular basis. Burks' influence on the collaborative efforts of Red Sky Poetry Theatre was substantial. The expression "Poet's Gymnasium", in the context of Red Sky Poetry Theatre as a forum for perfecting one's poetry, is attributed to Burks. Red Sky Poetry Theatre joined Burks in judging the Writers in Performance contests that would decide who, out of hundreds, would read at Bumbershoot. Bumbershoot Writers in Performance Competitions continue to this day, although without Red Sky Poetry Theatre. However, former board member Judith Roche coordinated the Bumbershoot Literary Arts Festival for One Reel after Red Sky Poetry Theatre discontinued the Bumbershoot Association.

Bill Shively edited the very first Open Sky in which writers and visual artists of any sort could contribute 400 pages to be included in the magazine. Red Sky Poetry Theatre considered its collective efforts to be more conducive to the creative process, the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Essentially, Open Sky wasn't edited so much as compiled. Shively's brainchild, Open Sky, eventually became a quarterly publication. The only person to submit to all twelve issues of Open Sky was author Dann O'Keefe. Open Sky became Open Sound in 1989 with 200 pages. Ezra Mark was the editor of the first Open Sound. Ezra Mark was later on the board of Subtext, another poetry series.