Finding live theater in the urban centers of the Midwest isn’t difficult – many cities have multiple venues and host a plethora of Broadway tours throughout the year. However, as you go west, this access shrinks.

The Monument in Rapid City, South Dakota, is more than 300 miles from any other venue that hosts Broadway tours. The venue brings in patrons from western South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska, as well as parts of Wyoming and Montana. However, the Monument’s location poses complications when scheduling shows.

“Typically, the shows are looking for around a six-hour turnaround or less from one place to another,” says Craig Baltzer, the executive director of the Monument. In the western plains states, paths that fit these specifications are few and far between. “Suddenly, the routing becomes a real math problem,” he says.

The Monument also draws a smaller audience than big-city venues. Touring productions often prioritize theaters that can sustain a week’s worth or more of shows.

“‘Hamilton’ or ‘Wicked’ are not going to sell to me because they’re looking at, well, you need to buy seven of them,” Baltzer says. The Monument typically hosts two or three performances of a show, occasionally four.

The Monument used to sell a Broadway series of four or five shows to subscribers each year, but Baltzer says interest in the series faded following COVID-19. The venue dropped the subscription model and now books musicals like concerts, one show at a time.

Baltzer says this change has paid off, because it allows the Monument to select shows based on its audience’s interests instead of trying to fill a season. He also says other forms of performing arts such as dance, Cirque-style acts, and theatrical concerts are growing draws. “The arts aren’t dead,” he says.