I will say despite being in very small town in South Dakota, the venue is at South Dakota State Univiersty, and it is the biggest and most beautiful/renovated theatre you will probably see for most non-union summer stocks. Also being on a campus has perks such as very nice dorms (only had one roommate), big dance studios, and endless practice rooms. I found being at a state funded school to be great. I will say the tech and set at this theater is also PHENOMENAL. Truly best set of Grease I have seen based on pictures of other summerstocks. Crowds were very full most nights. I will say it seems this theatre is still trying to figure itself out. The pay for the amount of work is bad, considering you have to work in a shop as well as being an actor. This is very limiting and exhausting as sometimes we couldn’t rehearse because the set needed to be finished since we did both. Definitely NOT anyplace to work out of college. I hope they hire more tech in the future or increase the pay. I will say the majority of the creative team were very kind, but others not as professional as others, and it seems this theatre still needs help bridging the gap between being SDSU’s theater department production season, and a legit summer stock theatre. There seemed to be a slight difference of professionalism of the actors you work with, especially based on the types of programs they come from or if they are out of town. Overall decent summer stock if you’re in college looking to get great production value (and awesome photos), but pay and professionalism seems to be not as sorted out. But they seem to be getting better each year and listen to feedback from company members.

Performer doesn't really cover it, seeing as we were also the crew for every show. AND the designers. Overall, this was a truly upsetting Summerstock contract. With little pay despite the hours and the many duties of each person, that doesn't even begin to cover it. More than anything, the staff were incredibly disrespectful and unprofessional. They constantly made jokes at the expense of their actors, that THE ACTORS HEARD FIRSTHAND. They talked about how we "didn't deserve breaks" despite working 3, 3 hour shifts 6 days a week. Sometimes more, if they felt like it. Yes, IF THEY FELT LIKE IT AS IN YOU HAD TO WORK MORE FOR NO EXTRA PAY. To sum all of it up, the staff literally had a bingo card about the things that could happen within the company, AKA a breakdown in a fitting (okay let's make fun of people that may not feel confident when all of their costumes don't fit), a showmance (what are we 12?), amongst other stupid things. Even within a 3 hour block, they complained we should not get breaks despite dancing in heels for all three hours without a moment to breathe. We were constantly told not to complain because "things are way worse in other places". They had a great lack of empathy regarding illness or injury, causing even MORE of that. My friend was extremely ill and practically ignored when asked if she could go home to feel better for 1 SINGLE BLOCK OF THE DAY. I got injured on contract and was asked to dance anyway sooner than was appropriate. I could go on and on, but this should be a strong indication of good reasons not to work here.

The venue is absolutely GORGEOUS and they do great publicity for the theatre if you’re looking to also get some good material for promo. There is a lot of time spent working behind the scenes (per your usual summer stock contract) which can be very tiresome and a lot on top of the performance/rehearsal schedule in rep. I had a great experience with the casts and creatives overall — I would recommend working there only if you are comfortable with extra work/assigned tasks in addition to being a performer!