8 Best Performing Arts in Helena, Bozeman, and Southwest Montana, Montana

The historic district's Blue Slipper Theatre presents various full-length productions, including one-act plays, popular melodramas, and an annual Christmas variety show.

This group runs a year-round concert series, often featuring talented university students and traveling artists. Performances take place at the Willson Auditorium.

The Music in the Mountains summer concert series showcases such headliners as Taj Mahal, Willie Nelson, and the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra in outdoor venues.

The RiverStone Gallery displays original paintings, sculptures, pottery, and contemporary jewelry by Western artists.

During the summer months, this university-based touring theater troupe performs Shakespeare plays in some 61 rural communities throughout Montana and nearby states.

In a remodeled historic stone jail, The Myrna Loy—named after the Montana-born actress—hosts live performances by nationally and internationally recognized musicians and dance troupes. Foreign and independent films are shown in the auditorium and screening room

The historic Opera House is the oldest continuously operating summer theater in the West, in operation since 1949. Early June through early September, the theater hosts an amusing vaudeville show by the Virginia City Players. Shows are Tuesday through Thursday at 4, Friday and Saturday at 7. Weekend matinees are at 2.

The classic art deco Washoe Theatre, built in 1931, was ranked by the Smithsonian as the fifth-most-beautiful theater in the nation. Murals and ornamentation in silver, copper, and gold leaf are some of the highlights of this theater, which is open nightly for movies and other events. In 2013, the theater updated its 35-mm film projector to a digital projector enabling it to play 3D movies.