Dakota Wesleyan University Plans $1 Million Theater Project

MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) — Dakota Wesleyan University is planning a $1 million project that will include a theater and a welcome center.

The center and multipurpose theater will be in an expansion to the Dakota Discovery Museum, which the Mitchell university began managing last year. The university's development offices also will be housed in the new space.

The Daily Republic reports the university has raised most of the money for the project. University President Amy Novak says officials hope to break ground in the fall and sell naming rights.

The university will demolish Hughes Science Hall, the theater department's current home. The century-old building is one of the last remaining original buildings on campus and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Novak says it would cost too much to renovate.

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