As of 2019, thirty-five of the past thirty-eight Pulitzer Prize-winning plays premiered in US regional theatres, where many artists maintain lifelong careers. Yet more than half of the nation’s regional theatres regularly borrow funds to meet daily operating expenses. This disconnect between creative success and economic viability is part of a false narrative that has led to systemic problems, leaving many regional theatres vulnerable, and also shaped the historical narrative of the regional movement. This chapter employs an economically centered, historiographical approach to disrupt the standard narrative of the rise of regional theatre, which revolves around a rejection of Broadway’s commercialism and a desire for a decentralized, avant-garde theatre. The reality was much more complex, as demonstrated by case studies of Theatre ’47, the Alley Theatre, and Arena Stage. The Guthrie Theatre serves as a model for a new generation of highly professional, nonprofit theatres that emerged as the movement gained momentum. The chapter concludes with an exploration of the social and cultural forces that inform contemporary theatre economics, and the reminder that budgets reflect values.