Moonlight Musicals Amphitheatre, 413 E Broadway (Photo by Michelle Bless)
By Michelle Bless
Editor’s note: This article is the first in a series of stories about Lubbock’s Moonlight Musicals.
In April 2005, Texas Tech Professor of Voice Gerald Dolter heard the City of Lubbock was building an amphitheater in Mackenzie Park.
After years of performing and teaching in Germany followed by years of summers spent away from his family in Lubbock to help direct performing arts around the country, Dolter wanted to give his students at Texas Tech a home theater to build and develop their experience.
He visited Lubbock Parks and Recreation and the staff suggested he visit the site.
“All it was, was plowed up dirt and a big hill,” Dolter said.
Only the stage and the beginnings of the terraces were constructed at the time, Dolter said. He said he recalled the contractor saying he thought it would be turned into a skatepark.
“I went down to Parks and Recreation again,” Dolter said, “and I said, “’Who’s in line (to take over the amphitheater)?’ And they said, ‘You. No one else is interested.’”
Dolter said he took his wife, Karen Dolter, to Mackenzie Park that night with a bucket of KFC chicken and some sweet tea. As they laid down the blanket and gazed at the stage, Karen Dolter understood her husband’s vision.
“Oh, I know what you’re thinking,” Karen said. “You’re thinking big shows here.”
Karen said she not only saw his vision; she was excited for it. As a singer and actress herself, love for performing arts was a passion Karen shared with her husband.
“I could see it would be worth it in the long run,” Karen said.
Gerald and Karen Dolter – Moonlight Musicals Amphitheatre, 413 E Broadway (Photo by Michelle Bless)
After that, Gerald set to work putting the company together. From obtaining grants to expanding the building territory in Mackenzie Park to creating the first board of directors, Gerald and Karen started an organization that has become a piece of Lubbock culture.
“That should be the name of the company,” Karen said as the full moon shown over the couple that night on the picnic blanket. “It’s got to have moon it. Moonlight Musicals.”
Gerald said Moonlight Musicals was not built overnight. Starting expenses included lighting instruments, a portable office, a trailer for the cast to change in, and sound equipment. The first box office, Gerald said, was a table at the top of the hill. If a sudden gust of wind came by, all the tickets would fly away.
Gerald also took up the issue of having real restrooms installed, as opposed to portable toilets. He said he wanted the people who came to see his outdoor shows to have the best experience possible.
An obstacle Moonlight Musicals has faced in their summertime amphitheater is weather conditions. Gerald said he has had several shows over the years that were interrupted by rained.
“When something like that happens,” Gerald said, “I give the audience a choice.”
Gerald said he would allow the audience to choose between staying until the rain passed or coming back another night. Every time, he said, the applause to stay and watch the show was overwhelming.
When getting Moonlight Musicals started, there was one area that had to be handled with expertise— the costume designing. Gerald called in his friend, Sharon Holton, to get his company off the ground.
“I told him, ‘I’ll do one show,'” Holton said, “‘and if you don’t like it, I’ll never do another show again.'”
Growing up, Holton sewed as a child and started her design career making costumes for shows her husband performed in, she said. She had been designing costumes for Texas Tech operas since 1994, and Gerald brought her in to work for Moonlight Musicals in 2005.
“When you handed (the actors) a costume,” Holton said, “it made them into the character.”
Gerald and Holton have worked together in Texas Tech Opera and in Moonlight Musicals, on and off, for decades. Their team effort, they said, largely contributed to the magic and success of the productions.
“The creative artistry of being with people whose minds think like you is a thrill,” Holton said.
Moonlight Musicals Amphitheatre, 413 E Broadway (Photo by Michelle Bless)
Gerald said he has been often been approached by people in the grocery store who want to thank him for Moonlight Musicals. The company is a precious thing not just to the students it provides opportunity for, but to the Lubbock community. Gerald said he has devoted his life to performing arts and what it can do for the human condition, and he wanted to bring that to the people of Lubbock.
“It’s turned out to be everything that I thought it would be in the summertime,” Gerald said, “but Moonlight has grown beyond that.”
About JOUR 3312
