Moonlight Musicals’ 2016 production of Phantom of the Opera at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. (Photo from Moonlight Musicals Facebook Page/Gypsy Artist Design and Photography)
By Michelle Bless
Editor’s note: This article is the second in a series of stories about Lubbock’s Moonlight Musicals.
Since its first show premiered in 2006, Moonlight Musicals has provided Texas Tech University students with opportunities to build their resumes and gain experience in live theater.
Rose Duncan, the choir director of Frenship Middle School, was one of the first performers.
“I opened the theatre,” Duncan said.
From 2006-08, Duncan said she performed regularly in shows; during this time, she earned her master’s degree in vocal performance from Texas Tech. After taking a break, Duncan returned to the stage in 2011.
Duncan said working with the various directors in Moonlight gave her the opportunity to experience different teaching methods, and how to coach singers to specific circumstances. She had to learn how to sing outdoors in the amphitheater under the threat of rain, as well as indoors at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center with strong sound equipment.
“Up until now we (Frenship) have been the only middle school in the area to put on musicals,” Duncan said. “Any and all my experiences in musicals since fourth grade have helped me teach kids the process.”
Anna Tesh, a super senior vocal performance major from The Woodlands, Texas, has also been preparing for her future career with Moonlight Musicals.
“I learned my very first role ever in musical theatre or opera with Moonlight Musicals,” Tesh said, “in two weeks.”
Between 2017 and 2018, Tesh said she served as the assistant stage manager for five shows. On her very first production, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” Tesh was asked to step into the lead role when the staff decided to extend the popular show an extra weekend.
“The lead has already graduated the spring before, and she was going to grad school in the fall,” Tesh said. “So, they needed to find somebody quick to fill in as the role of Milly.”
Tesh said her two-week training for the role involved learning ballet, choreography, belting, and acting skills she had never used before.
In November 2018, Anna Tesh was cast in the lead role of Dorothy for The Wizard of Oz. (Photo by: Michelle Bless)
In November 2018, after assistant stage managing for a year since her performance as Milly, Tesh was cast as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
“Moonlight helped me find my voice as a performer,” Tesh said, “that I hadn’t had a chance to explore.”
Moonlight Musicals is a safe place for a student to start their on-stage career. Michael Hybner, a junior vocal performance major from Slaton, Texas, has experienced this first-hand in “Music Man.”
“It was the first musical I had ever performed in,” Hybner said. “They were very understanding of someone who had never performed in that capacity.”
Upon joining the Moonlight Musicals cast, Hybner said he had never performed before. The rehearsals were extremely overwhelming, he said, but they prepared him for showtime.
“Because I’ve had that experience,” Hybner said, “it’s given me a lot more performance confidence.”
Whether it be teaching choir more effectively, or finding a family with the crew, each member has a takeaway unique to their own experiences–Duncan said she has been able to teach choir more effectively and Hybner said he
Michael Hybner proudly sported a Music Man shirt from his first on-stage performance. (Photo by: Michelle Bless)
learned how to handle himself on stage.
Tesh said she has found a family in Moonlight who she knows is there to support her through her career path and teach her the skills she needs to succeed as she pursues her master’s in vocal performance. These three students, past and present, are on the career and academic paths with the help of experience in Moonlight Musicals.
“Moonlight Musicals as provided me with real world opportunities,” Tesh said. “Because of Moonlight I guess I could describe it as a tool belt: I have all these tools that they have given me about lighting, stage direction, stage management, costumes, and all these things that they have taught me.”
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