Moonlight Musicals provides equal opportunity for all performers to come together to create something bigger than themselves. Photo by Michelle Bless.
By Michelle Bless
Gerald Dolter, the founder of Moonlight Musicals and professor of voice at Texas Tech University, said he wanted to give his students the opportunity to gain on-stage experience in live theatre. His fellow professor of voice, Karl Dent, had the same intention.
“As a teacher, you have an inborn goal of helping the kids,” Dent said. “When the kids would have roles we would be there to hear them.”
Dent taught at Texas Tech for 25 years, starting in 1994. He and his wife have supported Moonlight Musicals since its birth, he said.
“As many years as its been here,” Dent said, “I would say my wife and I have supported it just by attending and advocating the wonderful program that was being created every summer and watched it grow and watched our students being involved.”
Karl Dent was a professor of voice for 25 years, and performed in “The Music Man” in 2018. Photo by Michelle Bless.“
After years of viewing from the audience, Dent took the stage as a cast member for “The Music Man” in 2018. The play was a favorite of his, Dent said, and Dolter allowed him to direct the singers and perform with them in several shows.
“Anything you can give the students,” Dent said, “that they can witness, that they can grow from, is a benefit.”
Shortly before Dent went on stage with Moonlight, Lubbock resident Betsy Bass had an audition that would change the rest of her life. When she read “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron, the message of the novel spoke volumes to her, she said.
“If you’re always going to the theatre and you love the theatre,” Bass said, “and you get excited by it, maybe you need to be on the stage.”
Bass tried out for and was cast in “Oliver!” that year, and has done 11 shows since. She would aid the company in any way she could, Bass said, from moping the floors to donating money for equipment.
In one show, a castmate approached Bass having recognized her from a previous production.
Betsy Bass performed with Moonlight for the first time in 2014, and was asked to serve on the Board in 2018. Photo by Michelle Bless.
“She told me, ‘You looked like you were having so much fun,’ and that was the reason she had auditioned,” Bass said.
Bass said Moonlight Musicals has been good for the community, especially children, to learn how to stretch and grow and become more confident doing things they love.
“Theatre gives equal opportunity for people to come together,” Bass said. “To make a product, to create something bigger than themselves.”
Bass now serves as the vice president and secretary of the Moonlight Musicals board.
Dolter has remained involved in the company since he started it in 2005, when he recognized an opportunity to fill a whole in the Lubbock arts community.
“What I’ve discovered is people like Betsy and Karl and Wendy Needham and hundreds of others step up and say, ‘Yes, we would like to help you,’” he said. “Not only are they good, but they’re willing to sacrifice for the community.”
Dolter said one person can have all the aspiration, desire, ideas and love in the world, but one person cannot accomplish those dreams alone. It takes a team of hard workers; people who share that love and are willing to work for it.
“Lubbock, Texas, is full of people who want to give and want to see betterment in the community,” Dolter said.
About Reece Nations, Managing Editor
