LETTER: Wallenstien Theater is a gift to the Basin

The article “When Hollywood came to Moses Lake: Big Bend musicals” in the Oct. 18 Columbia Basin Herald brought back memories for us. We volunteered to be in the musical “Oliver!” and got to work under Leonard Nimoy. Leonard directed the play and we enjoyed every minute of his direction. His working with the kids who played the “workhouse boys” was outstanding. Wayne Freeman, BBCC music instructor, did an outstanding job directing the orchestra members.

For us, the “Oliver!” event that stands out came at the end, after our taking our bows. Leonard gave a short informative speech to the audience explaining how to upgrade an Air Force base movie house into a performing arts center. The Big Bend folk heard this and proceeded to act on Leonard’s ideas. The result is a building that has a variety of areas for instruction and the movie house has become Wallenstien Performing Arts Center.

Down through the years, BBCC has improved the Wallenstein Center to the point that the Gonzaga Symphony Orchestra has performed twice here. Kudos to Big Bend CC for maintaining and improving the Wallenstein Performing Arts Center.

Don and Cynthia Calbick

Moses Lake