One night every year, students flock to the Roberts-Dubbs Auditorium to watch their teachers put on crazy costumes, dance, sing and play instruments on stage in Moonlighting, an annual fundraiser for Friends of the Performing Arts. Why do teachers spend so much of their free time towards rehearsing for such a potentially embarrassing performance?

“We like to make kids laugh,” said world languages teacher Dominique Aumiller. “We don’t mind being on stage for people to laugh at us and not with us.”

Aumiller has performed three times in performing arts teacher Christien Polos’ annual dance and once in an instrumental.

“It’s fun to get on stage and do silly things I used to do in high school,” Aumiller said. “We were students too, and it’s neat to be able to show students what kind of kids we were.”

Spanish teacher Kristina Tobey, who has performed in Moonlighting for five years, looks forward to making an impression on the way her students see her.

“It’s fun to do something different and be on stage showing students a different side of you,” said Tobey.

In fact, when Performing Arts Curriculum Coordinator Lynn Modell first developed the idea for Moonlighting in 1999, she wanted to create an event that would make students see their teachers in a new light. According to Modell, she felt that it was important for students to know that their teachers could be brave, funny and musical.

“There’s this terrible saying that goes, ‘those who can’t do, teach,’ ” said Modell. “Moonlighting shows students that this isn’t true. In fact, their teachers are really talented.”

Senior Josephine Ko had just that impression after attending Moonlighting last year.

“The teachers were so creative and funny,” said Ko. “It was surprising how much time and effort they probably put into the performance. They seemed really dedicated.”

Junior Celine Chin, who has attended Moonlighting for three years, agreed with Ko.

“It’s nice to see my teachers go from being strict in the classroom to acting really goofy,” said Chin. “I’m always surprised that they have the time to do all this.”

Indeed, rehearsing for Moonlighting is very time-consuming, especially for teachers who are also parents. Performers began rehearsing weekly in September in preparation for the show on Dec. 2.

In past years, Aumiller, Tobey and Japanese teacher Yukiyo Iida hired a babysitter for their children while they rehearsed. However, when she could no longer babysit, the teachers started bringing their children to rehearsal. According to Aumiller, this can be very distracting, yet she prefers this solution to not performing at all.

“Last year, I couldn’t organize Moonlighting with my family, so I only got to play a very minor role,” explained Aumiller. “I got really jealous of everyone else and all the fun they got to have.”

Despite the difficulties of balancing parenthood with the performance, Moonlighting is always something Tobey looks forward to.

“Every year, I hesitate about doing it and balancing everything,” said Tobey, “but then I go to rehearsals and I remember that it’s just so much fun. It’s hard balancing this into our schedules, but as a parent, you find things you want to do and things you have to sacrifice.”

Associate Dean Anthony Meyer, the master of ceremonies for the night, impressed this sentiment upon the audience.

“Imagine the practice time they have,” Meyer told the crowd. “And they do it all for you.”

Ayesha Mehrotra can be contacted at [email protected].