Our People

Dr. Mark Lucas, Messiah Festival Artistic Director

Sponsored by Marylen and Richard Anderson for 2021

Dr. Mark Lucas is an Associate Professor of Music and the Director of Choral Activities at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas where he is also director of the Bethany Oratorio Society and Co-Chair of the Department of Music.  At Bethany Mark teaches conducting, music education courses, voice lessons and is the conductor of the Bethany College Choir and Bethany College Chamber Ensemble.  He is also the Senior Choir Director at Messiah Lutheran Church in Lindsborg.

Prior to his appointment at Bethany College, Mark was a tenured Associate Professor of Choral Music Education and the Associate Director of Choral Activities at the University of Oklahoma, where he conducted the University Singers, taught choral conducting and courses in choral methods, and supervised student teachers.

Dr. Lucas received a degree in Music Education from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas and an M.M. in Choral Conducting from the University of Oklahoma. He received his Ph.D. in Choral Music Education from the University of Oklahoma. His dissertation, Adolescent Males’ Motivations to Enroll or Not Enroll in Choir, is a study of what factors influence young men in grades 7 and 8 to participate in choir.  His more recent work has been published in the Choral Journal and UPDATE:  Applications of Research in Music Education.  Mark is currently serving on the advisory committee for the Music Educators Journal.

As a tenor, Mark has sung professionally with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale and remains active in teaching studio voice. As a conductor, Mark’s past work ranges from preparing major works, such as Brahms’ Requiem and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, to extensive work with middle and high school choirs. In his teaching he employs an integrated approach to choral methods, using authentic teaching experiences as a major part of course work.

Dr. Lucas is a frequent clinician and adjudicator for choral groups of all ages. He is the founder of the Young Men’s Vocal Workshop at the University of Oklahoma, which has featured more than 1000 young men in concert.  A new incarnation of that festival, “Real Men Sing” has been an addition to the offerings at Bethany College since 2015 and recently featured over 800 young men from around the state of Kansas joined together in song!

Previously, Mark served for four years as Director of Choral Activities at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kansas and taught vocal music to students in grades 6-12 in Marion, Kansas. Mark enjoys spending time with his wife Jeanne and their two boys Matt and Jake.

Professor Greg LeGault, Theatre Department

Greg LeGault, M.F.A., Associate Professor of Theatre, came to Bethany College in 2000. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre (Performance) from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a Master of Arts in theatre history and criticism from Ohio University, and a Master of Fine Arts in Theater (Playwriting emphasis) from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. LeGault is a recipient of SIUC’s Christian M. Moe Playwriting Award and the Council for Wisconsin Writers’ Dale Wasserman Drama Award, which he shared with playwright and co-writer and friend Michael Speller. His plays and monologues have been performed at venues around the country, including Theatre On The Bay in Marinette, WI, the Orlando Fringe Festival, the Cleveland Women’s Theatre Project, Strawdog Theatre in Chicago, and the Great Plains Theatre Festival in Omaha, NE.He is a past recipient of Bethany College’s Mortvedt Award. This is twenty-first year at Bethany College.

Dr. Keith Dodson, Director of Instrumental Studies

Keith Dodson is currently an Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Instrumental Studies at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. Dr. Dodson completed the PhD in Music Education with an emphasis in Orchestral Conducting at the Florida State University College of Music. He also completed the Specialized Study in Music Theory Pedagogy program. As an educator, he held secondary instrumental positions at Space Coast Junior/Senior High School and Matanzas High School. He has had the opportunity to present at the Florida Music Educator’s Conference on “Introducing and Utilizing Singing in the Instrumental Classroom” with Ian Schwindt, and “Passion as a Path to Excellence: Teaching Strategies that Last” with Dr. Alexander Jiménez.

As a conductor, Dr. Dodson was selected to participate as a fellow at The Conductor’s Institute in South Carolina under the direction of Dr. Donald Portnoy. He was also selected as a Conducting Participant in the College Orchestra Directors Association’s Conducting Masterclass with Bruce Hangen in Boston, Massachusetts. His conducting teachers include Michael J. Garasi, Joseph Kreines, and Alexander Jiménez. An enthusiastic string pedagogue, Dr. Dodson is a private student of violinist Dr. Benjamin Sung. 

As a graduate teaching assistant at Florida State University, Dr. Dodson served as assistant conductor to the renowned University Symphony Orchestra and as assistant music director to the undergraduate University Philharmonia Orchestra. In addition, he has served as an instructor for undergraduate conducting and director for the non-major Campus Symphonic Orchestra. Other opportunities included serving as a Music Director to the Summer Sinfonietta Orchestra and FSU’s New Music Ensemble. As a proponent of new music, he has conducted works by Michael Gordon, Victoria Bond, James Primosch, Richard Maltz, Avner Dorman, Ash Stemke, Aaron Houston, Brian Junttila, and Eunseon Yu.

Dr. Dodson earned Bachelor’s Degrees in Music Performance and Music Education from the University of Central Florida, Orlando. He earned a Masters in Music Education from the Florida State University. 

Dr. Hentus van Rooyen, Sacred Music Coordinator and College Organist

Hentus van Rooyen, a native of South Africa, is Assistant Professor of Music, Sacred Music Coordinator and College Organist at Bethany College in Lindsborg KS, where he teaches organ, music history, music theory, aural skills, and directs the Bethany College Handbell Ensemble. He graduated with the degree Doctor of Musical Arts in organ performance from the University of North Texas in December 2019. In addition, he holds a Master of Music from the University of North Texas, a Bachelor of Music, and a Diploma in Church Music from the University of Pretoria, and the Teacher’s and Performer’s Licentiates from the University of South Africa. He studied organ performance with Jesse Eschbach and Wim Viljoen, and baroque repertoire studies with Paul Leenhouts. During the Summer of 2019, van Rooyen traveled to Italy to play several Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century organs by Italian builders as part of his research for his dissertation: The Keyboard Toccatas of Michelangelo Rossi (ca. 1602 – 1656): Performance Perspectives for Organists. In January 2020, he was invited by the Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Dietrich Brauer, to perform organ recitals at the Lutheran Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Moscow and at Saint Catherine Lutheran Church in Saint Petersburg. Hentus van Rooyen serves as the Director of Music and Organist at Christ Episcopal Cathedral in Salina, KS.

Anne Hassler Heidel, Messiah Festival Coordinator

Anne Hassler Heidel is the Messiah Festival Coordinator and Music Office Coordinator at Bethany College. Anne has a background in journalism and has worked for the McPherson News-Ledger and the McPherson Sentinel. Anne worked for the City of McPherson as the Convention and Visitors Bureau Director from 2009 to 2015. She comes to Bethany from her position as Assistant Director at the Carriage Factory Art Gallery in Newton.