Our Team 1 | CFT Chattanooga

Dale Dye

Founder

Executive Director

Show Director

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he began his employment as a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He eventually developed several programs incorporating immersive drama elements geared for teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Judy Reich

Board of Directors

Musical Director

Class Instructor

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Judy studied theatre and music at Shorter College and graduated from Florida State University in music and studied theatre there under Richard Fallon. She taught 45 years as a high school choir teacher, 5 at Chamblee High School in DeKalb County and 40 at Central High School. During that time she directed 8 Broadway Musicals and numerous plays with the students. She herself has been in two productions at what was then the Chattanooga Theatre Centre. Judy currently is serving as the music director for St. John United Methodist Church. A position she has held since 1988.

Emily Sapere

Class Instructor

Show Choreographer

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Emily received her early training with Joan Crawford School of Dance in tap, ballet and jazz. At age sixteen she received a summer intensive scholarship with Dupree Dance USA. She owned and operated her own dance studio in Kentucky for 10 years where she was the principal instructor and choreographed annual recitals, performance events and award winning competition routines. She moved to Los Angeles where she danced professionally in the television series "American Dreams" and was a principal dancer and choreographer for "The Rick Alviti Elvis Tribute Band". While living in LA, she was on faculty at Dance Dimension Performing Arts Center.

Denise Dye

Founder

Secretary/Treasurer

Costuming

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Denise is an extremely gifted costume designer. She’s been sewing since she was a young girl when she received her first little plastic sewing machine. She went on to take sewing in home ec classes, when that was still a thing. One of her biggest projects was designing and sewing her own wedding dress. Denise has become a talented costumer putting together cohesive looks for shows and making the actors look phenomenal onstage.

Jacqueline Davis-Gines

Board of Directors

Public Relations

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Jacqueline Davis‐Gines, PHD, is the Youth Pastor at St. John United Methodist Church, where she has been a member for 5 years and on staff for the past 3 years. Jacqueline has helped with several productions with Stage Right at St. John. The first two shows were The Sound of Music and Seussical the Musical. She also had the pleasure of playing “The Wicked Witch” In The Wizard of Oz. Dr. Jacque loves the stage and hopes to encourage children and youth of Chattanooga to love it also.

Amanda Medlin

Class Instructor

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

We are so excited to have Amanda teaching with us. She received her theatre education from the University of Alabama, from which she holds a bachelor of arts degree. She interned at Playhouse on the Square, Memphis’ resident professional theatre, earning both performance and costume construction credits. Professionally, she has toured locally with Birmingham Children’s Theatre and taught an Intro to Drama course for homeschoolers at Explorers’ Academy in Hixson and most recently began teaching acting classes with CFT.

Marlin Gines

Board President

Sound Engineer

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Marlin has been a Manager at Burns & McDonnell 10+ years. He has previous board experience as the Vice President for H.E.L.P.I.N.G. CDC Marlin worked as lighting engineer for two collegiate plays. He has also worked as A/V engineer for 4 plays with St. John UMC and currently serves on their A/V team as a sound engineer for their worship. Marlin was the sound engineer for many of CFT’s productions.

Jeff Van Fleet

Board of Directors

Carpenter/Set Builder

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Jeff is a Senior Account Executive for Rand Worldwide, Inc and founder of the Road to Damascus Project, a Georgia non-profit serving seniors, veterans and those affected by natural disasters. After participating in school and church productions as a youth, he now enjoys working with the production team and CFT parent volunteers to build the sets and scenery that make these stories come to life. Hailing from Texas, Jeff and his family have been so blessed to be welcomed into the CFT family.

Delores Beery

Musical Director

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Delores received the European doctorate in voice from the Mozarteum music school in Salzburg, Austria. She sang professionally for 15 years throughout Europe and now teaches voice at Lee University and was associate director of Chattanooga Girls Choir for 14 years. Delores has instructed 1,000's of students during her career and we are very honored to have her join our production team.

Karen Stoll

Board Vice President

Director of Operations

Show Assistant Director

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Karen has loved theatre all her life and couldn’t be happier to be serving as CFT’s Director of Operations. She serves on the production staff of every show alongside Dale as stage manager or Director. Watching actors try on different roles and find new parts of themselves is one of her favorite things. Being able to work in theatre with her own children brings a fresh perspective and joy to the experience. She also enjoys being onstage and has worked with Back Alley Productions and Dalton Little Theater with her favorite role being Mom in Leaving Iowa. She loves songbirds, her back porch, and discussing theology and ethics around a fire. She adores her family and credits CFT with expanding her circle with family-by-choice from each show.

Zach Van Fleet

Sound Engineer

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Zach is a Newscast Director at WRCBTV in Chattanooga and a big fan of theater. His love for theater has only grown during his time working with CFT began. He feels so blessed to have the opportunity to work on unique shows with incredible young actors.

Jacob DeBusk

Summer Camp Instructor

Dale has been working with children and their families since 2003 when he became a Children’s Pastor. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Children and Family Ministries from Bethel Seminary. While serving as a children’s pastor he learned the power of drama and what the stage can do for children and their self esteem. He developed several programs incorporating immersive drama geared toward teaching children. In 2013 he directed a cast of 54 community actors in his first full length Broadway musical, Seussical the Musical. In 2015 Dale and his wife, Denise, along with several area theater families founded Christian Family Theater with the goal of educating and producing top quality family and youth productions.

Jacob is a third year Columbus State University student pursuing a BSEd degree in theatre education with an emphasis in directing and acting. He has completed courses in areas of acting, directing, stage management, script analysis, design, set construction, and stage presentation. He is a CFT alumni having appeared in the shows 13 the Musical, Aladdin Jr., and Camp Rock the Musical. Jacob’s awards and honors include being a member of the international thespian society, a Shuler award for Best Musical Direction, and two Christi Awards for Best Supporting Actor & Best Production.

Meet The Team