by Kevin Russell Poole, Photos by Kevin Russell Poole
Molly Van Der Molen joined me for a not-so-brief chat for this week’s Rap Sheet! She zoomed in from her self-described “country-chic” bedroom wearing head-to-toe black, perfectly personifying the light vs. dark juxtaposition of Molly. She lights up every room she enters with her sun dresses, and light curly hair, and tattoos, and nose rings. She’s the nicest badass you’ll ever meet. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Kevin Russell Poole: Hello, welcome to being interviewed by me!
Molly Van Der Molen: Hello, thank you! Thanks for having me!
Kevin: Okay, Molly, will you start off by describing yourself as an artist?
Molly: I always feel a little nervous or apprehensive to be like “I am an artist” so, I normally end up saying “I just kind of do it all.” But the mature version of me would say “I am a director and writer and, low-key, a creative doula.”
Kevin: I would say much more than “low-key.” I have seen you help birth a lot of creative projects, and also create environments in which other people can incubate their ideas.
Molly: Yes, that's the goal! I think that is something that's a struggle for all creative people, but especially people our age. Getting past what we want people to see in order to get to the truth. It’s cliche, but in our day-to-day conversations we so easily talk around the thing we want to say, rather than actually just saying it because we’re so concerned with how we are perceived. I think when I say “creative doula” I mean that I am trying to help the birthing process along so that what comes out is the true seed of what someone wants to say.
Kevin: I love that.
Molly: It’s also really fun for me. Especially now when I'm not directing anything. It exercises the same muscles because it's truly just being creative and collaborating and having fun discussions. It's all my favorite parts of rehearsal without the pressure of a finished project. And then when the finished product comes, it'll be so exciting!
Kevin: That's kind of how you’ve shifted during this pandemic-time. You’ve shifted from directing in person, but not towards directing virtually.
Molly: It's not that I'm opposed to directing virtually, but I think the virtual things that I've been a part of have made me feel really insecure and really unfulfilled. So, I think instead of pivoting to virtual directing, I'm pivoting to the thing that fulfills me. Having those “creative jam sessions”, for lack of a better word, leading the [Line-Up] Writer’s Group, writing on my own time and also, I co-wrote a one woman show. Those little things help keep the muscles moving but in different mediums.
Kevin: That sounds great! I feel like the things I have directed, I’ve done as an excuse to keep exercising those muscles, but it's so cool to hear that you have continued to flex those muscles without having to participate in a medium that feels unfulfilling to you.
Molly: Right! For example, the one-woman show. Obviously, that's going to be a streamable thing, so the thought was, “how can we create this to fit in the context of a virtual theater, instead of writing it for a live theater and shrinking it?” There's a world where we take plays that are intended for a live audience in a theater, but we squash them to fit this medium just so we can continue working. There's another world where we see how much we can stretch this medium to fit a project that was designed just for this. And I think that's a fun way of problem solving that’s new and temporary, but fun!
Kevin: Well, we also don't know if it's temporary! I think there's a world in which this whole new creative medium that people have created continues, even once live theater exists again.
Molly: I think that that's true. You're so right.
Kevin: Especially the way that you're doing it–created specifically for this medium as opposed to just pretending that we’re in a theater.
Molly: But I think that there's merit to that too! I think we need all of it.
Kevin: I want to hear how you got involved with writing.
Molly: Well, when I was very little, my dream was to be an author. I read Because of Winn Dixie, like, six times in one day. I thought that was my destiny. Sad book too!
Kevin: Yeah! Very sad!
Molly: I think I've just always loved to write, but it ebbs and flows. It wasn't until recently that I've shared my writing. Before, I would always only write for myself. Or, I would write things that were really funny and were meant to be shared, but I made it clear that like "this doesn't represent my talent or my ability", and we can all just laugh at how stupid this is. For example, I would occasionally write erotic novellas for my friends, starring my friends, and they would be over-the-top and ridiculous. But when I think back, it's like, I would pour a couple hours into these things. But yeah, it just kind of happened on its own. I would write little bits and pieces and then be like, “ah, this goes together” and then I was like, “I'm still thinking about this, I'm still writing this.” And then, working with other people on their projects helps me work on my own projects and through that, I’ve blossomed into what I would say is a writer.
Kevin: And you've also worked with a lot of people who don't consider themselves writers! And you've helped them add “writer” to their artistic label, so I think the fact that you still struggle with adding that to your artistic identity is funny.
Molly: I don't feel like I’ve earned the title yet! I see people who have so many ideas swimming in their heads and so many impulses to write and I think they’re always just waiting for permission to do it. I see that in myself and I see that in so many people. Your writing does not have to be the next Stephen King anthology, or a blockbuster hit, or a New York Times bestseller, or a Tony award-winning play. It can literally just be what you shared with three people today, and that's enough! Again, I think it's so much more about what fulfills you and what fills your soul and your heart. And not about what everybody says you are or are not.
Kevin: I think it falls under the “creative doula” umbrella, but I think you can add “inspirational speaker” to your artist identity because I feel so inspired! I'm like “I’m going to share something I wrote!” and I don't even have anything to share, but I want to share it now that I'm hearing you talk about this.
Molly: Well I'm glad! I feel so passionate about other people creating stuff. That transaction gives me the same encouragement and passion in return. So I'm glad!
Kevin: What is your dream play to direct?
Molly: Okay this is going to sound a little pretentious, but my dream play to direct would be one that I wrote. I want to write a play that I am proud of, and direct it and work on it with all my friends as collaborators. And new people too! I want to meet some new friends! But that's my dream. When I'm able to write, produce, and direct my own thing, that will be it.
Kevin: I mean you basically already did with everything but a presentation. [Molly wrote, directed, and co-produced her play, Girlhood, with Breaking & Entering, and had to cancel all of the performances due to the pandemic.]
Molly: And I want to do it again! I want to do that again, but in my dream world I want to have the full space, I want to have an endless budget, I want to be able to pay everybody. I want it to be a full-fledged production that’s equitable and fun and rewarding, and that people walk away being like, “that was one of my favorite experiences ever.” It has to be the dream experience, not just the dream play.
Kevin: It feels like the experience is just as important as the final presentation. If not more!
Molly: Totally! 100%!
Kevin: Okay so what is the best theatrical production you have been a part of?
Molly: I feel like I've been lucky; I've had a lot of fun ones. Really, I was just getting started before the pandemic. It felt like we were just starting to get to the tip of the diving board and then someone was like, “no no no!” just before we were about to jump.
Kevin: They covered the pool!
Molly: Yeah exactly! So I would say my favorite experience was Girlhood for sure. Like 80% of my favorite people in the world were a part of it, and it was written with the help of people I love, created with the help of people I love. It was exactly what I was hoping it would be. I also love the Writers Group with Breaking & Entering, and I love all the Breaking & Entering stuff. I just feel like there's no pressure ... there's room to mess up, and room to do really well, and room to grow with people that I really care about, and who care about me.
Kevin: That’s so great to hear! It feels like it's the college experience of “this is the last place that you'll be able to fail with no consequences." I think that's been really important for me to help cultivate new spaces where you can fail without consequences.
Molly: So true. I think the difference is: in college you're constantly unlearning things that you were taught, whereas with Breaking & Entering, we get to put what we've learned into practice. And that’s really rewarding.
Kevin: I love to hear that! Okay I've got one last question. What is a theme or topic that you find you contemplate most often in your work?
Molly: Someone pointed this out to me the other day, that I am focused on relationships. Not love necessarily, but like–this sounds pretentious– the nuance of relationships. How we understand and justify one another's actions with care. And this is something I think about in my own life constantly. I think the whole idea of how we love each other is so – it sounds cliche – but it's endlessly interesting to all of us because we all experience that, all the time.
Kevin: “Cliche” does not mean bad, it just means familiar!
Molly: Yes, that's a great way of saying that! I think too, because I’m still so young, something that I struggle with personally, so then I think it comes out in whatever I'm writing, is insecurity and self-worth. Girlhood is all about 15-year-olds, which is just the epitome of insecurity and evaluating your self-worth. And I have a feeling that's going to be what we're doing till we die. Looking at the older people in my life, that seems to be the case. Even when you're the most secure, you're still like, “wait a second, who am I?” I think it's fun how we can so clearly see someone else, but can be so blind to ourselves. And I think we carry that ability and that blind side with us forever. But I guess, at the end of the day, you could say that's what every play is about.
Kevin: While that could be true, I think the fact that you have such a specific focus on it means that the play you direct, or the play you write is going to be different from other plays because that's where your brain is focusing.
Molly: That's true, thank you!
Kevin: Thank you! I always love your writing, I love everything you do. I think about the Goose monologue from Girlhood all the time because I think that that so captures your entire vibe. When I first heard it, everything just kind of clicked about like how your brain works. And the fact that you put that to paper is just so impressive to me. And when Maggie [Metnick, member of The Line-Up] recorded it and put it on Instagram, I was just like, “Uh-oh! I was scrolling and now I am weeping!”
Molly: Well, thank you. Yeah I like that one too. That is something that I feel really proud of. Which I don't say about a lot of things, so, thank you
Kevin: Hearing you say that is just like, “Thank god she knows how talented she is.”
Molly: That’s very nice, thank you for saying that.
Kevin: Thank you so much for sitting down and letting me pick your brain!