Molly Prather is an award-winning writer and actress made of Fantastic. She is wicked smart, viciously hilarious and scarily insightful. She is direct, and as far as I can tell, has no fear. In many ways she reminds me of Goonan. Prather is the one who set me firmly upon this new path added to the journey.
She is also hot/adorable. Like a lot of hotties, she can effortlessly spin her look. I picked this one at random (mainly because I love that dress); go to her homeport to look at the other pictures.
Let me share a real-life example of her fantabulousness, which took place during one of the classes last year. You know how when you're gathering before an event starts, you pass the time chatting among each other until everyone shows up? This day, two of us are up in the Loft with Molly waiting for the other three to show up. We're just gabbing - one of us was explaining the fresh bruise blotches from a car accident, one of us threw in cop procedure neepery, celebrity encounters came up because a celebrity*** was involved in the car accident.
The other three show up. Class rolls. Eventually someone asks a question involving story construction.
Molly begins her answer, framing it as a story. As she's doing so two of us realize she's pulling snippets from stuff we just said during the gab fest about half and hour before! She wove a specific answer to a specific question into a story she made up on the spot using material from OUR lives she had not heard until that day. When she was done talking, maybe about four or five minutes, not only had a clear answer been delivered, but a complete story with beginning/middle/end. And it was hilarious!
When she finished my jaw was on the FLOOR. Seriously, I wanted to applaud. I do remember explaining to the other two what they just saw, and like me they started at her, astonished.
That's how fast this woman's mind works.
I also appreciated how her classes were more like a conversation with someone rather than a lecture, and her ability to work with a range of ethnics and ages with aplomb. These are all aspects of an excellent teacher.
Molly very much expects you to do the Work. Woe unto anyone who returned next class without having done the Work in between. She sets a comfortable, challenging environment for learning, but she's not there to play games.
Go to her shiny new website, click around, subscribe the the calendar for show dates, and drop her an email if you are thinking of exploring live storytelling but don't know where to start.
You don't need to have performance experience to learn from her. I didn't, not really, not in this format. I mostly knew only how to confidently write for the page; writing for performance is not the same thing. I had the Desire for more, but no real idea of how to go about it until Molly guided me through it, and pushed. I am so grateful.
*** Because I'm not up on celebrities, I had no idea who the celebs are they were talking about. Still don't.
