Molly Van Avery

Molly's Arts on Chicago Project »

Molly is a performance artist, educator, poet, and proud resident of Powderhorn. Molly has received several grants and her performance work has been seen at Open Eye Figure Theatre, the Walker Arts Center, Pangea World Theatre, Bryant Lake Bowl, and the Bedlam Theatre. Her work uses personal history, research, humor, and character studies to explore a broad range of social justice issues including racism, queer identity, and environmental degradation. As a participant in the Twin Cities creative community, Molly is dedicated to supporting the creative process of artists at every level of their development. She is currently directing the Naked Stages Fellowship for emerging performance artists at Pillsbury House + Theatre in collaboration with Sharon Bridgforth. Molly is also co-directing the Bedlam’s 2013 10-minute play festival with Mire Regulus and is pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Hamline.

Molly’s most recent project with Maren Ward, Making Amends, was an intimate living room performance tour designed to spark deep conversations about the amendments to Minnesota’s constitution in the 2012 election. Through that experience, she learned that people are open to taking risks as audiences members when they are participating in a creative experience in a familiar and comfortable environment. This learning is being applied in the design of the Poetry Mobile where public space is used not just as a venue for art, but as studio space as well. She hopes to generate and support others in writing poetry that explores the complex and rich layers of life and language that happen in the center of this city.

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