molly andrews-hinders
Music and vibration change us on a cellular level, and that brings me immeasurable hope.
I began writing music as a way to metabolize the grief and outrage of living in the United States. What started as political commentary has since blossomed into a process of transmutation and becoming. I explore harmony, dissonance, tempo changes, and discovery within music to wrestle with the tensions between individualism and collective care, disparity and abundance, isolation and connection. Piano and voice are my primary instruments, and I use both to write for other voices, instruments, and sounds. I dive into further alchemy in collaboration with vocalists, musicians, and multi-disciplinary artists. I write from my heart, with the aid of ancestors, from my limbic and reptilian brain, and for myself, my loved ones, and my community.
Velveteen, A New Musical at Playhouse Square
The Wandering, Maelstrom Collaborative Arts
Where Our Shadows Like to Play at BorderLight Fringe Festival Performed by emily liptow and molly andrews hinders
Songwriting is at the heart center of my creative practice. My work spans a wide range: fully produced musicals in theatres, basement house concerts, performance art pieces in parks, self-produced album, scores to accompany live work, digital media, the list goes on. I’ve crafted musicals, musical scenes, soundscapes, and sound design for performances at Cleveland Public Theatre, Maelstrom Collaborative Arts, Near West Theatre, Borderlight Fringe Festival, Prop Thtr (Chicago), Playhouse Square and more. I don’t have formal training in composition and music theory. When I went to college to get my BFA in Musical Theatre, I had overwhelming anxiety when it came to singing. Eventually, I switched my major to acting. Once I got away from sheet music, once I departed from the expectations of the “perfect” musical theatre voice/piano playing, I began to write music. I began to uncover and explore a passion for crafting song. I’m honored to be a 24/25 Kulas Fellow for Composing and Sound Design at Cleveland Public Theatre.
Expressing myself through performance, theatre and song, I create from my personal experience of the world. Through collaborative process and commissioned work I aim to look at the world through your experiences, too.
offering collaborations, commissions, community singing and performances -let’s dream & sing together.
Theatre has the power to expand minds, open hearts, and call us into loving presence with one another. It is a craft that requires collaboration, listening, patience, imagination, empathy, and play. In an era of extreme isolation and siloing, is it a powerful practice to come together in one room: to collaborate, create, witness, and care for and with one another. It is a practice of building the world we want to live in. We need theatre to honor our humanity, our story, our song, our lives.