Molly Hood is an actor, text coach, director, choreographer, and professor. She holds
an M.F.A. in Classical Acting from The Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy for Classical
Acting at The George Washington University.
At Radford University, Molly is a member of the Performance Faculty, and directs each
year in the Main Stage Season. She has presented with the Association for Theatre
in Higher Education (where she also performed as part of their New Play Development
workshop), the Virginia Theatre Association, and the Arts in Society Conference. Her
article “Performing History: A New Model for the College Theatre Classroom,” can be
read in the International Journal of Arts Education.
Molly’s current areas of interest include staging theatrical intimacy, stage combat,
historical performance, and incorporating jigs as part of Shakespearean performance.
She is actively involved in advanced Theatrical Intimacy training, having completed
her Beginner and Intermediate diploma courses with Theatrical Intimacy Education.
Most recently she traveled to Canada to perform with students and colleagues in the
York Corpus Christi plays, and collaborated with Radford University theatre students, alongside theatre
students and faculty at Virginia Tech, to produce a second “Performing History” Project.
As an actor, Molly appeared as the title role in Hamlet for The Richmond Shakespeare Festival, which was filmed and broadcast on PBS by Virginia
Public Media, and for which she received a Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Best Actress
nomination. Other favorite credits include: Regan in King Lear, Luciana in The Comedy of Errors, Nerissa in The Merchant of Venice, and Arianna in The Comedy of Errors (RTCC Best Supporting Actress Award Winner). She has also appeared as Carol in Oleanna (RTCC Best Supporting Actress nomination), Corie in Barefoot in the Park, Myra in Hay Fever, and Melissa in Melissa Arctic. Molly helped to craft a series of reverse-gender readings of Shakespeare’s plays
in the Richmond community, where she performed such roles as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, and Macduff in Macbeth.
As a director, Molly’s credits at Radford University include: The Trojan Women, Silent Sky, Much Ado About Nothing, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Liar,
Wonder of the World, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Crimes of the Heart and Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells. Additional directing credits include Twelfth Night and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (The Richmond Shakespeare Festival), Buffalo Soldier (Virginia Rep), Twelfth Night (SPARC), Funny Money (Hampden-Sydney College), and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) (Mill Mountain Theatre).
Courses taught include Acting I, Acting Shakespeare, Advanced Movement, Auditioning,
Voice & Movement, Theatre Appreciation, and a Travel Study Course to New York City.
