Molloy

Showcasing Molloy’s courage to dare to be different in gender specific world

Words Jill Nicholas

Pictures/video Stephen Parker

Molloy is queer – in a non-binary* way

There, we’ve said it.  The sky hasn’t fallen in, Tarawera’s not blown its top, Pohutu’s still playing, the district’s lakes haven’t emptied out. The woke police haven’t had a hissy fit … yet.

There’s an unassailable reason for this. Inside the LGBTQ+ community and outside it, the way we’ve described Molloy is as it should be. Molloy wouldn’t have us pussy footing around with flowery falsehoods, simply to cater to some people’s misguided sensibilities about gender assignment.

For the record theirs was female at birth.  

‘Theirs’ and ‘they’ are words that will be used a lot in our up close look at this Molloy person and the theatre world they inhabit. 

The personal pronouns for non-binary people are ‘they’ or ‘them’ so get used to it.

As for the name Molloy; that was chosen because they arrived in the world with it as their surname.  Molloy replaced Amber Molloy.  

With that explanatory preamble about gender non alignment, name clarification and “queer stuff” out of the way we move on to other topics, at least for a while. 

The fun big sibling 

The acronym for “assigned female at birth” is AFAB. It’s apt. As an individual who’s as individual as they come, Molloy is pretty darn fab in their own right.

Gender neutrality apart, they are a person like any other. Frankly, they are a lot nicer than many we’ve met. 

They see themselves as the big sibling many don’t necessarily have. The analogy is a perfect fit. Molloy is warm, open, great fun to be with and is a master craftsperson in one liners.  

Molloy’s occupation isn’t one that’s often stumbled on. It’s Senior Performing Arts Technician.

Contracted by the Rotorua Lakes Council it’s a trade they’ve plied locally during the Sir Howard Morrision Centre refit.

It staged its first event this month, five years since earthquake damage forced its 2017 closure, opening with the New Zealand Lockwood Aria which embraced top-flight vocalists from around the country.  It was fitting, the 2017 competition was the last performance held before the centre’s mothballing.

Theatre graduate twice over

Lighting, design and technical management are Molloy’s specialities but their theatre experience is all-encompassing.

Molloy has an Auckland Unitec Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Practice, specialising in stage and production management. 

That was preceded by four years extramural study at Massey University in Palmerston North, focusing first on psychology, philosophy and musicology.  

“I did a few business papers, economics, weird bits and pieces along the way. I did psychology because it looked interesting but I‘d hate to be a psychologist.

The problem with psych is that it’s too ‘peopely’, you are spending too much time in close confines with people at their most vulnerable.”  

 Molloy’s final Massey year was on campus full time. The end result; a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts.

Molloy’s original plan after leaving school had been to study audio engineering at Toi Whakaari, the national drama school in Wellington.

“But life got in the way. I took a gap year because my ex-stepdad walked out. I put my plans on hold and looked after my mother and brother. I saw him through high school while my mum trained as a vet nurse.” That’s when Molloy enrolled at Massey. 

Paying the bills 

To support themself and their family they worked in hospitality. 

“I was an early morning bake chef, a short order line cook and did a bit of bartending with copy editing on the side.

“I’d done a bunch of editing and writing in high school to earn money to buy football boots. I kept it up through university. It helped pay the rent during Covid.”

There was also a cross section of volunteer roles in student radio, from breakfast show co-presenter to having their own show. Its focus was on where to find the weirdest music.

“That brought an equal amount of love-hate emails.”

By any reckoning all this equates to a kete bulging with diverse skill sets.  Diversity is what Molloy is all about. They are also hugely talented musically.

Making music multiple ways

It’s not hyperbole to refer to Molloy as someone who is bordering on being a one- person orchestra. 

They play piano, bass, flute, synthiser, drums, sax and trumpet. The guitar was mastered in a fortnight.

“If it doesn’t have a reed I can probably play it with varying degrees of success,” is Molloy’s take on their diverse (that word again) line-up of instruments.

The trumpet is presently resting. “It’s a bit mean on my flatmates to be playing it.”

Music has been ever present in Molloy’s life. 

“I’ve been interested in theatre and music as long as I can remember. My mother played in a lot of musicals. We jammed together; mostly cheesy stuff.

“In early high school I had this really cool drama teacher.”

Outside school Molloy played in what they insist were “very trashy” bands.

Since arriving in Rotorua a year ago this past Labour Weekend, they have “accidentally” joined local ukulele band, The Thermaleles.

 Molloy shares office space with founding member Julie Parsons. A renowned talent spotter, she recruited them , decreeing an audition would be superfluous.

Covid spurs on Rotorua arrival

Covid’s August 2021 lockdown was the genesis for Molloy’s Rotorua arrival.

When the lockdown was announced Molloy was in Wellington heading home from visiting their mum in Christchurch.

“I was couch surfing when I was shoulder tapped by Kev Greene.”  He’s the technical manager for the Sir Howard  Morrision Centre rebuild.

“Kev told me to apply for this job. At first I wasn’t sure but there aren’t a lot of 32-year-olds who can say they’ve helped design and open a venue, especially on this scale and in this country.”

With Auckland remaining in lockdown the opportunity was too tempting for Molloy to pass up.   

New performance centre set to excite

“The theatre is really neat. It will be one hell of a resource once it’s up and running full time. It will service big professional touring shows but at its core it is for our community which is just neat too.  

“I feel a lot of people are going to be really excited. The main theatre’s been restored to just shy of 1000 seats, up from 600 in the 1990s revamp.

The orchestra pit is on a lift, the first of its kind in the country.

“The former Concert Chamber is a black box. It can be moved around to any configuration you can dream of. I think it’s my favourite space, it’s super cool.”

Molloy’s equally enthused by their involvement in teen and community technical  programmes they and Greene have instigated.

“It’s not in our job description but we think it’s an important part of giving back to our community and helping develop local talent. 

 “From the uptake we’ve had 24 kids and 12 adults; twice as many as we thought we’d get. They are keen nerds learning about technical aspects of live performance. It’s a fun hobby and viable career tool for them.”

Molloy’s also spending time at the Shambles Theatre, Rotorua’s am-dram HQ. They’re assisting with lighting shows and sharing technical know-how.   

 Theatre career escalates

Molloy’s vast adult theatre experience began with Palmerston North’s Unity festival. This was followed by cultural and arts festivals and they’ve stage managed shows around the motu.

“I’ve done weird bits and pieces around Auckland’s Basement Theatre. After I graduated I basically lived there for a whole year. It was excellent. A multi-board is still there with my name on it.

“I did some touring with Footnote New Zealand Dance, based out of Wellington. That was pretty fun.” 

Auckland’s live performance independent Q Theatre was opening as Molloy moved to the city.

“It was one of the deciding factors for me going there. It was built for creatives by creatives.”

They have organised film festivals at Q and worked as technical manager and production coordinator. 

“There have been a lot of hard yards and weird hours as a casual technician working my way up until 2016 when I took over as technical manager at the Auckland Performing Arts Centre. (APAC). I was juggling that with Q.”

There’s also been up-front involvement with Pride festivals which takes us back to Molloy’s non-binary status.

Discovering non-binary tendencies

The most obvious question is when did they first become aware they were out of step with females their age?

“I was at intermediate when I first thought ‘this is kind of weird, this doesn’t fit”.

I went as far as trying out different names with my friends which my devout Catholic family weren’t super stoked about. 

“By high school I knew being a girl didn’t fit. I had not been exposed to the option of becoming a boy. There was nothing in between in the 1990s into the 2000s. The idea you would grow up being something different was pretty wild, especially in rural New Zealand. It was doubly so in a religious household.”

Molloy was outed to their family by a cousin “who snitched’.

“I tried to have this conversation with my parents at high school. They transferred me to Girls’ High to get me away from people they considered were filling my head with these kind of subjects. I definitely rebelled pretty hard. I got into football and athletics, focused on traditional masculine stuff. If they’d had woodwork or automotive engineering at Girls’ High I’d definitely have done that.”

Theatre was their happy place alternative.

Acceptance and rejection

Over the following years there has been more acceptance from some members of their family, not all.

“My brother’s supportive, he’s a good egg. I raised him good. Once my mother processed it she was ‘Okay so if this is what you need to do and not kill yourself then absolutely.’ 

“My nana’ s been supportive. That’s cute and very unexpected.”

 Rotorua’s reaction to Molloy has, they concede, been a mixed bag.

While many have taken them as they are others haven’t.

“I don’t go out after 9pm because some people can’t cope with big breasts and a fuzzy face, apparently. 

“No one’s taken a swing at me yet but some drunks have made some pretty disgusting advances or told me to f*** off  to where I came from. 

“But it’s not noticeably worse than other smaller provincial parts of New Zealand.”

Looking ahead 

The future remains uncharted territory for Molloy.

 “I feel some of the people opening the Sir Howard Morrison venue are not necessarily the people who will be running it long term. 

“I want to have come in and helped make something awesome for the people here but I also know that by doing that I am absolutely going to have to burn bridges along the way.

“And I do miss the adventure of touring, being in a new place every day, facing new challenges whether they are my fault or the venue’s.”

 * Non-binary definition:  A non-binary person identifies with a gender outside the male-female gender binary.