Mrs. Rice joined the SSHS faculty during the 2006/2007 school year.
Molly Rice (nee Freeman) graduated from Mars Hill College with a Theatre Education Degree (K-12) with an English minor. She also has specialized study in ESL from Lenoir-Rhyne College. As an ESL teacher, theatre teacher-director, and poet, Molly has held residencies in 19 different schools and organizations in Catawba, Madison, and Buncombe counties. As an actor, Molly has been in several plays taking the lead roles. As an improviser in college, Molly was the only female player in the professional touring comedy troupe – Half-Past Funny . Molly also worked on a Warner Brothers movie, My Fellow Americans as a Production Assistant and an extra. While on shoot, Molly met the legends – Jack Lemon and James Garner. Before moving to Northern Ireland, Molly was the first Education Director and co-founder of the education wing at Hickory Community Theatre.
Molly returned from Northern Ireland in 2004 where she lived for 5 years with her husband, Irish poet Adrian Rice. While abroad, Molly taught in hundreds of schools, colleges, and projects using the arts to bring peace to a troubled Ireland. She wrote and directed over 30 original playlets. In 2003, Molly traveled with the Duchess of Abercorn and other poets/writers to St. Petersburg, Russia where she visited Russian schools to foster creative writing through the Pushkin Prizes Trust. The Duchess of Abercorn doned Molly a Pushkin Trust Artist. Molly is a published poet and is working on her first collection entitled Mill Hill. Recently, she was included in the Best of Poetry Hickory Anthology and the Women's Resource Center's anthology - Voices and Visions: A Collection of Writings by and about Empowered Women. Molly has written a teacher's manual entitled Exploring the Lough: Creative Activities for the Classroom and is currently working, with her husband, on a book entitled There Was a Teacher: Creative Dramatics and Creative Writing for the Classroom. Molly teaches short courses in drama at Duke University.
Molly is currently teaching Theatre Arts at St. Stephen’s High School and is the literary magazine, Indian Ink, editor. In her first year at St. Stephen's H.S., she was chosen as SSHS Wachovia Teacher of the Year & was made a Claes Nobel Educator. In 2008, Molly won "Excellence in Directing" at the regional North Carolina Theatre Conference One-Act Play Festival (along with superior ratings, Most Distinguished Play, and a State award for Best Sound/Music Design). In 2009, Molly won again "Excellence in Directing" at the regional level of NCTC One-Act Play Festival (along with superior ratings, Most Distinguished Play, Excellence in Acting, and a state award "Best Choreography".) In 2009, Molly and her yearbook staff won a national award (honorable mention) for design from Jostens yearbooks. Molly and her students (Ruby Osorio & Taylor Bell) have been finalists for three years now in the National Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest. In 2010, Molly and her Theatre Arts II students won the National (USA & Canada) Interactive Classroom Makeover music video contest. They beat hundreds of other entries and recieved over $30,000 worth of technology for their "tractor shed" classroom/black box theatre. www.mollyrice.com
Contact Information
E-mail: Molly_Rice@catawbaschools.net
Phone: 828-256-9841, ex. 409