Marilyn "Molly" Hiatt
She / her
"In a directorial profile I was once called a bridge where incredible compassion meets creativity. I think I’m tired of being a bridge."
SPECIES: Empath
OCCUPATION: Associate Professor of Theatre at UMWR
AGE: 40 Years Old
PLAYED BY: Chelsea
FC: Mandy Moore
Empathetic. It was a word that Marilyn (now exclusively known as Molly) Howard heard over and over as a child. Her parents told her it was a gift but at times it felt too much like a curse. It was challenging for her parents to take her out in public as there was always a chance that she’d burst into tears thanks to an outburst of another child - which at first seemed totally normal. Soon her mother began to notice her daughter’s abilities, as they’d mimicked those heavily documented in a series of personal journals kept by Molly’s grandmother. Molly was an empath.
What should’ve been normal tween and teenage years fueled by hormones and traditional mood swings were amplified like no other for Molly. When her mother finally talked to her about her condition, Molly’s first response was, So I’m a freak, great! It took a while, but she started to sort of come around - as much as a teenager would.
During Molly’s sophomore year of high school she met the love of her life, Roger. She lived in the small town of La Conner, Washington and knew everyone at her school. When Roger Stein moved to town, people whispered but welcomed the new family of artists, and for Molly, the rest was history.
Initially she was drawn to Roger’s kindness and writer’s charm, eager to hear every story he had to share. He let her read some of his journals and there, at sixteen, she fell in love. Molly became Roger’s inspiration and she’d eventually learn the cost of that. But for a long time everything seemed normal. The pair went from two teenagers in love to two young adults moving across the country to New York City together for college. Their life was big and emotional and to Molly, it all felt really beautiful.
Roger proposed during their senior year together at NYU and they were married at 22. Molly graduated with a degree in theatre and promptly began working backstage on an off-off Broadway show, and Roger published his first novel, which was inspired by their love story and dedicated to his wife, Marilyn. When she wasn’t working she tagged along to readings at indie bookshops and Roger would introduce her as his muse. In truth, Molly just enjoyed telling stories, but she did that best with humans on stage, not with words on a page. She knew it had a lot to do with her "abilities."
As her career grew, so did Roger’s and his demands. When she wasn’t working, Molly was by his side at home inspiring him while he was writing, and it often left her feeling emotionally and physically drained. Eventually, in an effort to distract herself, she went back to NYU for her M.A. in Costume Design. It helped on the distraction front, but she was still so tired.
After a couple more years in NYC Molly followed Roger to Nashville. There, she began teaching theatre at a community college and went back to her roots to direct some plays, but she grew increasingly exhausted as she supported Roger during late night writing sessions. At one point Roger suggested that she might be sick and recommended she take some time off from work to rest, and perhaps visit a specialist - one found by him, of course.
The specialist told her if she didn’t look out for her heart health she might not make it five years. After six months of sitting with that thought that she could die, and the never-ending exhaustion that loomed over her head (and the knowledge of a now failing marriage), Molly decided she might figure out how to make that death happen. Or rather, make Roger think that it happened. She didn’t really want to die.
After seventeen years of marriage, Marilyn Stein tragically passed away while on a trip to Lake Champlain. She’d told Roger she was going to visit a few of her theatre colleagues from NYC for a reunion, but that she was going a day early to settle in and rest so as not to exert herself too much. He at least pretended to buy it. She told her parents she was taking a weekend for herself.
But Molly never actually made it to the lake, which is why the body was never recovered. Her contact who helped her out managed to drum up a very convincing story. Her NYU letterman jacket and a few personal effects were discovered soaked on a dock by the rental where a reservation had been made in Marilyn’s name. One of those lake storms had popped up. It was hard to say, but authorities ruled that she must’ve become disoriented in the onset of heavy rain and fog and instead of making it back to the rental, she fell into the lake. After 2 months they stopped searching.
Instead, Molly, with her new legal name of Amelia Hiatt, ended up in Wicked’s Rest, Maine. It was risky, she thought, moving to a town so close to where her former self met her “end”, but again, the person Molly trusted with her “new” life assured her that she would be safe. Safety isn’t a feeling she’s known well since her arrival, but she’s doing her best to make peace with this new-to-her life.
Loyal · Nurturing · Passionate · Overly Guarded · Resentful · Stubborn · Altruistic · Protective
Molly had no hand in choosing her new place of residence. She was able to connect with someone online who used to work in witness protection services who helped her with her situation and though she’s never actually met this person, she had to trust them implicitly with her new life. Upon her arrival to Wicked’s Rest they ceased contact.
At first, Molly only considered Roger with her “death,” but it quickly became apparent that her parents and sister would also think that she died. She avoids talking about her family at all costs because she can’t risk the emotional storm that’s sure to follow those thoughts.
With the absence of Roger in the two years since moving to Wicked’s Rest, Molly’s been able to gain a better handle on her empath abilities again.
Prior to her “death”, she’d discovered that Roger wasn’t a normal human. He was a muse and had been using her; feeding on her. He’d caused complete turmoil on her own internal emotional ecosystem for two decades in addition to causing the physical “sickness.” Her heart is perfectly healthy (physically, anyway).
Molly was part of the design team that won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Costume Design in a Play for Twelfth Night, but she’s confident that no one will know because technically Marilyn Stein won the award, and Marilyn is no longer with us.
When she first moved to Wicked’s Rest she found Roger’s debut novel, The Weight of Silence, in a used bookstore and bought it so she could take it home and burn it. The book is still sitting on her bookcase two years later.