Cardinal Profile: Molly Gaebe ’07, softball

Molly Gaebe ’07 is used to high-pressure situations. Whether playing on the softball field or doing improvisational comedy or theater on the stage, she is used to having to think on her feet. The pitcher, who earned first team All-NESCAC and third team All-New England honors last year, is also a member of the campus improv group New Teen Force. She also majors in Theater and American Studies.

How does Gaebe manage all these activites?

“It can be difficult,” she said. “I’ve gotten better at it though. Freshman year it didn’t work out so well, but now I only do theater shows in the fall, and improv and softball in the spring.”

Despite her involvement in three different activities, Gaebe has come to excel in all of them. She is the Cardinals’ top pitcher for the second year in a row, hitting above .400. But her high-level of performance on the field has not been her favorite part of the season.

“The highlight of softball is corrupting the freshmen,” Gaebe said. “During the trip to California I made one of them my big spoon, even though she’s five inches shorter than me.”

Gaebe’s positive attitude allows her to make the best of this year’s frustrating season for the Cardinals. Although she was annoyed at the Cardinals’ 8-18 record, tendency to lose close games, and elimination from NESCAC playoff contention, she says that she is going to enjoy the rest of the season’s games nonetheless.

“[Now that we’ve been eliminated] we just want to be the assholes and spoil it for other teams,” Gaebe said.

In addition to being a key member of the softball team, Gaebe enjoys being a principal member of New Teen Force. Gaebe describes the group as “a long-form improve comedy group [that] makes up zany characters and crazy plotlines on the spot.”

New Teen Force is one of Wesleyan’s many sketch and improvisational comedy groups.

“We have so many funny kids here, so we need a lot of groups,” Gaebe said. “Most schools only have one improv group, but Wesleyan has four or five.”

Despite the affection Gaebe feels for the entire comedy scene here, she has a strong sense of loyalty toward New Teen Force.

“We’re one of the oldest improv groups on campus,” Gaebe said. “We’ve been around for eight years. We go to other colleges a lot. The highlight is doing a show at the Skidmore National College Comedy Festival every year.”

Gaebe puts her acting, for which she is noted for her sense of timing and versatile facial expressions, into use in more academics settings as well. As a theater major, Gaebe has performed in many shows in her three years at Wesleyan. Gaebe’s favorite role is the washerwoman she played in a production of “Quills,” directed by a senior for his thesis.

“I got massacred, then a priest had sex with my corpse,” Gaebe said, describing the plight of her character. “My dad came to it, it was so awkward.”

Some of the other shows Gaebe has been in have been more abstract. For example, Gaebe was in the Theater Department’s production of a Don Quixote puppet show last year.

“Wes does some weird stuff,” Gaebe laughed.

With all these activities, Gaebe has managed to make much of her Wesleyan experience.

“Audition for everything you can,” Gaebe said, advising newcomers. “If you’re not funny, still audition for improv. Can’t sing? Still go out for a cappella. It’s an old piece of advice, but it’s true.”

As for her future, Gaebe hopes to go to Chicago, home of the Saturday Night Live farm team Second City Theater Company, to study improvisational comedy, which she did last summer. Although she does not want to do improv as a career, Gaebe said that she thought improvisational theater would help her later in life.

“People who do improv for a living are usually alcoholics,” she said. “[But it] gives you good skills for life. It helps your confidence and public-speaking.”

During the final year and a month at Wesleyan University, Gaebe plans to just chill out, having fun, doing theater and improv, and playing softball. Gaebe was excited about the softball team’s prospects, as the roster is full of freshmen and sophomores, but she said that her greatest hope was to merely stay healthy.

She was almost certain that this would be her first season in which she would not get hurt, but showing a bruise on her arm, she said, “I got pegged on the shoulder on the spring break softball trip, and it took me three weeks to recover. I should get bubble wrap for next season.”