Actress, improv comedienne, and singer on laughter, nerves, and the “freedom” of acapella

The first day Molly Ledbetter, ’17, performed on a stage was also the same day her mother broke her own arm.

“It was a very tumultuous morning,” Ledbetter said. “And thank heavens that didn’t foreshadow where my acting career would go.”

Ledbetter, an international relations major and double-minor in history and art history, is not only a veteran member of SJU Improv, the on-campus improv comedy group, but also a co-president of the acapella group Hawkapella. Her associations with both organizations began during  her freshman year.

In 2014, after attending one of the group’s community practices, Ledbetter auditioned and became one of the founding members of the improv team. Her spontaneous characters are visibly influenced by her own comedy idols, including Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, and Maya Rudolph, all of “Saturday Night Live” fame.

“I believe in the power of laughter,” said Ledbetter, who won the “Class Clown” title  in her senior year at Council Rock North High School in Newton, Bucks County, Pa. “I love how people can leave their sorrows behind, even just for a minute, even if they don’t know it’s happening.”

In addition to improv, Ledbetter has acted in two musicals with the SJU Theater Company: “Avenue Q,” as one of the Bad Idea Bears, and “West Side Story” as Pauline. She also has a role in student theater group Followed By a Bear’s latest show, “To the Rescue,” which will be performed on March 5.

While she joined improv after one practice, Ledbetter has been singing for most of her life and first heard acapella music and joined a group while in high school.

“I loved that new style,” Ledbetter said. “It gives you a freedom to sing how you want to sing.”

Auditioning for Hawkapella, however, was a different story, as she forgot the words to her song halfway through. She was sure she didn’t have a chance after learning that 90 other people had auditioned.

“I was positive I wasn’t going to get in,” Ledbetter said. “I called my mom crying after the audition, saying ‘I didn’t make it, I love singing so much.’”

Nevertheless, she made it into the group. Ledbetter’s co-president, Derrek Bui, ’18, said that she is an organized and hardworking member of the group.

“My first impression of Molly was that she had such a bubbly personality,” Bui said. “That still holds true today; it’s very rare to find Molly not smiling.”

Bui also said that one of his favorite memories was recording a cover of Panic! At the Disco’s “Hallelujah” in a hotel room in Washington D.C. with Hawkapella, where Ledbetter had a featured solo.

Hawkapella later made a video to accompany their recording, which Ledbetter says is one of her proudest moments.

In the face of all her accomplishments, however, Ledbetter says she still gets nervous before going onstage, which does not exactly help when she is singing.

“I’m good at tricking my brain. So I tell myself that I’m not nervous, but I definitely am,” Ledbetter said. “It’s more of an excited energy, with improv and with singing. But I think that nerves are good. They keep you alert and on your toes.”

While Ledbetter says that she is also nervous of what the future holds, it helps to remember a piece of advice that her father keeps telling her.

“Don’t worry about what you can’t control,” Ledbetter said. “And my biggest quote in life is that ‘everyone’s fighting a battle that you know nothing about, so always be kind.’ I try to let that steer everything I do.”