Vairbale in onClipEvent

How can I pass a variable defined on the main stage to a onClipEvent handler?

This is what I’m trying to do:

in a frame:

myVar = "[hello molly!"](http://www.devincolumbus.com/)

then, I’ve got a movieClip with this attached to it:

onClipEvent (load) {
path = myVar;
}

why doesn’t path know what myVar is? I’ve tried using _level0 and _parent… HELP!