Sarah Shtern & Reshma Meister
Enter the SARAH & RESHMA multiverse -- a braid of parallel timelines that explore the relationship between mother and daughter, carrot and lettuce, drum and bass. It's a stew of characters and performance styles that leave the two with the biggest challenge of all: playing themselves. Does this make sense? It's theatre. It's protest. It's jazz.
Photos by Greg Feiner & Jill Petracek
First of all your costumes are hilarious - are those lettuce and carrot outfits? Can you talk about this as a "creative choice"? What does it symbolize or mean in the context of the performance?
S: Yes we are lettuce and carrot. And we encourage everyone to discover their inner vegetable.
R: You’ll be happy to know these costumes have been repurposed from Halloween 2022. They are but 2 ingredients of a family sized salad. My mom wanted us to be a salad. Which is probably why the show can’t help but be motherly charged.
S: Sometimes the art comes from the outfits. Reshma had these insane costumes and we built a lore and a world around them. They added silliness and absurdity. The veggies allowed us to tell the age old story of a young carrot being shepherded by a hardened Lettuce through the perils of Hollywood.
When & when did you meet, and when did you start collaborating?
S & R (In perfect unison): We met at an open mic at the Lyric Hyperion.
R: And then I found out that I was next door neighbours with Sarah’s boyfriend Sammy.
S: The universe blessed me with a creative partner and romantic partner right next door to one another. We became great friends anddecided to collaborate at a clown gladiator style competition show called Joedome. It’s a crazy time.
R: In our first piece together, we played Trisha Paytas’ unborn fetuses. Does that make sense?
S: We were fighting to see who would get the chance to be born as Malibu Barbie. I don’t think it made sense but it was fun and hilarious and we were electric together.
R: And then we started getting booked on shows as a duo.
Give us a few "out of context" moments, bits or jokes from the show. Describe some of the absurdity we get to see from you!
R: We go to the beach.
S: It sounds normal but it’s really not. My favorite bit is “Hot MILF does Standup Comedy”
R: It all starts with a seed, Sarah fertilizes it with sunlight, audience participation and a dribble of spit.
S: The show is a coming of age story told by idiots.
R: It’s protest. It’s jazz. It’s post-modern neo-futurism.
What is the "heart" of your show, or what is the thing you're hoping the audience walks away with after seeing it?
S: That your mom was right the whole time.
R: Not a whole lot in life makes sense but it’s fun to try and figure it out with your best friend.
S: Yeah. Call your mom.
Can you tell us about some other female-driven shows you've seen at Fringe this year that you would recommend checking out?
S&R: Yes! The brilliant Claire Woolner who is doing a show called Retrospection. She won the whole Hollywood Fringe. Brianna Ahlmark does the silliest clown hour we’ve ever seen called “Dillis”. Courtney Pauroso is perfect as “Vanessa 5000” directed by the incomparable Corey Podell. Sophia Cleary’s “It Gets Worse” is an incredible stand-up clown hybrid hour. Sophia also directs our friend Nalini Sharma’s heart opening show “Until Death”