Shay Mace
Sara Malinowski is the writer-performer of upcoming one-woman Edinburgh Festival Fringe show Girlfriends, a road trip saga of two polar opposite strangers – turned classic boundaryless female besties. Sara ended up re-routing the story after an intervention from a group of Gen-Z first readers who found something else in between the lines, and the result will now head to Edinburgh across the Atlantic next month. We caught up with Sara for a pixelated pint to find out more about the journey behind the journey in Girlfriends.
You can catch Girlfriends at Jade Studio at Greenside @ George Street on August 7th – 29th (not the 16th or 23rd) from 11:25 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Shay: Hi Sara! Girlfriends follows a character called Scout on a journey across the USA without a plan, and deep in heartbreak – tell us about Scout and what made you decide to bring this story to the stage now.
Sara: Thanks for talking with me, Shay! Scout is essentially me, Sara, but with a little bit of creative distance. Girlfriends is the true story of myself in 2014, at my most (endearingly) insufferable following a breakup with my high school sweetheart. Lots of sobbing to Joni Mitchell cassette tapes and pretending I was “super cool” about our “mutually agreed-upon time apart to better know ourselves”. My ex detailed how he’d slept with some other people to find himself, then asked what I had planned. So I answered that I was driving from NY to California. It was very 22 of me, I’ll say lovingly.
On day one of my drive, my barista (essentially a stranger) said it sounded “like something she’d love to do,” so we stayed out all night talking at a diner and I asked her to join. I’d say even true stories have an element of fiction. I’m only ever able to write from my perspective. I’ve hosted storytelling salons in New York for years, won a Moth StorySlam and wrote a book in New Mexico, and I’m also an Equity actress with Shakespeare repertories. I wanted to finally write my first play to cross over all my interests and to challenge myself to try my first Fringe. I wanted to tell as true a story as I could, with as much joy as I could, even if it did take me ten years to really see the road trip for what it was: a love story.
Shay: How has the creative process been of putting the show together? Give us an idea of the journey you’ve been on with it so far.
Sara: Girlfriends is a bouncy comedy, while also being the hardest thing I’ve done! I originally decided to write something to showcase my love of travel, singing, Shakespeare— intending to make a kind of Romy & Michele, Thelma & Louise, Goofy Movie -esque road trip adventure. What propelled me to keep writing was the road trip turned into a story I didn’t expect. I showed the first scene to a writing group of Gen Z’ers and they asked when the characters would realize they’re in love. My response was a very millennial bisexual’s “huh?” The more I tried to write the story down honestly though, as it happened, the more comical (and a bit heart-breaking) it became in how obvious it all was.
Shay: What will be the first thing the audience sees, feels, and hears as they enter the space?
Sara: A chair on a stage. That chair does a lot of heavy lifting. Pynk by Janelle Monae will be playing, which to quote one audience member, “means its gay!” The first sound of the show is crickets and a wild animal. Do with that spoiler what you will! There should be a projection in the shape of the United States that will show the different landscapes as we travel along. Pending any tech issues, we should see a little car on the map ready to travel westward. I see that as the only remaining “Goofy Movie” reference in this play. There will be a gas (petrol?) canister left on stage as well.
There might be some singing in exchange for gasoline (this, yes, truly happened). The radio itself will be a character on the road, so any pre-show songs have elements of the story mixed within. Expect to feel joy and adventure brimming in the 3/4 round black box theatre! Well, I’ve always felt that when I walk into a black box, so that bit might just be my experience.
Shay: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Sara: I hope they take away a better understanding of themselves, of their prior relationships, of their relationship with their bodies and sexual identities. I’ve had older women approach me after the show to say it made them realize they had loved a best friend. I’ve had people in their mid-20s saying it showed how we know ourselves, even when we say we don’t. Eventually you “find yourself,” because you’re already there. I hope people can take away joy, laughter, nostalgia, and an appreciation for all ways the self discovery of our 20’s is yes, dumb, emotional, but incredible in naivety and bravery.
Shay: What journey has the show been on to find itself at EdFringe 2026?
Sara: I attended Edinburgh Fringe as an audience member two years ago, loved spending my days seeing shows, and immediately went home and started writing. The play was chosen for Letter of Marque’s Ensemble Playwright Lab in New York, so I’ve now done staged readings of the piece as an 12-person at WOW Cafe Theatre, as a 3-person at El Barrio’s Artspace in Harlem, and a one-person show at Opera America with live music. My director, Ash Malloy, saw the piece there, and offered her vision for the 60-minute version I brought to a sold-out final weekend at Hollywood Fringe.
Shay: With EdFringe now just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Sara: You: I’m most excited to be a part of the Fringe community. My venue at Greenside has already successfully connected all of our shows, and I can tell the support from within the Fringe is so strong. I’m excited to internationally premiere this play for the first time, to be a first time Fringer, first time playwright, to basically expand my abilities beyond what I’ve explored previously and meet and befriend incredible fellow artists. The bravery and passion of anyone who brings a show to Edinburgh is contagious even as an audience member, and I’m so excited to be a part of the community and cheer on other’s work.
Shay: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Sara: Girlfriends would wish it was a cosmopolitan, like Carrie Bradshaw musing over a lost love while looking chic. But in reality an Imperial IPA on draft, because on this road trip we would check the menu and pick the item with the lowest price and the highest alcohol content.
A reminder, you can catch Girlfriends at Jade Studio at Greenside @ George Street on August 7th – 29th (not the 16th or 23rd) from 11:25 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
