By Elizabeth Cloutman

Shlepperellas celebrate women and families in comedy and song

One could say Linda Merriweather and Karen Schilling-Gould have lived through many of the experiences of today’s women. Both have worked as professionals, and both are wives and mothers.

The two friends have not let their busy schedules overwhelm their joy in life or dampen their sense of humor. Three years ago, Merriweather and Schilling-Gould began a new career, performing as The Shlepperellas: Mothers Gone Mad, a 90-minute musical comedy revue that’s proven popular with audiences around the Bay Area.

The duo’s name evolved by combining two words. “Shlepp” or “schlepp” is a Yiddish word meaning “to go or move with effort.” Schilling-Gould said that since both had three young children, 16 months apart, they sometimes felt they were “shlepping” around their homes, trying to meet the demands of a day. The “-ella” was as in Cinderella, dressing up and going out for dinner, “trying to balance shlepping around with being a human being. Shlepperellas gives it the happy-ending twist.”

The revue celebrates the life of women, satirizing universal situations from teen angst to upper-arm flab, using gentle humor and song parodies that appeal to both men and women. “It’s about remembering what it’s like being teen-agers, being single, relationships, as well as about being mothers,” Schilling-Gould said.

Merriweather added, “We got a letter from a 75-year-old man who said it reminded him of his growing-up years. A man in his 20s said it reminded him of what his mother went through … I feel the best comedy is based on real-life situations. We keep it clean and funny.”

Both Merriweather and Schilling-Gould studied theater arts in college, but their first careers were not as performers. Merriweather worked in marketing and customer relations for Hewlett-Packard. Schilling-Gould was a licensed marriage and family counselor and an art therapist. She has also written articles and three yet-to-be-published children’s books. Their focus changed when they left their careers and became stay-at-home mothers.

Merriweather, who lives in Los Altos, became the mother to a daughter, now 12, and, 16 months later, to twin girls, now 11.

Schilling-Gould is a Palo Alto resident whose parents, Richard and Marilyn Schilling, live in Los Altos Hills. She became the mother to boy/girl twins, now 11, and, also 16 months later, to a son, now 10.

The women met in 1993, in a first-aid class for parents. “When you have three kids, 16 months apart, accidents happen,” said Schilling-Gould, laughing.

The two liked each other immediately, but it wasn’t until about 1998 that their common experiences became comedy. Schilling-Gould had studied improvisational comedy while in college. When Merriweather’s husband, Alf, saw Schilling-Gould at an event, he told her his wife, whom Schilling-Gould hadn’t seen in a year, was taking an improvisation class at Stanford. The two women reunited over coffee and bagels, and soon thereafter the Shlepperellas were born.

Merriweather explained, “I’d tell Karen something that happened, and we’re laughing so hard, we couldn’t breathe - and (she clapped at this point) it’s in the show.”

The act evolves as their lives change and their children grow. They plan rehearsing and promoting their act around their families’ schedules.

The duo frequently and easily switched in and out of their stage personas as they described some of their routines.

At one point they broke into singing “Wrong Thong” to the tune of the 1960s song “Downtown” - about the latest trend in women’s underwear.

Merriweather and Schilling-Gould said that while their husbands and children inspire many of their routines, they prefer to keep their satire gentle.

They hesitate to share private details out of respect for their families.

Even so, Schilling-Gould recalled her husband, Harry, stopping in the middle of a conversation to ask, “You’re not going to use this, are you?”

While the Shlepperellas have decided to forgo their traditional Mother’s Day shows this year, they have scheduled a performance for 8 p.m., May 25, at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St. Tickets are $29 adults, $24 seniors.

For tickets, call 903-6000 or logon to www.mvcpa.com. For more information, logon to www.shlepperellas.com.