The Seaweed Sisters’ New Dance-Comedy Show Takes Silliness Seriously

Spending time with the Seaweed Sisters is like going on a playdate you wish would never end. The trio—Megan Lawson, Jillian Meyers, and Dana Wilson—has taken audiences on whimsical adventures for years. A five-minute performance started it all in 2013, followed by annual videos and occasional live appearances, during which they developed their inimitable blend of dance, theater, comedy, and clowning. When they weren’t pursuing individual careers as dance artists—working with stars like Madonna, Olivia Rodrigo, Janet Jackson, and Justin Timberlake, and on TV shows and films—they’d “sib up,” as Wilson puts it, and create together. 

Now, these Los Angeles–based artists are inviting audiences into their delightful bubble for their first full-length live production. WEED OH NO!, co-produced by The Center for Provocative Thought, runs June 5–14 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

What are the Seaweed Sisters?

Jillian Meyers: I usually say it’s a trio with two of my best friends. We try to make some sweet funnies with some good moves.

Dana Wilson: We have a fantastical story version: We were three peas born in a tiny pod traded in somebody’s lunch for Cheetos.

Megan Lawson: We love to dance together. We love each other. What’s most precious is the friendship. We’re continuing to explore what [the trio] is all the time. Hence the name of our show. WEED OH NO!: We don’t know. 

How would you describe your pink, green, and blue personas?

Lawson: Pink is a born leader, very bossy. It’s a lot of false confidence, so not always having the right answer, but taking charge and saying, ‘Let’s go, let’s do this.’ 

Meyers: Green is nervous, but excited, and has confidence, but questions it. Also confused sometimes. 

Wilson: Blue loves to perform, loves an audience, loves to win. But certainly the dumbest of the three. Zero ideas about what to do next. Happy to be here, as long as I have a great outfit. 

You say you take silliness seriously. What does that mean? 

Meyers: When we’re making and one of us will do something, if we all laugh, it’s like, “Okay, yes, that’s staying,’ and then investigating why that was funny. Some of those jokes are specific for dancers. Like when we do it the way we’ve been trained to not do it, but we do it exactly the same, and in sync, with really syncopated, beautiful timing. 

Wilson: We see in the entertainment and commercial industries that sex sells. Or in the concert world where contemplative and metaphor are king. We’re like, “What if it’s nonsense, but executed at the same level?”

Lawson: As three ladies, we also observe that it’s difficult to lean into the funny, or maybe less desirable or attractive. It feels like a worthy pursuit for our own joy [and] levity, but also as examples for other young dance-lings. It doesn’t have to be just two lanes. 

Tell me about the new show. 

Lawson: It’s a playdate. We are the co-hosts. 

Meyers: [It’s] a little kid that’s like, “Hey, you want to come see my room?”

Wilson: Most of [our] work would probably be categorized as bright, happy, bubbly, fun—which this is also—but in a 75-minute work, we’re getting to unturn other rocks and go a little deeper.

What are the vibes? 

Wilson: It’s magical. It’s handmade. Have you ever built a fort with cushions? Dial that up vertically and lengthwise by about 16 feet and you have our backdrop, more or less. 

Meyers: It’s a place that has things that are recognizable, but they don’t behave in a way that you know them to. 

Lawson: The space is alive with color and sound. We’re tickling all of the senses. 

Why do you want to share play, joy, whimsy, delight, and magic right now? 

Wilson: Because it’s essential for survival. It’s essential to laugh, to move your body, to invite community around those things.

Lawson: To also keep questioning what we know and what we don’t know. To keep unraveling and finding other opinions, ways, points of view. We’re demonstrating discovery and curiosity. 

Meyers: Looking in the news, it’s easy to forget that joy is also a choice, play is also a choice, [being] with other people is a choice. The magic of being in the moment with people you don’t know and laughing is another great reminder that we can all feel these things, even if we don’t agree on everything. 

Wilson: It’s the most resilient thing in the world to be joyful in times of great pressure. It’s not an accident that our show is funny, because comedy is about building pressure and release. Joy is resistance.