Theater Latté Da's At Home With Series: Sara Ochs

Reprinted with the permission of Theater Latté Da

This holiday weekend's AT HOME WITH... drops in on Sara Ochs, Theater Latté Da alum and actor featured in many productions including A CHRISTMAS CAROLE PETERSEN, SWEENEY TODD, ASSASSINS, and BERNARDA ALBA, to name just a few. Sara shares some of her favorite recipes, routines, music, books and poems, all to help bring peace and enjoyment during these days of distancing. Enjoy!

Q:  Do you have a daily ritual that's keeping you grounded these days?

A:  My best days have usually included at least one of these: Write a gratitude list and a couple morning journal pages when I wake up. Make a cup of caffeine-free tea. Sip tea. Listen to cardinals singing. Watch my 12-pound dog get righteously mad at the rabbits in our backyard. Walk around our neighborhood. Enjoy people’s gardens and dogs. Breathe in the trees.

Q:  What are you reading?

A:  Cookbooks! I’ve had a hard time staying focused. Cookbooks have matched my attention span perfectly. I’d like to improve my baking and Korean cooking, so I’ve been reading:

Bravetart by Stella Parks. This is the best cookbook I’ve ever read. It’s a history, science, and baking lesson wrapped up in fabulous writing.

Maangchi’s Big Book of Korean Cooking by Maangchi. Maangchi’s blog got me started on cooking Korean food at home. Her recipes taste the closest to what I remember in Seoul, and her how-to videos are helpful AND cute.

My Korea by Hooni Kim. Most of my Korean cooking study comes from blogs or cookbooks in Korean that I clumsily translate. It’s been really interesting to read recipes from a Michelin star chef’s perspective.

Ed Yong’s science reporting in The Atlantic has been my go-to this spring. He’s an incredible writer.

I know previous artists have mentioned N. K. Jemison, and I want to add another YES! Read her books! The Broken Earth trilogy is brilliant. Meghan Kreidler lent me the series (thank you!) and I devoured the whole thing in like two weeks. It’s sooooo good.

Q:  Which work of art - a book, poem, painting, piece of music - provides some solace for you?

A:  Oh gosh, so much has been helping me cope.

Poetry: Alternate Reality, or, A Narrow Opening by the insanely talented (and local!) artist Bao Phi. I’ve read this poem several times since it was published last week, and it gets me in the heart each time.

Music: Covet, HYKOH, Radiohead, Natalia Lafourcade and Questlove’s Instagram

Photography: Drawings for my grandchildren, Sion Fullana, Caroline Yang, Magnum Photos, Daniel Arnold, Pensivite, Gabriele Galimberti, Masanari Kawahara

Misc: Goodmorningtown almost makes me want to get a tattoo. Also, Yedy 101 on Instagram and YouTube. She makes cute drinks and snacks. Sometimes they’re great. Sometimes they’re disasters. She punches the disasters. I like her.

Q:  What's your go-to, binge-watching TV series?

A:  Crash Landing On You on Netflix! It’s a romantic comedy about a South Korean CEO who accidentally gets stranded in North Korea. The show’s writing team included a North Korean man who helped create a nuanced portrayal of North Korea. Even my husband got into this show. I love tv that makes you laugh and cry and care so hard about the characters.

Q:  If you could throw a Fantasy Dinner Party (the only kind of dinner parties we can throw right now!) who would be on the guest list? 

A:  I am not a party person, but I’ve found a lot of comfort in imagining the massive dinner party I want to have when it’s safe to gather in large groups again. I want to make Maangchi’s bossam recipe and my friends’ favorite banchans, get a massive abundance board from Kieran’s Kitchen, make this cake or these brownies, serve tons of soju, and hug and feed every single loved one we can cram into our home.

In dreaming-big fantasy land, I’d love to gather people who could solve all the world’s problems and partner them up with the people that could make their ideas a reality, like behavioral psychologists and master communicators and linguists and politicians and philanthropists and people with connections and so on. They’d eat and drink and develop 100% effective plans that would heal everything – climate change, racism, systemic inequities, health insurance tied to employment, our cultural inability to distinguish charisma from actual leadership, which way to properly hang a toilet paper roll, etc. etc. etc. It would be epic and everyone would take home leftovers that taste even better the next day and there would be no hangovers.

Q:  What are you doing to feel creative or productive during this time?

A:  Not a lot. I filmed a cooking show episode for Theater Mu’s Saturday morning family workshop series and was part of the recording for this beautiful project by Evan Tyler Wilson. I love taking photos on walks. But mostly, I’ve been working to give myself a pass on needing to be creative or productive. I have plans to learn some new instruments, but for now, I’m letting myself wander. Giving myself permission to be anxious. It’s okay. In the past, I’d try to squish everything down and bury myself in work. It wasn’t healthy for me. I also really don’t want to measure my self-worth in how productive I can be during a global pandemic. It’s a work in progress. Some days are easier than others. I’m really enjoying the art that I catch by those who are productive now, and I’m super excited to experience the art that will be inspired by this time.

Q:  Is there a theater production you've seen that you wish you could stream right now?

A:  Can I please stream everything I’ve missed seeing instead?

Q:  Are you cooking? Do you have a favorite recipe to share?

A:  My husband likes banana bread, so I’ve made this and this for him. This Instant Pot Chicken Congee is low key and simple comfort food. We use frozen chicken thighs, frozen shredded zucchini instead of spinach, and 8 cups of stock. These are two of my favorite Korean dishes – Sundubu Jjigae and Bibimbap. We’ve also been getting takeout at several Korean restaurants in town.

Q:  Of the roles you've played at Theater Latté Da, which is your favorite?

A:  Oooooo, I’ve loved them all for different reasons. I think my favorite has been Sarah Jane Moore in ASSASSINS. I love Sondheim’s work, it’s so challenging and smart and funny and flawed and human. I learned a lot researching Sarah Jane Moore and got to tap into places I don’t usually access onstage. Everyone working on the show was wonderful. It was one of those magic theatrical experiences. I’ve been so lucky to have worked on multiple magical shows at Latté Da.

Q:  Would you share a quote that's especially meaningful to you?

A:  I have a terrible memory. People that can quote off the top of their head – how do you do it? 

Q:  Since this is the At Home with...Series, do you have a favorite spot in your home? Would you be willing to take a picture of it that we could share?

A:  This is probably weird, but for me, the best spots in my home are wherever my husband and dogs are at any given moment.

Instead of a place, I’d like to share photos of our dogs in their latest home grooming adventure.

Oscar is the oreo and Jane is the latte. They detest baths and love peanut butter and make me laugh every day.