A Play within a Play at a Play

by Heather

Having five children is not the brightest move to make in the world in which we live—so expensive! But it's not the financial woes to which I refer—it's the emotional. It's so hard to let those little darlings go.

I loved it when they were little. I knew where they were. And three of the five are still near. One son, however, now lives in Connecticut with my beautiful little daughter-in-law. Little, really—she's barely five feet tall, strange in our family, because I'm the shortie at five-eight and Chynna, our baby, is six-feet.

But anyhow, there they are in Connecticut where Yevgeniya Yerekskaya-Pozzessere (yeah, that's a name, all right) has a job as a pop-up artist with Up With Paper. She's done some spectacularly beautiful books as well as cards, and we're delighted with her, but hey--home is Florida. Connecticut is way up the east coast.

And when it was time for Chynna to go to college? She's been in magnet theater schools all her life, and she wound up at CalArts in California.

I mean, is that fair? Lord—couldn't those who moved away have chosen the same coast?

But, sometimes, things oddly work out.

I love what I do. Writing for a living has been a probably most undeserved privilege for me. And it comes with great benefits—friends gained through the field.

For me, two of these are Harley Jane Kozak and Alex Sokoloff.

To make a long story short (too late, I know) I'm currently in L.A. because Dennis and I come to see Chynna's play performances at CalArts. These shows are always interesting—it's an amazing school where art, theater, music, film, and dance are studied and often worked together to provide the best of performances. It's no hardship to be here.

Meanwhile, in my own world, one of the projects I'm working on is also a lot of fun. A few years ago, Alex and Deb LeBlanc and I did a paranormal series called The Keepers, based on the idea that if you were a bit . . . different, where would you live in order to hide in plain sight? (answer: New Orleans.)

Well, Harley, Alex, and I are going it again.

Where else would you go if you were totally whacked in one way or another and wanted to hide in plain sight?

L.A.—Hollywood—Lalaland!

So here we are, having a ball, making up creatures (such as Harley's Elven, tall, good-looking elves with amazing mental powers, strength—and sensuality) And we're lucky because we usually meet at conferences, but now I'm in L.A. and Chynna, who has known Alex and Harley since she was shorter than me, is having a play. So Harley and Alex drove out to CalArts where we ironed out a few situations with all our creatures. Mine is the first book in our new series, and it's about an undercover Elven cop working as an actor in vampire play. So there we were  in the student lounge, discussing the play within the play of the book, and waiting to see a play.

Harley's had a career as an actress, Alex as a screen-writer, and while my career was nowhere near Harley's (she was working with Brad Pitt while I doing Trim-Twist commercials with my dog and selling ribs as a singing, tap-dancing waitress) we all come from theater backgrounds.

My daughter was thrilled to have Harley and Alex there.

And Harley and Alex were thrilled to get to watch their "writing niece" onstage, and I was, frankly, in seventh heaven, seeing my daughter perform, and getting to do it with two of the dearest friends in the world.

 

Tomorrow night, Lance Taubald and Rich Devlin are coming—two more friends met through the wonderful world of writing—and in theater. Rich has now written some incredible books, Lance is writing—and performing still in Las Vegas. It's a small world somehow, and a spectacular one when your work, your passion, and your family and friends can come together.

It's strange how we all meet in life. Where and how did you come across some of your most amazing friends? And, for you, as for me, do the miles that may lie between you mean nothing at all—when you're together, is it as if you've never been apart?