Thursday, October 15, 2015
POLAND
Playwright, novelist and movie director Adriana Trigiani went to Big Stone Gap, Va., her hometown, to make her new movie, “Big Stone Gap.”
And Wednesday, she came to Youngstown to kick off the publicity tour for her new book, “All the Stars in the Heavens.”
During an interview before speaking to several hundred fans at The Lake Club here, Trigiani – sometimes thoughtful, sometimes laughing, sometimes irreverent – touched on her outlook on life, her craft and Youngstown.
“I worry about Youngstown. All these people are my honorary family,” said Trigiani, of Greenwich Village in New York City.
“Even though it has been hit by hard times, Youngstown struggles through it. I see it as a model. It gives you a sense of connectiveness to come where people like and support you,” she said.
Trigiani knows something about struggle and persistence. It took her 15 years to get “Big Stone Gap” made in its namesake town.
“I really believe we should make American movies in the United States,” said Trigiani, author of 15 best sellers including “The Shoemaker’s Wife,” the “Big Stone Gap” series and the “Valentine” series.
She said “All the Stars in the Heavens” is a historical novel based on Hollywood’s golden era and the love story of Clark Gable and Loretta Young.
At a deeper level, it is about the choices people make.
“There are things that happen to you and things you choose,” Trigiani said.
“I choose things and behaviors that make me laugh and avoid those that make me cry, such as violence, pain and hurting people,” she said.
“All the Stars in the Heavens” really sprang from one sentence of regret in a biography written about Loretta by her daughter.
“She [Loretta] told me she didn’t get Clark Gable to marry her,” according to the book.
Trigiani’s affection for Youngstown and its people was returned in full measure by those who attended Wednesday night’s event.
Beth (Vechiarelli) Cooper and her sister, Nina Vechiarelli, combined to bring Trigiani to Youngstown the first time nine years ago, and the writer has returned several more times to kick off new-book tours.
Trigiani was having a book signing in NYC when Cooper asked her sister, who lived in New York, to attend and ask Trigiani if the family could meet her.
The author then invited the Vechiarelli family to New York for dinner, at which Cooper asked Trigiani to come to Youngstown. Trigiani not only did that, but she made Beth’s father, Dominic Vechiarelli, a character in several of her books.
“I’ve read everything she has written. She answers all of her fans’ emails, she’s funny, down-to-earth and warm,” Cooper said.
Chris Muransky said she and her husband, Ed, who own The Lake Club, first became fans and then friends of Trigiani.
“We urged her to pursue making a movie of “Big Stone Gap.”
“Her books are warm and fuzzy and wholesome, and about family and tradition. It’s nice to have ‘soft spots’ instead of things that are mean and rude,” said Gayle George.