Inside the Tiffany Box — A Lifetime of Treasures

 By ROSINE REYNOLDS
(Courtesy The Ark Newspaper - Tiberon)

Kathleen Buckstaff / Marika Bergsund
Photo by Jocelyn Knight

Three years ago, Kathleen Buckstaff and her family moved to Belvedere from Phoenix. Among the many items that came with them was a large Tiffany box that had once held a vase and now stored cherished mementos of Kathleen’s deceased mother.

For a long time, Kathleen avoided the box and everything in it. Her mom was only 59 when she died, still fit and youthful looking. The other women in her family had lived into their 90s, but her mother was diagnosed with an especially virulent cancer and had just months to live. The news was devastating. “This was not how the story was supposed to go!”

At the time, Buckstaff had three children under eight years old, and both families were living together while her home was being remodeled. She was writing a family column for “The Arizona Republic” and had also written for “The Los Angeles Times.” Writing was part of her daily life, a healthy routine, but as her mother’s health failed, the newspaper columnist switched to e-mail, building a much-needed personal correspondence with Marika Bergsund, an old friend from Stanford, who had relocated to Los Angeles.

The e-mails were, she said, “girlfriend talk,” but Marika saw something else there and saved them. As her mother’s health declined, Buckstaff’s letters documented parent and child’s trading places, and their story kept growing.

While teaching creative writing in Phoenix schools, Kathleen Buckstaff had found that she could make her lessons more compelling by acting them out and adding costume parts. She’d also sought the advice of Carol MacLeod, an acting coach there, who nurtured her dramatic skills and would later help with the development of her play.

But by 2008, seven years after losing her mother, Buckstaff still hadn’t sorted out the impact of those last years. Now settled in Belvedere, the journalist-playwright found a writers’ group at Book Passage that would guide her back into her craft. And Bergsund, “a garden lady who saves seeds,” would contribute the literary seeds harvested from their e-mail correspondence. Aided by keepsakes preserved in the Tiffany box, Buckstaff began to develop both a book and a play about losing her mother. Her instructor and writers’ group at Book Passage helped shape the book, a memoir that covers seven years. MacLeod, in Phoenix, helped her recall the emotions of that time and find the play’s voice. And Bergsund, now a welcome new neighbor in Belvedere, added encouragement.

Eventually, the play was ready for a public reading, first in Phoenix, then at The Marsh in San Francisco. Was this a difficult experience? Not at all, said Buckstaff. “The play is so much about living. … I love telling it — like savoring a good book over and over.”

In that San Francisco audience was Tiburon resident Steve Mavromihalis, a good friend of Stephanie Ahlberg, president of the Ross Valley Players (RVP). The Players had already scheduled their season at The Barn, but with Steve’s strong endorsement, they scheduled one performance of “The Tiffany Box” on May 1, between shows.

The play is part of a fundraiser for RVP that will include wine, hors d’oeuvres, a reception and a silent auction. The reception begins at 1 p.m. and the show at 3 p.m. Tickets are $75. To reserve, please call the box office, 456-9555, ext. 3. To find out more about Kathleen Buckstaff and “The Tiffany Box,” go to www.kathleenbuckstaff.com.

Contact Rosine Reynolds at rreynolds@thearknewspaper.com.