A Guest Blog by Jane Jacobs

On Sunday night I had the great good fortune to be a plus one to the Tony Awards, a thrilling once-in-a-lifetime experience. Through the night I was surprised to run into a couple of acquaintances - parents of my daughter’s classmate, that sort of thing, but during the awards I made an astounding small world connection.

In the 1990s, at our former firm, we had a receptionist named Liz Adjmi, who Fred dubbed “La Liz.” Liz was part of the Sephardic Jewish community in Midwood.

Liz knew I loved theater and often told me about her son who wrote plays. He was toiling in obscurity but she was fiercely proud of him. As the Tonys continued, I noticed that the playwright of Stereophonic was David Adjmi. I googled him and while I couldn’t find his mother’s name, he was from that community. It had to be La Liz’s son. Stereophonic won a ton of Tonys, including Best Play.

No one knew how to find Liz. I looked for her on Facebook without luck but found his page, where his last entry was in 2022. Figuring he’d never see it, I sent him this message:

You don’t know me, but I think I have a hell of a small word story for you. I’m a lawyer and years ago, maybe in the 1990s, we had a receptionist for our small firm who knew I loved theater and who would regularly tell me about her son who wrote plays. My mother had worked for Sephardic Jews and I knew how unusual that had to be and respected that she bragged on you.

 

I was at the Tonys last night - congratulations, you had quite a night - and heard your name for the first time.

 

If your mother is Liz Adjmi, she was very proud of you.

 

I hope she’s well and hope you’ll tell her that Fred, Joan, Nancy and I remember “La Liz” fondly.

 

A minute later he responded,

YES — that was/is her! How amazing. I’m so happy you reached out, that is wonderful. All my best DA.

 

I will tell her!

 

She’ll get a huge kick out of this.

We had a bit more back and forth - Liz is alive and well and lives across from Central Park.

The world is small and Facebook can be amazing.