Enter Stage Left

Enter Stage Left is a smart and sexy romantic comedy bursting with backstage drama, second-chance swoons, and unresolved chemistry that refuses to stay off stage. Elle Serra was born into Broadway royalty: her father is an esteemed director-producer, and her mother is a legendary actress. But Elle is determined not to be dismissed as another nepo baby. After ditching her famous family name and spending three years trapped in the assistant director's zone, she finally gets the break she has been dying for: three weeks to workshop a new script with an up-and-coming playwright. If she nails it, she will direct the full production at Chicago Repertory Theater. It will be her entrée into an elite class of directors. The hitch? The play … and the playwright, her former classmate and lover Bret Stark. His gray eyes still smolder, his abs are still rock hard, and his raunchy brand of comedy has Elle praying to the theater gods before the first rehearsal even begins. Bret's script is inspired by his leap from college football player to drama jock. He expected a bro to direct, not the woman who calls her bra and panties dainties. Elle's forte is drawing room repartee, not locker room banter. Artistic differences aside, Elle is "his girl who got away," and he'd love to tangle sheets with her again. Forced into close quarters at the Artist Residency, where Bret is staying just down the hall, Elle has to assemble the right cast, manage the workshop, and prove she belongs in the director's chair while ignoring the man who once got too close. Their attraction is inconvenient, their history impossible to ignore, and their professional partnership risky enough to derail the career Elle has worked so hard to claim. It doesn't take Bret long to figure out that winning Elle's heart will take more than a bottle of vino and a well-timed wink. She is done with men who think commitment is sleeping with the same woman from first rehearsal through closing night. To win her and make the play a hit, Bret must put the jokes aside, be honest with Elle, and write the emotional truths his play demands. The more Elle challenges him, the more he is forced to confront the past that drove him from football and estranged him from his father. When the workshop is a hit and Bret accepts a dream-come-true writing gig in LA, he asks Elle to come with him, but she has worked too hard to leave Chicago just as her star is rising. Now they each must choose between the careers they've fought for and love that may just deserve a Second Act.