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Kyle T. Heffner: In Heat Getting Hot
Greg Kaczynski |
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 You may not recognize the name Kyle T. Heffner, however, you’ll surely recognize the many projects he’s been a part of. From Young Doctors in Love to Flashdance, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” to “Desperate Housewives,” the ubiquitous Mr. Heffner has been very busy in his near three-decade stint in sunny Los Angeles, and his new project, In Heat, making its stage debut June 6 at the Lost Studio Theater, sounds incredibly interesting.
Heffner studied at the prestigious Northwestern University in Chicago, a school of “aggressive children” who he described as incredibly ambitious. Garry Marshall, an alum of Northwestern, would occasionally visit the campus and give seminars, and it was during one of these visits that Heffner’s path crossed with the writer-director, setting a very clear point of impact for him once he graduated and moved to Los Angeles.
Marshall had seen a “video featurette” that Heffner acted in and was asking about him; a professor friend suggested to Heffner that he try to meet with Marshall while he was on campus. On trying to make contact, Heffner discovered that the aggressive children of Northwestern had already swamped the then-“King of Paramount.” Disheartened, he left the building, only to be later stopped by Marshall. He introduced himself, and Marshall suggested Heffner look him up when he arrived in L.A. This meeting changed the rest of his life.
The fall after graduating, Heffner made headway to Los Angeles and called Marshall. Scoring a meeting with him a month later, Heffner arrived with milkshakes (“I heard that he liked milkshakes, so I brought a vanilla shake and a chocolate shake,” he said), and their fortuitous friendship was sealed. At this point, Marshall’s “office was open,” and Kyle would come in and attend shows like “Happy Days” and “Laverne & Shirley.” But it wasn’t until Young Doctors in Love, when a mutual friend had been cast, did Heffner get his break.
 From that flash point, Heffner’s career never stopped. He met Jerry Bruckheimer on Doctors, which led to him being in Flashdance, where he met director Adrian Lyne and actor/In Heat playwright Malcolm Danare. Heffner mentioned a time when the legendary Gene Wilder invited him to his own home to chat, and during that intimate visit, the then-director of The Woman in Red offered him a role in that film.
Heffner’s professional life here in Los Angeles is the elusive fantasy that thousands of actors who migrate here year after year dream of, and he is incredibly grateful. “I was very lucky,” he said, but added, “I was doing what I loved to be doing.”
How he befriended Danare is yet another surreal detail. In Flashdance, Danare played Cecil, the bad guy’s bodyguard, and at a point in the film, he punches Richie, Heffner’s character, in the face. After an “hour of training with a topnotch stunt guy,” the director called “Action!” and Danare slugged Heffner in the jaw, taking him down. Heffner said they used that sound for the punch in the film. “Hopefully they saved some money on foley work,” he quipped.
Even though the two remained friends over the years, In Heat is the first time since that accidental punch they’ve worked together.
 In Heat is about four couples in the midst of a heat wave in Los Angeles--three romantically involved and one, a pair of male best friends. Through essentially four one acts, Danare weaves a narrative surrounding the intricacies of human relationships that culminates in the four groups converging on Sunset Boulevard. “He has a very keen insight into the human condition,” Heffner said of Danare. “Malcolm’s a funny guy, he’s goofy, then we all read the pieces and we were stunned.”
About a year ago, Danare asked Heffner to meet him to read over something he was working on; this would turn out to be the first of the four pieces. Heffner found it “incredible, like [Malcolm] was channeling,” and he immediately declared the role he read that day as his. “I’m not the tallest guy in the world,” he said, and in this scene, the character, also short, meets a 5’10” beauty at a party. “My wife is 5-foot-10,” Heffner added, yet he maintained that he doesn’t share the level of paranoia of his onstage persona.
Shortly after, Danare wrote the three other pieces and at the end of last year, he brought (director) James Eckhouse (of “Beverly Hills, 90210” fame) on, cast the roles and organized a stage reading. Heffner described it as “one of those dreamy actor nights where you go, ‘Wow, that was great.’”
 Thematically, In Heat is about relationships and how two people, as they get to know each other, find that common ground that allows them to develop a genuine connection. “When two people first meet, the gears are not aligned,” Heffner explained, “but as time goes by, you learn how to make those cogs fit.”
He went on to describe when people have fallings-out, explaining how these are times that the cogs slip and don’t fit the way they used to. When a person realizes how much they care about that other person, though, they find a new way to make the gears meet.
Although the story takes place in Los Angeles and ends on landmark Sunset Boulevard, In Heat could happen in any metropolitan city. The essence of the piece is something everyone understands. Heffner described it as an “emotional vocabulary.”
 “Every person has an emotional vocabulary…everyone is formed slightly differently. For people to have relationships, it’s very difficult to make two people mesh,” he said. And it’s these elements that make In Heat such a universal story.
However, the deep, insightful material, Heffner claimed, does not get in the way of the comedy. While he described In Heat as a powerfully realistic piece, he also said that the characters and situations are “expanded” to make the story very very funny.
If he’s right and In Heat is not only insightful and moving but also hysterical, Los Angeles could be in for a very hot summer indeed.
In Heat opens June 6 at the Lost Studio Theater, 130 So. La Brea Ave., and runs thru July 20. Showtimes are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20. Visit plays411.com/inheat or call 323-960-7724.
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