<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1" xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.leighflayton.com/playwright</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2026-01-28</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1769602085969-DEPDRYA6YR1G9D458WOP/fortknox_final.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>plays - FORT KNOX, FLORIDA</image:title>
      <image:caption>INDUSTRY READING, PEARL STUDIOS, NYC, FEB. 9, 2026 The year is 2040. America’s autocracy is finally collapsing and a power player’s future is now in turmoil. Will his own family bring him down? Design by Valerie Moreno Morgan</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1769601968268-6XVLRVWPUJ62N820OPUZ/image-asset.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>plays - FORT KNOX, FLORIDA</image:title>
      <image:caption>2040. America’s autocracy is finally collapsing and a power player’s future is now in turmoil. Will his own family bring him down?</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1769602085969-DEPDRYA6YR1G9D458WOP/fortknox_final.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>plays - FORT KNOX, FLORIDA</image:title>
      <image:caption>INDUSTRY READING, PEARL STUDIOS, NYC, FEB. 9, 2026 The year is 2040. America’s autocracy is finally collapsing and a power player’s future is now in turmoil. Will his own family bring him down? Design by Valerie Moreno Morgan</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1684175510023-7UOFQY066PQ4D3HA1XB3/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>plays - IT'S A FREE COUNTRY</image:title>
      <image:caption>SEMIFINALIST, 2024 OJAI PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE MARCH 6, 2024: IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SHENYC, THE FILM VERSION OF THE PLAY WAS SCREENED AT THE BATURU INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL FESTIVAL IN BEIJING, CHINA JULY 27, 2023: PREMIERED AT THE SHENYC SUMMER THEATER FESTIVAL IN NEW YORK CITY A new play about how the coarsening of Amerlcan society affects a famous writer and her fractured family. Design by Marissa Feind</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1651754946149-WA3VRN1G7J16TXFCKCQM/image.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>plays - ALL THE LONELY WOMEN</image:title>
      <image:caption>WORKSHOP PRODUCTION, JUNE 2-4, 2022 Global Forms Theater Festival at Rattlestick Theater. A queer fairytale about the strangeness of dating during the pandemic. Infused with magical realism, the play explores the poignancy — and inevitable humor — of love and longing during a time of isolation and separation. Design by Pilar Otero</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1614976265927-T0FDPNYDE3B5ZRCUQ68H/ClassicSix_logo_crop.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>plays - CLASSIC SIX</image:title>
      <image:caption>ROSE THEATRE CO., First Draft Reading Series, Arts Club of Washington, D.C., January 24, 2023 FINALIST, 2022 PREMIERE STAGES PLAY FESTIVAL, Reading April 22, 2022 WINNER OF THE FOUNDER’S CHOICE AWARD, Virtual Performance, Powerstories Festival, March 27, 2021 FINALIST, 2021 EUGENE O’NEILL THEATER CENTER’S NATIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE SEMIFINALIST, 2021 AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL PLAYWRITING COMPETITION Click here for the video of the show Frances works as a live-in nanny/researcher for media figures Frank and Patricia McGuire in their Classic Six Manhattan apartment. Twenty-five years later, she returns to the apartment, where her motives are questioned: Is she merely curious to revisit the place where she learned hard truths about marriage, power and accountability? Or does she plan to expose long-buried secrets? Poster: Marissa Feind</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468547845008-UVQEWBF7MR2JUB1CKC4B/Too-Close-to-Home.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>plays - TOO CLOSE TO HOME</image:title>
      <image:caption>Reading, Playwrights Horizons Studio, April 29, 2016 The Hill family has long revolved around the needs of the oldest daughter, Shelley, a mentally ill woman currently in her 30s. Now, her parents Constance and Gene have enlisted Shelley’s sister Abby and brother Bobby to keep an important secret about Shelley’s health from her—one that has already turned their worlds upside down and could ruin hers. When Abby returns home for a family gathering, Constance shares with her the difficult choices they need to make, as well as the secrets she wants to keep.  READ MORE</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1515677785099-Z0OPAW9J0NA6DQVAEWLH/Too+Close+to+Home.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>plays - TOO CLOSE TO HOME</image:title>
      <image:caption>PAGE TO STAGE: THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL AUG. 26-28, 2022. BREA, CA SEMIFINALIST, 2018 EUGENE O’NEILL THEATER CENTER’S NATIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE INDUSTRY READING, PEARL STUDIOS, NYC, JAN. 12, 2018 The Hill family has long revolved around the needs of the oldest daughter, Shelley, a mentally ill woman currently in her 30s. Now, her parents Constance and Gene have enlisted Shelley’s sister Abby and brother Bobby to keep an important secret about Shelley’s health from her—one that has already turned their worlds upside down and could ruin hers. When Abby returns home for a family gathering, Constance shares with her the difficult choices they need to make, as well as the secrets she wants to keep.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468794694208-XI12QFHTKAGGZ4DYETLA/Generator.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>plays - THE GENERATOR</image:title>
      <image:caption>INDUSTRY READING, CHERRY LANE THEATRE, NYC, MAY 5, 2015 Based on true events surrounding 2011’s Hurricane Irene, The Generator tackles the phenomenon covered recently by the media: “neighbor wars,” or unexpectedly violent conflicts arising from seemingly minor sources such as noisy leaf-blowers or power generators. The play addresses the current polarized social and political climate in America, which prompts the question: are we in this together, or is it every man for himself?</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468547741880-O4S4GP75D32AN1BBGW0Y/Generator_web.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>plays - THE GENERATOR</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.leighflayton.com/writer</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2023-02-07</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1653514841134-J4QHBAE8G8RXTTT4475V/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - COUNTRY LIVING MAGAZINE</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1653514841134-J4QHBAE8G8RXTTT4475V/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - COUNTRY LIVING MAGAZINE</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468788147948-XXKBQD50HJH164U3VIWD/Kate_Opener.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - ARRIVE MAGAZINE (4)</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468525585273-VJL24A5752XPKDN2JBC0/The-New-York-Times-1.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - THE NEW YORK TIMES</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1474052966908-EVLUL19I8IDOJQJDKGZG/R29_Hillary.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - REFINERY29 (3)</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1505486567646-MQ720FZIJ64AL4G0QAVC/Lenny_LTJG_.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - Lenny (3)</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468787424024-SZA4KYKGE9HZZ1A9O5D6/Lost_America.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - SALON (3)</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468537970091-15PIR6T56FT7PHZ8XM4W/LAT_Pedro-1.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - LOS ANGELES TIMES MAGAZINE</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1491466975325-3OVGY9YKKKPTKV9763WU/Amos.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - NINETY NINE U</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468525003649-W04BEBNSABCTTRU5I6U0/Interview-With-Sisters.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - REFINERY29</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468525235631-ZDZEAIM0RXO3L9WH72Y1/AtHome_Desert.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - DORADO MAGAZINE</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468966340715-MZ58VMFHLBEPG6FD2D00/J-Nap-1.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - METRO/ARIZONA MONTHLY</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1469072049902-GBUKT2LYQ8XMP6RS3913/Ritz_DanielCraig.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - THE RITZ-CARLTON MAGAZINE (3)</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468458972792-LY1CPU7P0CRJMEEDC34C/Interview-With-Sisters.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism - Refinery 29 Interview with Kate McKinnon &amp; Her Sister</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468459554457-PVFQYNQ9JU149GDTHNBE/Interview-With-Sisters.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>journalism</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.leighflayton.com/home</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>1.0</priority>
    <lastmod>2016-07-15</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468626831935-QNWUT6WQX3I1H9LPAAYL/LF_Photo_5.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>home</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.leighflayton.com/editor</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2017-12-11</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546464744-D776ZH6VH7L46EALDO6O/Kate_Cover.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing - ARRIVE MAGAZINE</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546464744-D776ZH6VH7L46EALDO6O/Kate_Cover.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing - ARRIVE MAGAZINE</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468880795189-TZSTBMCM8W54NH1SZHI1/video.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546432289-M1HQQ3V8I9ALXPP8GRPD/Lin_Manuel.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468791160359-4QSCCYYW86LXY53RL7OW/Cover_Patti.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468791149507-H6ZCRZXRLLGFOYXD85TS/Cover_Clive.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468791161065-CTID40K0TTX79GMU56IH/Cover_Natasha.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546765409-FTZEFQ6PSY9QFR4O2O7T/Misty_cover.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546781891-O3E3YDEDDPHJ4SB4GINN/Misty_Opener.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546533422-J3OEON98WSBLX157ZJLZ/SNL_Cover.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546666089-ACZ4L8UAL1V5GN5UOSOV/SNL_Opener.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468791169938-DXIFRNTR0CYJS37MFBND/Cover_Sting.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546685722-2Q6BZKAKHMHZT14URSP1/Seth_Cover.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546698983-I4ESU5B5ZRQ6SM7UOTFY/Seth_Opener.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468791171692-3G71AXUM1NWFEZI3KLQ9/Cover_Spike.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546743260-4XK10KN86T64T9PS3MC9/Clinton.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468791118993-WHHCDP803FWUG78BDHO1/Cover_Arts.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546730652-G5GA9ZUB3TAIC5FPVAYI/Obama.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468546717563-K63MWO34GB7ZYJIOE8R9/Joe_Biden.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468791148199-HAJYD3BTN6SGRRBNS1EK/Cover_Mo.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468792183192-6FTRHINXI8QQHPAK0TF2/Cover_Amy.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468959572419-UBIYC8ZWPNS699J0X5VM/1_Cover.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing - METRO/ARIZONA MONTHLY</image:title>
      <image:caption />
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468959572251-WB9C3717AP9BXQIITQQ7/2_Cover.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468959573009-0B9WY70JN72QGNALQ6X5/4_Cover.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1469141594328-EJ4TWCJ9BO5YYFT91481/Colangelo.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468959573388-UY24D89MGBK4KBUKSJQL/mccaincover.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468959572890-QEDL2O2AW2F77L65CWCT/kylcover.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>editing</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.leighflayton.com/essays</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2021-03-25</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595365726521-AOLAXV4D3FU4SRKB6G8K/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Life Aquatic</image:title>
      <image:caption>How I got roped into helping someone I barely knew give birth in a hot tub. Yes, you read that correctly. Read more of Leigh’s essays.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595365726521-AOLAXV4D3FU4SRKB6G8K/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Life Aquatic</image:title>
      <image:caption>How I got roped into helping someone I barely knew give birth in a hot tub. Yes, you read that correctly. Read more of Leigh’s essays.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1607797066925-69OLCAU68SXVHO1C1Q1K/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - The Not-Dead Poets Society</image:title>
      <image:caption>I always wanted to be a writer but, in my early days as a young woman in a hurry imbued with a whole lot of hubris, moxie and age-appropriate pretension, I didn’t understand that doing a thing itself – and not the (desired) result – was what mattered most. And was enough.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595365751635-HR6196SLB70VDB39X87Z/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Waiting for the Suzuki-Goulds</image:title>
      <image:caption>My friend Trae and I have been spending weekends having Walter Mitty-like flights-of-fancy afternoons in Bryant Park—masked, six-feet-apart and socially distant. It's there that we (think we) met some new (very unusual) friends. But they might just be a figment of our imagination. It's hard to tell.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1605189979133-EZ6NAJKQS0MXPZNAG8VJ/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Digging The Dancing Queen</image:title>
      <image:caption>During the pandemic we've missed live music, dancing and all kinds of shared experiences, but we will dance and "jive" once again and, someday soon, have the time of our lives.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595365814159-UIL2COW9ZKF9FN5GT805/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Our Lady of Sorrow &amp; Other Cat Stories</image:title>
      <image:caption>My foster beast, shelter-name "Lady," won't come out from under the bed when all I want to do is hug her. But she is teaching me patience during the sweeping, revolutionary change taking place right now.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595365879831-DVQP21AJVLIURCGNZ1AY/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Our Lady of Sorrow: Book 2 or The Road to the ER is Paved with Good Intentions</image:title>
      <image:caption>"Lady” resisted getting into her carrier to go get spayed—twice! Now, my losing battle against this 2-year-old, 10-pounder in heat continues. But I’m hoping what a friend once said is true: “Animals know the courage it takes for us to help them.” I sure hope so.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595857976022-KX9LJOBQABL29W9FXBJW/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Our Lady of Sorrow or The Mystery of How Things Begin &amp; Where They End</image:title>
      <image:caption>I finally caught her—this white whale/foster cat of mine—whose Houdini-like escapes kept her with me for six weeks instead of the two she was meant to be. But I finally got her! So... now what?</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1597617638715-GA5Z5VFERLA6OJFJHI4A/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - An Ocean Runs Through It</image:title>
      <image:caption>In late July, I left New York City for the first time since the pandemic struck and, man, did I need to get the hell out of here. But it was even better that I went to my favorite place—Amagansett on Long Island—where I've been going with family and friends for decades. This is my attempt to experience a normal summer. (*Apologies for the short glitch in the middle.)</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1597617755283-Q605Z1BG4XHVYCG1U967/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Everyone's Crazy 'Bout A Sharp-Dressed Gramps</image:title>
      <image:caption>My retired 83-year-old father Larry lives by "color-coordination" and says his personal style is "smart," so I am on a quest to enlist him to become an Instagram influencer for geriatrics, where he can showcase his greatest hits: From the engraved "I Bring Joy to Women" '70s-era brass belt buckle to his Rube Goldberg-esque pickleball outfits today.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595366022091-BL09SWBIFCZQA8Z4A47N/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Secrets of the World's Worst-Ever, Would-Be Art Thief</image:title>
      <image:caption>I don't know if it was the sunshine or fresh air after all those weeks of solitary confinement that "made me do it," but on a recent spring afternoon, I kind of stole a Modigliani painting from my apartment building's basement. Well, sort of ...</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1605189786542-TLLNW5ROB9OZ5N14MRQ7/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Barely Out of Africa: My Time in Special Oops</image:title>
      <image:caption>In 2005, I went to Kenya to help the Lost Boys of Sudan refugees, but wound up on a boondoggle instead and learned about the fickleness of good fortune.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595366241373-UD037N0QKY1M00J7UWT9/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Chasing the Mother Lode</image:title>
      <image:caption>I've barked like a dog in a West Hollywood Wild Oats, chosen a favorite vortex in Sedona and morphed into Meryl Streep in a classic film, all in a skeptical-yet-fun-loving quest for enlightenment. This is about that time I almost had an, um, accident in a BarcaLounger during a guided meditation and other tales from my “spiritual journey.”</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595365686988-DACEFF3MNM6GH7UFJOXO/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - The Sisterhood of the Stolen Pants</image:title>
      <image:caption>In my college sorority, lurking among us was a prolific and unapologetic thief. Here is what happened when I confronted this emperor in stolen clothes, glommed on like a terrier and wouldn't let her get away with stealing my black Gap leggings, size small.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595366065149-HJDQBSJM26D71RNEX6R9/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Distraction Is the Name of the Game</image:title>
      <image:caption>My tennis game is helping me during this GODDAMN PANDEMIC, and I can’t wait for the glorious day when this is all over and I can exact revenge on a certain (cheating) someone. As the late great Carrie Fisher once said: “Nothing’s ever really over. Just over there.”</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595425417461-PVENX2WG6LF0JRX8L0EG/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Zach &amp; The Great Disco Nap of 2020</image:title>
      <image:caption>Poor Zach. We've all been there, and we're all kind of there now in perpetuity. Zach just needed to walk off the White Claws. Here's the story of a recent afternoon in the park when my friends and I watched the ultimate "bruh" try too hard to fit in with his so-called friends.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595366124107-T8QCDOPQ0LWCTIGW157G/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Pat Benatar Rules &amp; Rush Sucks</image:title>
      <image:caption>Revisiting a middle school war in the 1980s when, armed only in my A Flock of Seagulls haircut, I took on the resident bully to defend Pat Benatar or, as I liked to call her, “The Ruler!”</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1605188229048-JW2AKQHPATQ3MDRB47I8/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Neither the Best Nor the Brightest: My Life Not in Politics</image:title>
      <image:caption>The nearly criminal story of how I once made a friend spit-take so hard during a presidential debate that we almost wound up in the clink for attacking a sitting governor.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595366149510-WG9S8ZMI3A6C3262NNS2/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - My Brother The Scissor</image:title>
      <image:caption>When I was a kid, my big brother Dan was a real jerk. Here's the story of when I was in third grade and he (kind of) got me into my first—and last—fist fight.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595366168592-B6NTTSXOKJUXOS25Z244/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - First Love Revisited: Confessions of a Former 9 Year Old</image:title>
      <image:caption>After my covert plan for a French kiss at the bouncy castle didn’t turn out as I had planned, I got my first lesson in love: humiliation.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595366187837-NPENQBJQ12FRKK0XHFKB/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - A Francophile Is Born</image:title>
      <image:caption>A French exchange student in Lacoste sneakers inspired a lifelong love of wine, romance and underwater exploration.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1582772971392-8BN0NSUL1FRVC2T48ESG/image-asset.octet-stream</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595366206169-PHO562KC91WHLO39TW23/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - The Boy Next Door</image:title>
      <image:caption>Growing up, my neighbor Paul was my best friend. Thus began the inevitable end of a friendship between a boy and a girl.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1595366222263-B3P3KOW5TN7XKGGFPDC1/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>essays - Screw You, Kenny Rogers. I'm The Gambler</image:title>
      <image:caption>My family instilled in me a lifelong love of betting … very, very, very low-stakes betting.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.leighflayton.com/video</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2022-04-29</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1616726323500-EX1130D121SEAK9B6WCT/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>video - CLASSIC SIX by Leigh Flayton</image:title>
      <image:caption>Classic Six premiered at the Powerstories Voices of Truth Theatre Festival on March 27, 2021, and won the Founder’s Choice Award. It was a finalist in the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference that same year as well as a semifinalist in the Austin Film Festival Playwriting Competition. Click here to watch. The script can be found on NPX, along with Leigh’s other plays.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1616726323500-EX1130D121SEAK9B6WCT/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>video - CLASSIC SIX by Leigh Flayton</image:title>
      <image:caption>Classic Six premiered at the Powerstories Voices of Truth Theatre Festival on March 27, 2021, and won the Founder’s Choice Award. It was a finalist in the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference that same year as well as a semifinalist in the Austin Film Festival Playwriting Competition. Click here to watch. The script can be found on NPX, along with Leigh’s other plays.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1616641453619-1JHBDVOML4NBSLUFE6UA/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>video - CLASSIC SIX by Leigh Flayton</image:title>
      <image:caption>Classic Six premiered at the Powerstories Voices of Truth Theatre Festival on March 27, 2021. Click here to watch.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1616641453601-Y744AF8G2CLWLRZVYXDV/image-asset.octet-stream</image:loc>
      <image:title>video</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.leighflayton.com/about</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2026-02-06</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/577d4277f5e231586a704a14/1468437837300-ABR9P67H5UACQP2QX2NQ/image-asset.jpeg</image:loc>
      <image:title>about</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.leighflayton.com/new-page</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2020-07-21</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.leighflayton.com/gallery</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2020-07-21</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.leighflayton.com/test-page</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2020-07-23</lastmod>
  </url>
</urlset>

