Controlling Movie Clips

Sorry if this is a lame question but I’m new to Flash and this is bugging me.

I have 3 different movie clips all on the main timeline and each with a different instance name. I have figured out how to put an action on each individual clip’s timeframe that once it finishes - play the next movie clip by using _root.myMovieclip.play();

Is there a way to control the movie clips by putting action script on the main timeline? I have tried myMovieclip.play(), I’ve tried the behavior GoToAndPlay with the instance name of my movie clip but nothing.

THanks for any help.