Controlling movieclip from hierarchically equal movieclip

Hello,

first flash website. I’m a designer, wanting to make a portfolio website.

So i have 4 movieclips on stage, with - when you click on it - a dynamic drop down menu, each placed within these respective movieclips. This works fine.

Now I should add next functionality: when the movieclip1 is clicked (and the menu drops down), the other 3 should be with menu dropped in (so one of these three will have a menu dropping back in, while movieclip1 menu is dropping down.)

So i guess i could put my question this way: 1) how can i control from within movieclip1 actions in hierarchically equal movieclip2, 3 , 4, …
2) how to do it efficiently in code?

I tried already a lot of stuff, please check the fla file in attachment. It’s only this step away from a website…
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2hluz9

thanks!

Ken