The Ugly Cousin comes to us full of challenges faced by families
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FL — It’s exciting to meet a new up and coming playwright. Kartika King’s play The Ugly Cousin comes to us full of challenges faced by families. Young women are searching for self-approval and love.
“Charity Ann Vixen is her name, and it is a Cinderella story with a big twist,” King says. She spent years writing it, suffering writer’s block. She rewrote until she was satisfied with the work. She is ready to present it to the public.
“The Ugly Cousin shows regardless of how beautiful you are on the outside, there is nothing worse than being ugly on the inside,” said King.
In the play, with her mother having died of cancer, Charity goes to live with her uncle and mother’s former business partner. He is very sweet to her and tries to bolster her self-esteem by telling her she is beautiful and talented, yet somehow Charity has self-esteem issues which became worse after losing her mother.
Charity is a singer like her mother. It is through her singing that she tries to lift her spirit and increase her self-esteem.
Charity’s uncle marries and in comes the aunt who wants no part of Charity. The aunt lets Charity know she is not welcome. “Who is this homeless girl, darling? Where did you pick her up? She can’t stay here. Remember I have a daughter and although this is a five-bedroom mansion you know my clothing will take up three of them. You never told me you had a living relative.”
The aunt’s daughter Star is beautiful, greedy and a master forger. She is interested only in money and recognizes Charity’s vulnerability and need for companionship and acceptance. She takes advantage of Charity’s insecurity and neediness.
There is also a handsome, talented prince charming in The Ugly Cousin.
King has written accompanying songs for The Ugly Cousin and is on point to put to music and hear them on the stage. “I began my writing by writing poems and sometimes selling them to other students when I was in school,” she says.
Being the oldest of three children, King says she knows what it feels like to seek self-approval. She experienced that during her teenage years.
“Recently, I passed a shoe store and saw people sitting outside at 1:30 a.m. waiting for the store to open to be the first with these new shoes.
“That’s when I realized this story The Ugly Cousin’s time has come. I’m hoping it will help others understand, instead of looking for self-approval and love through the eyes of others, we need to look within.”
Footnotes: The Ugly Cousin ~ A Good Woman’s World~ Love In Heaven and On Earth. King’s Catalog consist of the productions, all of which were edited by Morrison’s Productions (national recording artist, writers, editing, producers and directors out of New York, London) and copy written by Kartika King.
