What it's all about...

"Miss America's Ugly Daughter is a darkly comedic, poignant two character solo show about the seismic mother-daughter relationship of Bess Myerson and her only child, Barra Grant.

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Bess Myerson was the first and only ever Jewish Miss America. She was famous, she was infamous.  She had it all... until she fell in love with the wrong man and lost her reputation and a little of her mind.

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Her Daughter, Barra, was an awkward child who was not equipped to wear tiaras.  As Barra takes us on the journey of her life, Bess is ever-present, fixated on "improving" Barra by molding her into a version of herself. Her advice is not very helpful... as Barra wages a feisty struggle, trying to fit in at school, meet the right man, find a career and forge her own place in the universe. Barra's final challenge occurs when she has a daughter of her own and has to discover a whole new set of parenting skills.

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As Barra tells her story, Bess, now 70, calls at two in the morning, reflecting on her own misadventures, using Barra as a sounding board as she tries to make sense of her own relationships with men, her celebrity and her loneliness.

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Though most of us have not been raised by beauty queens, we are all seeking to understand how we came to be who we are.  Our mothers are largely responsible. This is a story for all of us who have had to maneuver our way around the potholes our mothers have left in their wakes.