The Manipulation, Love, Lust and Betrayal of a Career Woman

About the Book

The Manipulation, Love, Lust, and Betrayal of a Career Woman, a play of four scenes with epilogue, explores the kinds of challenges a person might encounter in the search for love and fulfillment in today’s confusing, fast-paced, lonely hearts world. The focus is primarily on a collection of characters whose professional and personal lives frequently collide. When Vanessa, a thirty-something psychiatrist, reveals to the audience, in “Manipulation,” that the mind is a “fascinating tool,” Peter, her married patient, conjures up images of infidelity and acts out his erotic feelings toward her in therapy. Vanessa finds him difficult to resist. But their exchange flips from romantic to adversarial as Peter reveals his desire to end his affair because his wife is pregnant. In “Love,” Taylor, a successful lawyer “who has her life in order,” struggles to find one meaningful relationship that will ignite her passionless life. Against the backdrop of haute couture’s dressing rooms and catwalks, “Lust” examines the divergence between deep emotion and superficiality. “Betrayal” finds Jada seeking solace in another man’s arms when her husband becomes distant and her marriage loses the love it once had. The play’s epilogue, “Resolution,” gives each main character a final chance to express themselves as they poignantly reflect on the complexities of their lives. This play looks at the peaks and valleys of contemporary courtship, giving both women and men their say. The play contains modern day morality tales that are intended to entertain and provoke thought.

About the Author

Jerod Williams is an actor/writer/director born and raised in Marshall, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre and Dance. It was during his first writing course at UT that he immediately fell in love with writing and decided to further pursue his writing career under the direction of some well-known professors. Years of perseverance and dedication to his writing earned him the James A. Michener Undergraduate Scholarship in Playwriting. Jerod recently graduated from University of California in Los Angeles with a Masters in Film and Television. He now resides in Los Angeles and works part-time as a freelance writer.