S. African writer to tell her story at theater festival

`For a long time, I was convinced I was the ugliest creaturethat ever existed," said South African actress-writer-director GcinaMlophe. "But then something made me love myself, and I ran to themirror."

The cause of this drastic change in self-esteem? A handshakewith a great African praise poet, and Mlophe's realization that she,too, was a writer.

Gcina Mlophe (phonetic pronunciation: "Tcheena emshalopey") hasthe dancing eyes and guileless smile of a child. Yet in her first 29years, she probably has experienced more than many people do in alifetime, and she has turned some of those experiences - the yearsbetween the ages of 8 to 18 - into a play, "Have You Seen …