Greg is overheard admitting that his girlfriend Steph is no beauty, but that he wouldn't change her for the world. She is devastated; he can't see what he's done wrong. Meanwhile, Greg's friend Kent alternates between boasting about how gorgeous his wife Carly is and chasing after a hot new colleague. The final part of Neil LaBute's 'beauty trilogy' (following "The Shape of Things" and "Fat Pig") about society's obsession with looks, "Reasons to Be Pretty" premiered in the UK at the Almeida Theatre, London, in November 2011. "["The Shape of Things"] is LaBute's thesis on extreme feminine wiles, as well as a disquisition on how far an artist can go in the name of art ...Like a chiropractor for the soul, LaBute is looking for realignment, listening for the crack." ("Elle"). "A heart-warming tale from America's master misanthrope." ("Independent" on "Fat Pig").

Reasons to Be Pretty

Neil LaBute

Faber&Faber

Neil LaBute: Plays 3: Bash; Reasons to Be Pretty; Reasons to Be Happy; If I Needed Someone; How to Fight Loneliness

Contains three plays, Iphigenia in Orem, A Gaggle of Saints and Medea Redux.

Bash Latterday Plays

The Overlook Press

The Distance from Here

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

InSeconds of Pleasure, acclaimed award-winning director and playwright Neil LaBute, brings to the page his cutting humor and compelling take on the shadowy terrain of the human heart. Best known for his controversial plays and films, his short fiction has appeared inThe New YorkerandPlayboy. Seductive and provocative, each potent and pithy tale inSeconds of Pleasurefinds men and women exploiting -- or at the mercy of -- the hidden fault lines that separate them: In "Time Share," a woman leaves her family at their vacation home after discovering her husband in a compromising situation; a middle-aged man obsesses over a scab on the calf of a pretty young girl in "Boo-Boo"; and a vain Hollywood actor gets his comeuppance in "Soft Target." LaBute infusesSeconds of Pleasurewith his trademark wit and black humor, and unleashes his imagination in stories that offer unflinching insight into our very human shortcomings and impure urges with shocking candor.

Seconds of Pleasure: Stories

Short Stories & Anthologies

GROVE PRESS

What does it mean to be pretty? Do you really need someone to validate your appearance? Neil LaBute tackles our obsession with physical beauty head-on in a work nominated for multiple Tony and Drama Desk Awards. Our production, directed by the playwright, includes original Broadway cast member Thomas Sadoski, whose acclaimed performance also earned a Tony nomination.  Includes a backstage conversation with Neil LaBute and the cast.  An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast production featuring Jenna Fischer, Thomas Sadoski, Gia Crovatin, and Josh Stamberg.  Written and directed by Neil LaBute. Recorded by L.A. Theatre Works before a live audience.

reasons to be pretty

Dramas & Plays

LA Theatre Works

In the sequel to reasons to be pretty, Greg, Steph, Carly, and Kent return a little older, but not necessarily wiser. And don't worry if you haven't met them before there s more than enough humor and humanity to usher you into the second act of their lives. Includes a backstage conversation with Neil LaBute and the cast. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast production featuring Jenna Fischer, Thomas Sadoski, Gia Crovatin, and Josh Stamberg. Written and directed by Neil LaBute. Recorded by L.A. Theatre Works before a live audience.

Reasons to be Happy

Neil LaBute burst onto the American theater scene with the premiere of BASH at NYC’s Douglas Fairbanks Theater in 1999 in a wildly praised production that featured Calista Flockhart, Paul Rudd, and Ron Eldard. It went on to play at the Almeida Theatre in London and since then has seen hundreds of productions across the U.S. and around the world. These three provocative one-act plays examine the complexities of evil in everyday life and thrillingly exhibit LaBute’s signature raw lyrical intensity. Ablaze with the muscular dialogue and searing artistry that immediately established him as a major playwright, BASH is enduringly brilliant―classic and essential Neil LaBute. In Medea Redux, a young woman relates her complex and ultimately tragic relationship with her high school English teacher; in Iphigenia in Orem, a businessman confides to a stranger in a Las Vegal hotel room about a chilling crime; and in A Gaggle of Saints, a young couple separately recounts the violent events of an anniversary weekend in New York City.

Bash: three plays

Neil LaBute burst onto the American theater scene in 1989 with his controversial debut work Filthy Talk for Troubled Times. Set in a barroom in Anytown USA and populated by a series of everymen (and two beleaguered everywomen), this series of frank exchanges explores the innumerable varieties of American intolerance. A unique snapshot of the times, the play  seldom allowed production by the author since  provides a compelling look at the early thinking and evolution of one of our great theater artists.Also in this collection is a series of new, short works, some never before produced. They include The New Testament,” a showbiz satire that takes a close look at the perils of color-blind casting, and The Furies,” in which a woman helps navigate her brother’s breakup with his out-and-then-perhaps, in-the-closet-again lover.

Filthy Talk for Troubled Times: And Other Plays

SOFT SKULL PRESS *

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and for aging Hollywood stars Karen and Steve that means agreeing to a shocking contractual clause. On the eve of a climactic day of shooting, they finally tell their significant others what s to come. An L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance featuring: Ari Graynor as Missy Eric McCormack as Steve Amber Tamblyn as Bev Jennifer Westfeldt as Karen Written and directed by Neil LaBute. Recorded in Los Angeles before a live audience at The James Bridges Theater, UCLA in January of 2016.

The Money Shot

L.A. Theatre Works

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Books by Neil LaBute