Reasons to Be Pretty

In Reasons to Be Pretty, Greg’s tight-knit social circle is thrown into turmoil when his offhand remarks about a female coworker’s pretty face and his own girlfriend Steph’s lack thereof get back to Steph. But that’s just the beginning. Greg’s best buddy, Kent, and Kent’s wife, Carly, also enter into the picture, and the emotional equation becomes exponentially more complicated. As their relationships crumble, the four friends are forced to confront a sea of deceit, infidelity, and betrayed trust in their journey to answer that oh-so-American question: How much is pretty worth?

Neil LaBute’s bristling comic drama puts the final ferocious cap on a trilogy of plays that began with The Shape of Things and Fat Pig. America’s obsession with physical beauty is confronted headlong in this brutal and exhilarating work.

Praise

"LaBute['s] judgment of his fellow men makes the Old Testament Jehovah look like a softie . . . His talents go beyond glibly vicious storytelling and extend into thoughtful analysis of a world rotten with original sin."—Ben Brantley, The New York Times

"Like a giant, mischievous child poking a dog with a stick, [LaBute] delights in seeing what he can get away with . . [He's] the bad boy of American theater . . . Devastating and dangerously funny."—Jumana Farouky, Time

"LaBute takes us to shadowy places we don't like to talk about, sometimes even to think about."—Erin McClam, Newsday

About the Author(s)

Neil LaBute

Neal LaBute’s most recent works for the stage include This Is How It Goes and Fat Pig, which won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off Broadway Play.

Find Neil LaBute on Goodreads

Visit the IMDB Page

Visit Neil LaBute's Wikipedia page