Reasons to be Pretty

Written by Neil LaBute

Narrated by Jenna Fischer, Thomas Sadoski and Gia Crovatin

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: L.A. Theatre Works
• Release date: Jan 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781580819459

Neil LaBute

Neil Labute—an acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker—is the author of plays including The Shape of Things, The Mercy Seat, Fat Pig, and the Tony Award-nominated Reasons to Be Pretty. He has written and directed films including In the Company of Men (starring Aaron Eckhart), The Shape of Things (starring  Paul Rudd and Rachel Weisz), and the 2006 American adaptation of The Wicker Man (starring Nicholas Cage).

Reviews for Reasons to be Pretty

[grunin_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The play starts in mid-fight: Greg has been overheard referring to his girlfriend's looks as 'regular' (rather than 'pretty' or 'beautiful'), and now there's hell to pay. She walks out on their four-year relationship, leaving Greg wanting her back and us wondering if there isn't more to it than that. There is, but LaBute doesn't bash us over the head with it; so we're right in there with Greg, stretching for things just beyond our reach, and growing a bit in the process. The other couple in the play are mostly there for contrast, but so fully drawn that you don't think of it that way while the story is in motion.

Note that although LaBute may have begun with the impulse to comment on the burden of physical beauty (or its lack), that's ultimately peripheral to this story.

The book states that this is the script that preceded the first production. I don't know what changed when, but by Broadway there had been some substantial alterations. Particularly there are three big monologues (for Steph, Kirk, and Greg) which were cut, which was wise -- now the characters struggle to convince each other, rather than us, which is more engaging. The Broadway version is clearly superior, but not yet published.