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Seven short vignettes, each for two people and set entirely in a car's front seat, explore the relationships of people sharing a journey. The original five segments—Bench Seat, Long Division, Road Trip, Autobahn, and Merge—were later joined by All Apologies and Funny.
A theatrical collection of three dark monologue plays about characters from Mormon backgrounds confronting acts of violence and their rationalizations.
In a large city, professional businessman Tom meets overweight librarian Helen in a crowded restaurant at lunch. Tom is taken with Helen's brash acceptance of how people see her and her in-your-face honesty, and they begin dating. After a few weeks, Carter, Tom's best friend at work, suspects that Tom has a new girlfriend. He badgers Tom for details, finally raising the matter in front of Jeannie, a woman from accounting whom Tom had been seeing casually for a while. Jeannie becomes distraught, and Tom admits that he is "sort of" seeing this new woman. Carter continues his inquiries and, when Tom says he is busy that night, suspects that Tom is going on a date despite his protests that he is going to a business dinner with people from the Chicago branch office. That evening, Carter goes to a restaurant that he knows Tom likes and sees Tom and Helen together. Carter introduces himself to Helen and, when she excuses herself, he berates her as a "fat pig", assuming that Tom would never date anyone like her and that she is in fact from the Chicago office. Jeannie learns about "the fat cow from Chicago" from gossip with Carter, and later discovers that Chicago hadn't sent anyone for meetings. She confronts Tom, demanding to know where they stand. Tom replies that he is romantically uninterested in her and will remain so, and admits that he was not at a business dinner. Jeannie slaps Tom, hurt that he would pick an obese woman over her. Carter apologizes to Tom for his rudeness about Helen, but, after pestering Tom for a picture, shows it to everyone in the office who laugh at the "fat pig" Tom is dating. Carter tries to convince Tom that he should "stick to his kind". Meanwhile, Tom and Helen fall deeper in love. Helen informs Tom that she has been offered a better job in another city but does not want to leave him. She asks if she can meet his friends; when he hesitates, she believes that he is ashamed of her weight. Later, Tom takes Helen to his company's beach barbecue, where they become secluded with everyone else making jokes and ridiculing Helen's weight behind her back. Seeing Tom embarrassed and ostracized, Helen gives him an ultimatum: to accept her and defend her to his friends or end their relationship. Tom replies that he cannot handle it and that she should take the other job. They walk away from each other, brokenhearted.
Helen, a witty and confident fat woman, falls in love with Tom, a man in a normative body. Their relationship is challenged and ultimately ruined by Tom’s insecurities, amplified by coworkers’ taunts and judgment.
Set on the grounds of a psychiatric facility, the play follows two brothers confronting sexual and emotional abuse and trying to overcome its effects; one is a disbarred lawyer and patient, and a teenage girl is also central to the story.
In a Forest, Dark and Deep is a play by Neil LaBute. It received its world premiere production in the West End's Vaudeville Theatre on 14 March 2011 following previews from 3 March 2011, running for a limited season until 4 June 2011. The production starred Matthew Fox and Olivia Williams. A review in The Observer described the play as "[…] something approaching a conventional thriller [where] a college lecturer and her redneck brother meet in a log cabin in the midst of the wilds there's a whiff of incest. The play had its American premiere at Profiles Theatre in Chicago, Illinois in April 2012 through 3 June. The production stars Darrell W. Cox and Natasha Lowe and was directed by Joe Jahraus. The Chicago Tribune reviewer wrote:"Interesting and formatively atypical, it strikes me as very much a meditation on what is and is not true, on the ease of rushing to misjudgment, and also a further manifestation of the longstanding authorial fascination with the close link between deep intimacy and dark violence." This production was followed by a Contemporary American Theater Festival (Shepherdstown, West Virginia) production as part of the 2012 Festival from 6 to 29 July 2012.
Two embittered male co-workers scheme to romance a deaf female colleague simultaneously and then abandon her. As their deceit damages the woman's life and strains their own relationship, the more passive conspirator's conscience conflicts with the cruelty of the plan.
Reasons to Be Pretty (stylized in all-lowercase) is a play by Neil LaBute, his first to be staged on Broadway. The plot centers on four young working class friends and lovers who become increasingly dissatisfied with their dead-end lives and each other. Following The Shape of Things and Fat Pig, it is the final installment of a trilogy that focuses on modern-day obsession with physical appearance.
Before his wedding, a man known as Guy visits four former girlfriends whom he mistreated, revisiting their relationships and the harm he caused.
Set on September 12, the play follows Ben, a World Trade Center employee who was away during the attacks, as he considers exploiting his family’s belief that he died to begin a new life with his mistress, Abby, who is also his boss.
A young student’s changing relationship with an art major unfolds as his best friend’s engagement deteriorates, exposing tensions in two contemporary relationships.
This Is How It Goes is a play by Neil LaBute set in small town America, about the repercussions of an interracial love triangle. The play premiered Off-Broadway in 2005 and also was produced in the West End in 2005.
In a solo monologue, Edward Carr confronts his wife’s death and reveals the dark secret that brought them together.
Seven short vignettes, each for two people and set entirely in a car's front seat, explore the relationships of people sharing a journey. The original five segments—Bench Seat, Long Division, Road Trip, Autobahn, and Merge—were later joined by All Apologies and Funny.
A theatrical collection of three dark monologue plays about characters from Mormon backgrounds confronting acts of violence and their rationalizations.
In a large city, professional businessman Tom meets overweight librarian Helen in a crowded restaurant at lunch. Tom is taken with Helen's brash acceptance of how people see her and her in-your-face honesty, and they begin dating. After a few weeks, Carter, Tom's best friend at work, suspects that Tom has a new girlfriend. He badgers Tom for details, finally raising the matter in front of Jeannie, a woman from accounting whom Tom had been seeing casually for a while. Jeannie becomes distraught, and Tom admits that he is "sort of" seeing this new woman. Carter continues his inquiries and, when Tom says he is busy that night, suspects that Tom is going on a date despite his protests that he is going to a business dinner with people from the Chicago branch office. That evening, Carter goes to a restaurant that he knows Tom likes and sees Tom and Helen together. Carter introduces himself to Helen and, when she excuses herself, he berates her as a "fat pig", assuming that Tom would never date anyone like her and that she is in fact from the Chicago office. Jeannie learns about "the fat cow from Chicago" from gossip with Carter, and later discovers that Chicago hadn't sent anyone for meetings. She confronts Tom, demanding to know where they stand. Tom replies that he is romantically uninterested in her and will remain so, and admits that he was not at a business dinner. Jeannie slaps Tom, hurt that he would pick an obese woman over her. Carter apologizes to Tom for his rudeness about Helen, but, after pestering Tom for a picture, shows it to everyone in the office who laugh at the "fat pig" Tom is dating. Carter tries to convince Tom that he should "stick to his kind". Meanwhile, Tom and Helen fall deeper in love. Helen informs Tom that she has been offered a better job in another city but does not want to leave him. She asks if she can meet his friends; when he hesitates, she believes that he is ashamed of her weight. Later, Tom takes Helen to his company's beach barbecue, where they become secluded with everyone else making jokes and ridiculing Helen's weight behind her back. Seeing Tom embarrassed and ostracized, Helen gives him an ultimatum: to accept her and defend her to his friends or end their relationship. Tom replies that he cannot handle it and that she should take the other job. They walk away from each other, brokenhearted.
Helen, a witty and confident fat woman, falls in love with Tom, a man in a normative body. Their relationship is challenged and ultimately ruined by Tom’s insecurities, amplified by coworkers’ taunts and judgment.
Set on the grounds of a psychiatric facility, the play follows two brothers confronting sexual and emotional abuse and trying to overcome its effects; one is a disbarred lawyer and patient, and a teenage girl is also central to the story.
In a Forest, Dark and Deep is a play by Neil LaBute. It received its world premiere production in the West End's Vaudeville Theatre on 14 March 2011 following previews from 3 March 2011, running for a limited season until 4 June 2011. The production starred Matthew Fox and Olivia Williams. A review in The Observer described the play as "[…] something approaching a conventional thriller [where] a college lecturer and her redneck brother meet in a log cabin in the midst of the wilds there's a whiff of incest. The play had its American premiere at Profiles Theatre in Chicago, Illinois in April 2012 through 3 June. The production stars Darrell W. Cox and Natasha Lowe and was directed by Joe Jahraus. The Chicago Tribune reviewer wrote:"Interesting and formatively atypical, it strikes me as very much a meditation on what is and is not true, on the ease of rushing to misjudgment, and also a further manifestation of the longstanding authorial fascination with the close link between deep intimacy and dark violence." This production was followed by a Contemporary American Theater Festival (Shepherdstown, West Virginia) production as part of the 2012 Festival from 6 to 29 July 2012.
Two embittered male co-workers scheme to romance a deaf female colleague simultaneously and then abandon her. As their deceit damages the woman's life and strains their own relationship, the more passive conspirator's conscience conflicts with the cruelty of the plan.
Reasons to Be Pretty (stylized in all-lowercase) is a play by Neil LaBute, his first to be staged on Broadway. The plot centers on four young working class friends and lovers who become increasingly dissatisfied with their dead-end lives and each other. Following The Shape of Things and Fat Pig, it is the final installment of a trilogy that focuses on modern-day obsession with physical appearance.
Before his wedding, a man known as Guy visits four former girlfriends whom he mistreated, revisiting their relationships and the harm he caused.
Set on September 12, the play follows Ben, a World Trade Center employee who was away during the attacks, as he considers exploiting his family’s belief that he died to begin a new life with his mistress, Abby, who is also his boss.
A young student’s changing relationship with an art major unfolds as his best friend’s engagement deteriorates, exposing tensions in two contemporary relationships.
This Is How It Goes is a play by Neil LaBute set in small town America, about the repercussions of an interracial love triangle. The play premiered Off-Broadway in 2005 and also was produced in the West End in 2005.
In a solo monologue, Edward Carr confronts his wife’s death and reveals the dark secret that brought them together.