The Beauty Plays

The Shape of Things, Fat Pig and reasons to be pretty
By Neil LaBute
February 23 - May 23, 2010
Studio Theatre, Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre

America's Sharpest Social Observer Takes A Good Look At Looking Good. No one holds a mirror up to human nature like Neil LaBute, the brutally honest, brilliantly hilarious playwright behind such hit indie films as The Company of Men, Your Friends and Neighbors and Nurse Betty. While his scripts and screenplays have been redefining the dialogue of contemporary America, his observations on sexual relations have paid special attention to our obsession with physical beauty. The result has been three groundbreaking comedies that DTC has organized into a unique trilogy which will inaugurate the Wyly's Studio Theatre.  The Beauty Plays include The Shape of Things, Fat Pig and, fresh from its Broadway production, the regional premiere of reasons to be pretty, a New York Times Critics Pick and one of the Top Ten Plays of 2008 according to both TIME Magazine and the Associated Press. This is the first time any theater has produced all three plays in one season, providing Dallas audiences with a unique opportunity to experience LaBute's funny, colorful and painfully honest work. Whether you see one or see all three, The Beauty Plays promise a rousing, razor-sharp look at love and relationships through the eyes of one tough beholder. The Beauty Plays, the season's only production in the intimate 100-seat Studio Theatre, are sure to sell out and get all of Dallas talking! Adult language, sexual situations and mature themes.

All three plays will rotate on different days of the week through May 9, 2010.

Download the study guide for The Beauty Plays

The Shape of Things

February 23 - May 9, 2010

Directed by Matthew Gray

"Dallas Theater Center's The Shape of Things is a triumph." "... Matthew Gray makes a smashing Theater Center debut as a director. It's hard to imagine a stronger production."  -Lawson Taitte, The Dallas Morning News  Read more

A man re-sculpts himself for love.

How far would you go for love? For art? What would you be willing to change? What price might you pay? This play tells the story of Adam, a shy, overweight, young college student, who falls in love with Evelyn, a strong, sexy graduate art student. After a chance meeting in a museum, they embark on an intense relationship that causes Adam to change nearly everything about his life and forever changes his relationship with his best friends and his understanding of the power of love.

Fat Pig

March 12 - May 9, 2010

Directed by Kevin Moriarty

"...under Moriarty's direction, it's a thing of, well, beauty." -Lawson Taitte, The Dallas Morning News Read more

In which the obsession with thinness is the axis of sharp social comedy.

How many insults can you hear before you have to stand up and defend the woman you love? In Fat Pig, Tom, a thirty-something, in shape, urban professional, falls for Helen, a bright, funny, sexy young woman - who happens to be very plus-size. Forced to explain his new relationship to his shallow (and shockingly funny) friends, he finally comes to terms with his own preconceptions of the importance of conventional good looks. This hit off-Broadway play is hilariously funny, deeply moving, and painfully honest in its understanding of modern relationships.

reasons to be pretty

April 2 - May 23, 2010

Directed by Joel Ferrell

"With Reasons to Be Pretty, Neil LaBute's Beauty Plays bring the triple crown home to the Dallas Theater Center. Rotating in repertory through May 23, these are the three finest stage productions the city has seen this year." -Lawson Taitte, The Dallas Morning News   Read more

Explore the highly charged repercussions when a man compares the looks of one woman to another.

How much is pretty worth? Playwright LaBute confronts America's obsession with physical beauty headlong in this brutal and exhilarating play, nominated for three Tony Awards last year. Greg's tight-knit circle of friends is thrown into turmoil when his off-handed remarks about a female co-worker's pretty face gets back to his girlfriend. Their relationship begins to crumble. Their friends are pulled into the fray. And all are forced to confront a sea of deceit, infidelity, and betrayed trust in their journey to understand the power and dangers of beauty in contemporary America.