Most Popular Books by Neil Labute

How far would you go for love? For art? What would you be willing to change? Which price might you pay? Such are the painful questions explored by Neil Labute in The Shape of Things. A young student drifts into an ever-changing relationship with an art major while his best friends'' engagement crumbles, so unleashing a drama that peels back the skin of two modern-day relationships, exposing the raw meat and gristle that lie beneath. The world première of The Shape of Things was presented at the Almeida, London, in May 2001.

What they do have, however, is a very awkward encounter after spending one hot night together following a drunken wedding reception they attend. They wake up to a blurry morning where the rules of attraction, sex and society are waiting for them before their first cup of coffee, leading them to ponder how much they really know about each other and how much they really care about what other people think.Slyly profound and irresistibly passionate, The Way We Get By is Neil LaBute''s audacious tale of a very modern romance—a sharp, sexy, fresh look at love and lust and the whole damn thing.

Your career as a writer is blossoming, your beautiful, young fiancee is waiting to get married and rush off to Cancun by your side—so what is your natural reaction? Well, if you''re a man, it''s probably to get nervous and start calling up old girlfriends. And so begins a single man''s odyssey through four hotel rooms as he flies across the country in search of the perfect woman (that he''s already broken up with). Some Girl(s) is the latest work from Neil Labute, American theater''s great agent provocateur. In grand LaBute fashion, this by turns outrageously funny and deadly serious portrait of the artist as a young seducer casts a truthful, hilarious light on a typical young American male as he wanders through the heart of darkness that is himself. This edition includes a deleted scene.

She''s a college professor with a prim demeanor, and he''s a carpenter with a foul mouth and violent streak. Betty has a history of promiscuity that Bobby won''t let her forget, and from their first taunting exchanges there are intimations also of the history between them. Yet on the night when Betty urgently needs help to empty her cabin in the woods--the cabin she''s been renting to a male student--she calls on Bobby. In this exhilarating play of secrets and sibling rivalry, which had its premiere in London''s West End in 2011, Neil LaBute unflinchingly explores the dark territory beyond, as Bobby sneeringly says, "the lies you tell yourself to get by."

Set on September 12, 2001, The Mercy Seat continues Neil LaBute''s unflinching fascination with the often-brutal realities of the war between the sexes. In a time of national tragedy, the world changes overnight. A man and a woman explore the choices now available to them in an existence different from the one they had lived just the day before. Can one be opportunistic in a time of universal selflessness?

Belinda and Cody Phipps appear a typical Midwestern couple: teenage sweethearts, children, luxurious home. Typical except that Cody is black--"rich, black, and different," in the words of Belinda, who finds herself attracted to a former (white) classmate. As the battle for her affections is waged, Belinda and Cody frankly doubt the foundation of their initial attraction, opening the door wide to a swath of bigotry and betrayal. Staged on continually shifting moral ground that challenges our received notions about gender, ethnicity, and even love itself, This Is How It Goes unblinkingly explores the myriad ways in which the wild card of race is played by both black and white in America.

In All The Ways To Say I Love You, Neil LaBute’s “haunting, heartrending†? (AP) new play, Mrs. Johnson is a high school English teacher in a loving marriage. As she recounts her experiences with a favored student from her past, Mrs. Johnson slowly reveals the truth that is hidden just beneath the surface details of her life, in this riveting solo play about love, hard choices, and the cost of fulfilling an all-consuming desire. Two-time Tony winner Judith Light originated the role of Mrs. Johnson in a “full-throttle performance†? (Time Out NY) for the twice-extended Off Broadway premiere, at MCC in fall 2016.Also included is All My White Sins Forgiven, the evocative one-act companion play that gives depth and context to All The Ways To Say I Love You. In this engrossing two-hander, Mrs. Johnson’s husband, Eric, and his friend Todd banter, shoot hoops, and work their way around to talking some truth about their lives, their marriages, their children, and their own secrets and dreams. Rounding out the volume and an inspiration for the two plays is the short story “With Hair of Hand-Spun Gold,†? a masterfully crafted piece of prose that is pure Neil LaBute—as dark and timeless as any Grimm’s fairytale yet as chillingly modern as a teenage girl chatting with an anonymous new “friend†? on the Internet.

After five years in New York City, Greg and Steph return to their hometown for their 20th high school reunion and to a dramatic encounter with Kent and Carly, the friends they left behind. Old secrets and new lies become increasingly difficult to hide as the evening (and the drinking) goes on. With Reasons To Be Pretty Happy, Neil LaBute revisits the characters first introduced in Reasons To Be Pretty (2009 Tony Award-nominated Best Play) and Reasons To Be Happy as they grapple with that eternal question: Have I become the person I wanted to be? In this essential new American play, Neil LaBute concludes his brilliant and penetrating “Reasons" trilogy with perfect clarity and enormous heart, capturing and refracting that moment in his characters’ lives—and in our own as well—when they finally land on a “pretty good" version of happiness.Reasons To Be Pretty Happy had its world premiere at MCC Theater in a benefit reading that featured Paul Rudd, Amber Tamblyn, Norbert Leo Butz, Jennifer Mudge and was directed by Neil LaBute.

Karen and Steve are glamorous movie stars with one thing in common: desperation. It’s been years since either one’s had a hit, but a hot-shot European director could change that with his latest movie. The night before filming a big scene that will undoubtedly bring them back onto the pop culture radar, Karen and her partner, Bev, meet with Steve and his aspiring actress wife, Missy, in order to make an important decision. How far will they let themselves go to keep from slipping further down the Hollywood food chain? THE MONEY SHOT is a hilarious and insightful comedy about ambition, art, status, and sex in an era—and an industry—where very little is sacred and almost nothing is taboo.

Cow. Slob. Pig. How many insults can you hear before you have to stand up and defend the woman you love? Tom faces just that question when he falls for Helen, a bright, funny, sexy young woman who happens to be plus sized-and then some. Forced to explain his new relationship to his shallow (although shockingly funny) friends, finally he comes to terms with his own preconceptions of the importance of conventional good looks. Neil LaBute''s sharply drawn play not only critiques our slavish adherence to Hollywood ideals of beauty but boldy questions our own ability to change what we dislike about ourselves.

His films In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors both gained critical renown for their biting satire and caustic wit. Now, with The Distance from Here, he has written his most riveting play yet, an intense look at the dark side of American suburbia. With little to occupy their time other than finding a decent place to hang out—the zoo, the mall, the school parking lot—Darrell and Tim are two American teenagers who lack any direction or purpose in their lives. When Darrell’s suspicion about the faithlessness of his girlfriend is confirmed and Tim comes to her defense, there is nothing to brake their momentum as all three speed toward disaster.

THE STORY: Three years after a contentious break-up, Steph and Greg are wondering if they can make a fresh go of it. Trouble is, she''s married to someone else and he''s just embarked on a relationship with Steph''s best friend, Carly, a single mom whose jealous ex-husband, Kent, has trouble articulating his feelings. Navigating the rocky landscape of conflicting agendas and exploding emotions isn''t going to be easy for any of them. REASONS TO BE HAPPY is a funny, surprising, and poignant play about the choices and sacrifices we are willing to make in the pursuit of that often elusive ideal: happiness.

Two brothers meet on the grounds of a private psychiatric facility. Drew, has been court-confined for observation and has called his older brother, Terry, to corroborate his claim of childhood sexual abuse by a young man from many summers ago. Drew''s request releases barely-hidden animosities between the two: Is he using these repressed memories to save himself while smearing the name of his brother''s friend? Through pain and acknowledged betrayal, the brothers come to grips with and begin to understand the legacy of abuse, both inside and outside their family home. In a Dark, Dark House is the latest work from Neil LaBute, American theater''s great agent provocateur. The play will have its world Premiere in May 2007, Off Broadway at New York''s MCC Theater.

THE STORY: Amidst the chaos and horror of the worst office shooting in American history, John Smith sees the face of God. His modern-day revelation creates a maelstrom of disbelief among everyone he knows. A newcomer to faith, John urgently searche

A collection of early work and new short pieces from “the bad boy of American theater” (Time). Neil LaBute burst onto the American theater scene in 1989 with his controversial debut 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. “There is something of the sinister menace of Pinter in LaBute’s work (along with David Mamet, he is very much the heir apparent to that master).” —Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times “There is no playwright on the planet these days who is writing better than Neil LaBute.” —John Lahr, The New Yorker

His girlfriend, Marie, by whom he''s fathered a child; Marie''s overpowering desire for the alluring Drum- Major; and the murderous outcome of this oppressive admixture of circumstances is without a doubt one of the bleakest works of world literature. It is also considered by many to mark the beginning of modern drama. In this powerful adaption, Neil LaBute embraces the glittering darkness of Woyzeck''s violent, erotic, inhumane world and uncompromisingly makes it his own. From his opening in an operating theatre and then scene by macabre scene, LaBute imbues this classic with his singular intensity and moral vision, as he takes it to its nightmarish conclusion. Included in this volume is Neil LaBute''s provocative new monologue "Kandahar," in which a soldier back from Afghanistan calmly explains his devastating actions of the day before. A gripping stand-alone piece, this short work is also a trenchant modern-day exploration of the potent and enduring themes of Woyzeck.