Neil LaBute Trilogy Readings
Fat Pig
by Neil LaBute
with Ashlie Atkinson
Bobby Cannavale
Jessica Capshaw
Steven Pasquale
directed by Jo Bonney |
The Shape of Things
by Neil LaBute
with Anna Camp
Austin Lysy
Logan Marshall-Green
Piper Perabo
directed by Carolyn Cantor |
In June 2008, MCC Theater presented two one-night-only readings of the first two plays in Neil Labute's trilogy that ends with reasons to be pretty. Each play offers a uniquely LaButian take on America's obsession with physical beauty. The special readins provided a rare opportunity to catch these two brutal and hilarious plays!
Fat Pig was directed by Jo Bonney and featured original cast member Ashlie Atkinson with Bobby Cannavale, Jessica Capshaw and Steven Pasquale. The Shape of Things was directed by Carolyn Cantor and featured Anna Camp, Austin Lysy, Logan Marshall-Green and Piper Perabo. Details are below.
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June 9, 2008
Fat Pig
by Neil LaBute
with Ashlie Atkinson, Jon Bernthal, Jessica Capshaw, Steven Pasquale
directed by Jo Bonney
Cow. Slob. Pig. How many insults can you hear before you 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 also happens to be plus-sized. Forced to explain his new relationship to his friends who think that size does matter, Tom faces a tough choice in LaBute’s “most emotionally engaging and unsettling play”. –The New York Times
“[LaBute] tests and tantalizes with an exhilarating grasp of the mysterious profundity of human chemistry." –Newsday
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June 23, 2008
The Shape of Things
by Neil LaBute
with Anna Camp,
Austin Lysy,
Logan Marshall-Green,
Piper Perabo
directed by Carolyn Cantor
In a modern version of Adam's seduction by Eve, The Shape of Things pits gentle, awkward, overweight Adam against worldly, analytical, amoral Evelyn, a graduate student in art. After a chance meeting at a museum, they embark on an intense relationship that causes shy and principled Adam to go to extraordinary lengths, including cosmetic surgery, and a betrayal of his best friend, to improve his appearance and “character”. In the process, Evelyn's subtle and insistent coaching results in a reconstruction of Adam's fundamental moral being and leads to a shattering conclusion.
“LaBute's great gift is to live in and to chronicle that murky area of not-knowing… Where does truth end and fiction begin? Is the fiction more valuable than the truth? Do the results justify the means?” – The New Yorker
These readings are made possible with support from:
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