Reasons to Be Pretty

Renaissance Theaterworks opens its season with Reasons to Be Pretty, the final chapter in contemporary playwright Neil LaBute’s thematic trilogy about society’s obsession with physical appearance. Having debuted in New York in 2008 to generally positive reviews, the play explores the complexity of human beauty and society through a group of young, working-class people as anger turns to aggression. The serrated end of the English language cuts its way throughout the script, and there’s physical aggression as well. More so than the first two plays in LaBute’s trilogy, Reasons to Be Pretty shows the ugly side of human behavior.