'reasons to be pretty' at Profiles: Neil LaBute's stand-in tries and tries to explain himself
THEATER REVIEW: "reasons to be pretty" ★★½ Through March 13 at Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway; Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes; Tickets: $35-$40 at 773-549-1815 or www.profilestheatre.org
At the top of Neil LaBute's succulent “reasons to be pretty,” a young woman named Steph gets as mad as any young woman gets in any of LaBute's plays, even though they almost all contain lousy dudes worthy of female scorn. In this case, an offensive LaButian male has made the mistake of telling a buddy that (to paraphrase), while his girlfriend is just great and all that stuff, she does not possess what one would call a really cute face.
This indiscretion got reported back to its subject. And although the hero — maybe antihero — of LaBute's play tries to explain away what he thinks was surely a minor rhetorical indiscretion — there being nothing wrong, he insists, with a “regular face” — he finds himself in a situation from which it is well nigh impossible to recover.
Although Greg (played by Darrell W. Cox) is a stock guy in a big-box store (the rest of the play involves a also-troubled relationship between Kent and Carly, two married fellow workers), it's not hard to see this character as a stand-in for LaBute himself. Here's a writer who has often been put in a defensive position of apologizing for the treatment of women in his plays and being obliged to remind people that he is merely sticking real-life men on stage. “Reasons to be pretty,” which opened last Thursday at the Profiles Theatre, is thus LaBute's most reflective play to date and an uncommonly wise and direct drama about gender relations among the great swaths of ordinary citizens who inhabit exurban America.
LaBute is generous and involved with Profiles, handing this North Side storefront a script that was just on Broadway in 2009, even continuing to work on it. The off-Broadway version of this play had monologs where characters directly addressed the audience; the Broadway version cut those speeches. The Profiles version, which I like best of all, text-wise, is a hybrid of those two.
That said, there are some issues with Rick Snyder's production. The physical staging is less inventive than we've seen in this space of late — you don't really get much sense of place. But the main problem is the casting. Cox, who has been on a tear of late, is a fine actor in his prime. But he's a good 15 years too old for this role — this kind of behavior from a guy in his late 20s is one thing, but wholly another from a fellow who seems to be in his 40s. Similarly Christian Stolte (making a welcome return to a Chicago stage) is another gifted thespian who's simply too old for the role. The main problem is that you here see men who seem set in their ways, when LaBute's play, I think, posits the possibility of reform.
The women are more age-appropriate (Somer Benson plays Carly) and Snyder directs the confrontation scenes with zest. And although I'd say that Darci Nalepa is too attractive for the role of Steph (a weird comment I know, but it is the key issue of the play), she's riveting in that first scene and moving in the later confrontations. Even in this flawed production, this cautionary tale not only offers more schandefreude than any other 90 minutes in town, but also has the authentic whiff of a writer who loves probing the reasons to be pretty and the dangers of bringing it up in conversation.
More like 'reasons to be pretty again'. Weren't there younger actors available?
Posted by: CC | January 31, 2011 at 05:39 PM
I just saw "reasons to be pretty" this weekend. I couldn't disagree more with this review regarding the men. I thought they were wonderful and perfectly cast. The story is about arrested development and coming of age. Later than sooner. With a bit older group it has much more weight (and Mr. Cox looks early to mid-30's in this show). Contrary to CC's post above, very happy it wasn't handed off to the younger ensemble members at Profiles.
Posted by: Amy Renz | January 31, 2011 at 07:46 PM
Darrell W. Cox is 45. He was in his early 20's in 1991 when he came from college in Texas to the Profiles ensemble. He's 45. In addition, the younger couple is supposed to be early 20's and the older couple is supposed to be late 20's. That's written in the play. The published version of Neil Labute's play. Eric Burgher, a Profiles member in his mid 20's should have been the younger character and they should have cast the other part outside of the ensemble. Poor form, Profiles. This should have gotten 2 Stars at best.
Posted by: displeased | March 30, 2011 at 01:15 AM
Profiles is not doing the published play. In fact, what has been lost in the above posts is that Mr. LaBute himself was part of this production. In fact, this version including the first monologue has never been seen before. These changes happen in productions of scripts all the time when a playwright is involved. Much ado about nothing. I was thoroughly entertained.
Posted by: A. White | March 30, 2011 at 05:11 PM
I have watched Darrell W. Cox grow up onstage in Chicago. I'm sure he would be very surprised to find out he is 45. He is in his early 40's. I have also seen virtually everything Mr. Burgher has done since arriving at Profiles, as well. He is in his late 20's. Not mid 20s. I have been a loyal patron of Profiles Theatre for years and will continue to do so. Often the best work in town can be found there.
Posted by: Bill Johnston | March 30, 2011 at 06:30 PM