New Releases by Neil Labute

Bash Three darkly brilliant one-act plays, unblinking portraits of the evils abroad in everyday life, first performed in 1999. Reasons to be Pretty Nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. ''Neil LaBute at his best. It says things about love and betrayal that are rarely put on stage . . . The play has the transfixing nastiness that has made LaBute one of the most disturbing theatrical presences of the last decade. Yet it also has an unexpected ingredient: a beating heart.'' Observer Now collected with its sequel - Reasons to be Happy ''A richly entertaining shard of tragicomedy.'' Daily Telegraph

Before acclaimed playwright and filmmaker Neil LaBute became the creator and showrunner of Syfy’s hit series Van Helsing, he had already adapted Dracula for the stage—with a fierce female Van Helsing as the vampire hunter. In this masterful adaptation, Neil LaBute brings a rich theatricality and his provocative way with language and story to the world of Count Dracula, Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker, and his beloved Mina—this time, with very much a mind of her own—infusing the classic gothic tale of terror, obsession, and pathos with a modern edge. Chilling yet stylish in its atmosphere, dark yet deeply human in its emotional impact, Neil LaBute’s Dracula: A Thriller in 2 Acts is a tribute to both LaBute’s dramatic vision and the timelessness of Stoker’s novel.

This powerful anthology brings together reflective and raw plays by American playwrights surrounding the psychic and political boundaries of the many faces and shadows of terrorism. Allan Havis''s introduction addresses a variety of terrorism cases from the last 25 years, examines several theories of the root causes of modern terrors, and underscores how theatre forms a unique contour to social and philosophical thought on terrorism. With a foreword from Robert Brustein, the anthology features: Break of Noon by Neil LaBute 7/11 by Kia Corthron Omnium Gatherum by Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros Columbinus by PJ Paparelli and Stephen Karam Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them by Christopher Durang

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.

Brad and Jodie need Tate to do them a favour. A really big favour. Brad is married to Jodie. Jodie went to school with Tate. Tate doesn''t trust Brad. Brad and Jodie are at a life-changing crossroads and struggling to make a monumental decision about their life and love, and Tate--just maybe--has been there before. In this timely, dark, and dazzling new play, Neil LaBute takes a penetrating, point-blank look at a couple confronting the hardest decision of their lives and the aftermath of that decision. How To Fight Loneliness is Neil LaBute''s most shocking, and also most tender, play yet.

Legacies Are Forever By: Richard Neil LaBute Jr. The conclusion to author Richard Neil LaBute Jr.’s exciting trilogy, following The Search and From Across the Waters, takes us to Japan, where young liberal heirs to centuries-old fiefdoms unite to bring about the end to the Tokugawa Shogunate. The two-hundred-fifty-year reign of Tokugawa military rule is over. The Restoration has brought the Meiji Emperor out of the secluded confines of Kyoto and back to the center of government and power in old Yedo, now Tokyo. The Sonno Joi, revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians movement has succeeded, yet failed. The Shogun is gone, but the hated bakufu, Tokugawa-era government bureaucrats, remain. Japan as a nation quickly sheds its medieval past, rapidly emulates, then seizes a place at the table of modern nations, much to the dismay and expense of its neighbors—north, south, west, and ultimately the United States and its possessions to the east. In Europe, Prussia, with the help of Bavaria, cements together a Germanic nation, as France tends to its colonies on many continents. The three-hundred-year-old Romanov Russian Empire teeters on the brink of disaster and revolution. Equally decrepit empires of the Ottoman Turks, Austro-Hungarians, and Ching Dynasty of China also near their end. The riddance of imperial overlords, national identity, and the power of the proletariat are themes du jour, of the day.

''LaBute takes us to shadowy places we don''t like to talk about, sometimes even to think about.'' Newsday Obsession with surface and secrets runs through this second collection of Neil LaBute''s work. The Shape of Things peels back the skin of modern-day relationships to ask how far someone might change themselves for love, or for art. In Fat Pig, a man confronts his friends'' - and his own - fixation with Hollywood ideals of beauty when he falls for a ''plus size'' young woman. In a Dark Dark House and In a Forest, Dark and Deep are twin tales of sibling conflict. In the first, estranged brothers must reconcile conflicting memories, after one asks for corroboration of childhood abuse. In the second, a man''s offer to help his sister clear out her cottage brings a terrible confession into the light. The Shape of Things ''What initially seems a touching study of student romance develops instead into a passionate discussion about the way art feeds on life.'' Daily Telegraph Fat Pig ''As large as Helen is, the tender heart of the play is easily twice as big.'' Variety In a Dark Dark House ''LaBute toys with expectations and takes pleasure in our discomfort... The play does lead to a pretty dark place - but the ending is not without hope.'' Daily Mail In a Forest, Dark and Deep ''It is billed as being about sibling rivalry, but in fact majors on far deeper, dangerous things: the yearning to be understood, female manipulation, and fascinated male disgust at a sister''s lurid sexuality.'' The Times

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.

''LaBute takes us to shadowy places we don''t like to talk about, sometimes even to think about.'' Newsday Obsession with surface and secrets runs through this second collection of Neil LaBute''s work. The Shape of Things peels back the skin of modern-day relationships to ask how far someone might change themselves for love, or for art. In Fat Pig, a man confronts his friends'' - and his own - fixation with Hollywood ideals of beauty when he falls for a ''plus size'' young woman. In a Dark Dark House and In a Forest, Dark and Deep are twin tales of sibling conflict. In the first, estranged brothers must reconcile conflicting memories, after one asks for corroboration of childhood abuse. In the second, a man''s offer to help his sister clear out her cottage brings a terrible confession into the light. The Shape of Things ''What initially seems a touching study of student romance develops instead into a passionate discussion about the way art feeds on life.'' Daily Telegraph Fat Pig ''As large as Helen is, the tender heart of the play is easily twice as big.'' Variety In a Dark Dark House ''LaBute toys with expectations and takes pleasure in our discomfort... The play does lead to a pretty dark place - but the ending is not without hope.'' Daily Mail In a Forest, Dark and Deep ''It is billed as being about sibling rivalry, but in fact majors on far deeper, dangerous things: the yearning to be understood, female manipulation, and fascinated male disgust at a sister''s lurid sexuality.'' The Times

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.

We Are All Small Once by Richard Neil LaBute Jr. A collection of touching farm stories, We Are Small Once beautifully depicts the process of growing up through the eyes of adorable farm animals. All of their stories are unique, but they all share one basic theme: we are all small once. Although life may throw many changes our way, we must remember the paths we’ve taken over our lives and be thankful for the journeys we have experienced. With the simple, but thought-provoking, reminder to view the world through young eyes, We Are Small Once invites the reader into a family farm full of wonder, hope, and gratitude.

From Across the Waters By Richard Neil LaBute Jr. Spanning a dramatic range of time, geography, and characters, From Across the Waters—a prequel novel to The Search—follows an ambitious American from boyhood to the highest offices of the U.S. Navy; a young Japanese woman who, through her faith, becomes much more than just a royal bride; and numerous conspirators and underlings on both sides of the Pacific. From Across the Waters is historical fiction at its finest, blending fact and fiction to transport the reader back to our own past, in all its complexity and beauty.

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.

Things We Said Today features the scripts for Neil LaBute’s groundbreaking Directv project 10x10—a series of short films written and directed by LaBute based on ten compelling original monologues, five each for men and women.  Also included are five short plays displaying the power and scope of Neil LaBute’s creative vision. In Pick One, three white guys come up with a way to solve America’s problems; in The Possible one young woman seduces another’s boyfriend for an unexpected reason. Call Back features an actress and actor who spar about a past encounter that she, unnervingly, remembers much better than he does. Good Luck (In Farsi), “a pleasingly astringent study in competitiveness and vanity†? (The New York Times) has two actresses pulling out all the stops in a preaudition psych out; and in Squeeze Play a father and his son’s baseball coach strike a mutually beneficial deal. Rounding out the collection are two monologues commissioned as part of Centerstage’s “My America†? project.

He tells her he’s finally left his wife to be with her, news to Velvet since she hasn’t seen him in years and is now friends with Fred’s recently married son. Hopes dashed, Fred engages Velvet in a mesmerizing conversation brimming with passion, remorse, humor, and anger. As power shifts and tension mounts, the young and beautiful Velvet and the older, volatile Fred revisit a shared history, and the twisted heart of their relationship is slowly revealed in a stunning climax. In this provocative two-hander, Neil LaBute continues to explore the nuances of gender relationships, creating a powerful work of sharp and subtle contrasts.

The title play, which had its American premiere at La MaMa in 2012, rivetingly explores the relationship between a nervous older man and a glib young prostitute, as their evening together drives toward a startling conclusion. Also included is the one-act play The Great War, which looks at a divorcing couple and the ground they need to cross to reach their own end of hostilities; In the Beginning, which was written as a response to the Occupy movement and produced around the world in 2012-13 as part of Theatre Uncut; The Wager, the stage version of the film Double or Nothing starring Adam Brody; the two-handers A Guy Walks Into a Bar, Over the River and Through the Woods, and Strange Fruit; and two powerful new monologues, Bad Girl and The Pony of Love.

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.

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.

Filthy Talk for Troubled Time is one of LaBute''s earliest plays. A downbeat night at a topless bar exposes the gulf between the twitchy clientele and the waitresses who serve but despise them. The Mercy Seat examines a couple who, on the day after a world-changing atrocity, toy with exploiting it to start a new life. Some Girl(s) follows a young writer''s panicked retreat from his imminent wedding as he seeks out old girlfriends and opens new wounds, while in This Is How It Goes the breakdown of a seemingly successful marriage is complicated by submerged bigotry. The collection also includes two short plays about relationships in crisis - A Second of Pleasure and Helter Skelter - which are in equal part tender and chilling. Together these plays form a complex and compelling portrait of the sexes - sometimes warring, sometimes loving, but never fully at peace.

Filthy Talk for Troubled Time is one of his earliest plays. A downbeat night at a topless bar exposes the gulf between the twitchy clientele and the waitresses who serve but despise them. The Mercy Seat examines a couple who, on the day after a world-changing atrocity, toy with exploiting it to start a new life. Some Girl(s) follows a young writer''s panicked retreat from his imminent wedding as he seeks out old girlfriends and opens new wounds, while in This Is How It Goes the breakdown of a seemingly successful marriage is complicated by submerged bigotry and hatred. The collection also includes two short plays about relationships in crisis - A Second of Pleasure and Helter Skelter - which are in equal part tender and chilling. Together these plays form a complex and compelling portrait of the sexes - sometimes warring, sometimes loving, but never fully at peace.

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

Lonely Planet: The world''s leading travel guide publisher* Since the ancient Greeks, actor''s have been society''s storytellers. And ever since Hollywood first left the backlot, these storytellers have been traveling to far-flung corners of the world to tell those tales. We decided to ask some of the most widely traveled people in the film industry to sit down and tell us their own stories - personal, inspiring, funny, embarrassing and human experiences from their time on the road. Lights, Camera ... Travel! includes 33 stories from screen stars including Alec Baldwin, Brooke Shields, Rolf de Heer, Paul Cox, Neil LaBute, Richard E Grant, Sandra Bernhard and Bruce Beresford. Edited by Andrew McCarthy and Don George About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world''s leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet''s mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places where they travel. TripAdvisor Travellers'' Choice Awards 2012 and 2013 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category ''Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.'' - New York Times ''Lonely Planet. It''s on everyone''s bookshelves; it''s in every traveller''s hands. It''s on mobile phones. It''s on the Internet. It''s everywhere, and it''s telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.'' - Fairfax Media (Australia) *#1 in the world market share - source: Nielsen Bookscan. Australia, UK and USA. March 2012-January 2013 Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.

In Reasons to Be Pretty, Greg''s tight-knit social circle is thrown into turmoil when his offhand remarks about a female coworker''s pretty face and his own girlfriend Steph''s lack thereof get back to Steph. But that''s just the beginning. Greg''s best buddy, Kent, and Kent''s wife, Carly, also enter into the picture, and the emotional equation becomes exponentially more complicated. As their relationships crumble, the four friends are forced to confront a sea of deceit, infidelity, and betrayed trust in their journey to answer that oh-so-American question: How much is pretty worth? Neil LaBute''s bristling new comic drama puts the final ferocious cap on a trilogy of plays that began with The Shape of Things and Fat Pig. America''s obsession with physical beauty is confronted headlong in this brutal and exhilarating work.

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.

Stories from the award-winning director and playwright. “Labute’s smart, edgy offering delivers pleasures well beyond the time frame his title suggests.”—Booklist In Seconds of Pleasure, Neil LaBute brings to the page his cutting humor and compelling take on the shadowy terrain of the human heart. Best known for his controversial plays and films, his short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and Playboy. Seductive and provocative, each potent and pithy tale in Seconds of Pleasure finds men and women exploiting—or at the mercy of—the hidden fault lines that separate them: In “Time Share,” a woman leaves her family at their vacation home after discovering her husband in a compromising situation; a middle-aged man obsesses over a scab on the calf of a pretty young girl in “Boo-Boo”; and a vain Hollywood actor gets his comeuppance in “Soft Target.” LaBute infuses Seconds of Pleasure with his trademark wit and black humor and unleashes his imagination in stories that offer unflinching insight into our very human shortcomings and impure urges with shocking candor. “LaBute’s usual sleazy suspects are prepared to risk family, love, career, and freedom for the momentary satisfaction of their sometimes brutal desires. It will end badly, we know, and that’s what makes each dark tale as irresistible as good gossip. Fallibility and weakness, LaBute has demonstrated once again, have their own allure.”—Black Book “Seconds captures in print both the nuanced rhythms of contemporary speech and the pitfalls of dark I-Me-Mine gratification.”—LA Weekly “LaBute is a master at crafting shocking situations and nasty characters.”—Publishers Weekly

“Superb and subversive,” this award-winning one-man play is “a masterly attempt to shed light on the ways in which we manufacture our own darkness” (John Lahr, The New Yorker). Can someone honestly love a person whom they have deceived for thirty years? This is the central question behind Wrecks, Neil LaBute’s dramatic foray into the dark side of human nature. Meet Edward Carr: loving father, successful businessman, grieving widower. In this concise powerhouse of a play, LaBute limns the boundaries of love, exploring the limits of what society will accept versus what the heart will desire. This collection also features rarely staged short plays, including “Liars’ Club,” “Coax," and the never-before-seen “Falling in Like.” “LaBute’s . . . cruel wit and chronicles of immoral moralizers have made him, arguably, the most legitimately provocative and polarizing playwright at work today.” ―David Amsden, New York Magazine “A tough-minded writer.” ―Michael Kuchwara, The Washington Post “A playwright [with] an unparalleled ear for dialogue.” ―Jacque Le Sourd, The Journal News

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.