By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com
photo by Nicci Radhe
From left, Greg (Taylor Rascher), Carly (Taige' Lauren), Stephanie (Samantha Cormier) and Kent (Lucas Gonzales).
Setting all of today's sexist and feminist politics aside, Mark Klugheit's Next Stage Theatre Southwest has dug deeper into Neil LaBute's Tony-nominated “Reasons to be Pretty,” a play that considers the importance of being attractive.
Back in the 1950s it was popular for young guys to say “She was the cutest girl I could get with the car I had.” Klugheit as director has set his play in “more or less the present,” but those surface values are still running rampant.
Greg (Taylor Rascher) and Kent (Lucas Gonzales) are two of today's young guys. Their yesterday dreams of freedom and happiness are turning into the bitter reality of hope getting eroded daily by dull factory work and that work's impersonal demands.
Their women are Carly (Taige' Lauren), married to Kent, and Stephanie (Samantha Cormier) in a four-year relationship with Greg.
But immediately in Act One, Scene One, Greg and Stephanie self-destruct in a Hellacious argument, attacking each other with salvos of F-bombs and other colorful verbal fireworks. Stephanie is incensed that Greg thinks her looks are just average.
Kent and Carly, the married ones, face other pressures that build as Carly learns she is pregnant and Kent begins looking around at other young women working at the factory.
Rascher and Gonzales create distinctly different personalities in their angry young men. Rascher's Greg wants to be popular, basically, while Gonzales' Kent wants to always make himself number one.
It's true, LaBute does give his men the best lines, which Klugheit uses in bold strokes to define their personalities. Looking beyond the livid language we can see both Greg and Kent are already feeling the tightening chains of assembly line workers who will always have a job – as long as they do exactly what they are told.
The drama builds as each of the four keep fighting in their own ways for some relief, without anyone having much success.
Cormier has the trickiest part, feeling insecure that she isn't pretty enough for Greg. Her acting has a strong presence, though, that also brings her sympathy.
Lauren has perhaps the most traditional part. She sees herself with Kent as being the loyal wife. But still, her Carly is also strong and determined.
While abusive language has always been the artistic trademark of LaBute's plays and movies, the talk is harsh and may limit the play's appeal for some theatergoers.
But maybe we should also recognize how polite conversation seems to have little value anymore. These aren't bad people. They aren't trash.
They are just fighting for a piece of the pie they thought was promised, once they graduated from high school.
“Reasons to be Pretty” continues through Nov. 19 with performances most weekend evenings at 7:30 p.m., matinees at 3 p.m., in the upstairs Cabaret Space at the downtown Temple of Music and Art, 330 Scott Ave. Tickets are $22-$25. For details and reservations, 520-907-7209 or visit www.nextstagesw.com
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