Playwright Neil LaBute

Neil LaBute has achieved renown for his sometimes darkly comedic explorations of human behavior.

Among LaBute's most-often performed works for the stage is a trilogy of plays about society’s modern-day obsession with physical appearance: The Shape of Things tells the story of a graduate student who convinces her teacher to radically change his body, with ruinous results.  Fat Pig considers how a man’s attraction to an overweight woman affects his other relationships, and Reasons to Be Pretty, which follows the unexpected fallout after a woman learns that her long-term boyfriend has described her face as merely "regular."

WRTI's Jim Cotter speaks with the movie director, screenwriter, and playwright.