Reasons to be Pretty

 Audience Experience for Reasons to be Pretty

When I first stepped into the theater for the play Reasons to be Pretty written by Neil LaButes, I noticed that the stage was in the center of 4 sets of bleachers, or in the round. The lights were turned down, and there was modern music playing in the background, the same songs were played throughout the play. On the night I went to the play the audience consisted mainly of younger adults with a few older people; the energy and mood were relatively neutral. Many people were ok, and as the play began seemed to become uncomfortable and awkward because of the language used. I thought the play was relatively amusing and that the language was not too offensive, but it was a bit over the top. The play had a funny parts, it had sentimental moments; where you realized that Stephanie was really hurt. I felt awkward for the people that brought their grandmother’s with them to watch the play. I know that I would not have been comfortable with seeing Reasons to be Pretty with my grandmother. One lady in particular left during the intermission of the performance and never came back; I’m assuming it had something to do with the language used.   

The audience responded to the first scene of the play in the bedroom different than the other scenes I think because of how many times the f-word was used. There was a lot of foul language in the play, however in today’s society we are exposed to that type of language on a normal basis. I was both surprised and not surprised by the audience’s reaction to the play because I guess the language was offensive but in today’s society it is seen more than say 100 years ago. Several people did seem to be offended because of the language.

I did discuss the show after I left the theatre, my friend who is also a student at Daytona State; attended the play with me. And we did discuss the play afterwards; we talked about the characters, the actors that played the characters, the language used in the play, and the play itself.  We thought that the actors did a good job portraying the roles of the characters. And that overall the play was entertaining; however it could have been more entertaining if the language was not so vulgar. We were disappointed in the ending of the play because of it ended. We were hoping that the main characters Greg and Stephanie would get back together.