Dear Friends of The English Theatre of Hamburg,

The first production of our 36th Season is Neil LaBute's REASONS TO BE PRETTY. (You may have seen LaBute’s play, THIS IS HOW IT GOES, here in 2010.) We are happy to welcome back for this production three actors who have previously performed at The English Theatre: Gabrielle Douglas, Madeleine Hutchins and Chris Casey. Can you remember which plays they were in? We are also pleased to have Jed Shardlow on our stage for the first time. All four actors are pictured below.

It's not too late to subscribe to the 2012-2013 Season. You can phone the box office (227 7089) or look at the website for information. By subscribing you can see four plays for less than the price of three. A subscription is the best way to save money, but there are other ways as well. If you book online you will save
€ 2,50 on each ticket. There is also a reduction for those who come in a group.

After REASONS TO BE PRETTY we will be presenting TOUCH AND GO, a comedy by Derek Benfield, followed by Oscar Wilde’s ever popular THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, and finally BIG BOYS, a new play by Rich Orloff (a very funny comedy writer) about corporate culture in America.

If you haven’t already done so, please visit our website: www.englishtheatre.de.  It is possible for you to download free teaching material (including summaries of our plays) from the site. If you have friends who would like to receive our occasional e-newsletter, please tell them they can send an email to ethamburg@onlinehome.de and we will put them on our e-newsletter list.

Sincerely yours,

The Directors

Clifford Dean and Robert Rumpf

• Dear Friends
• Photos
• Summary of the play

Chris Casey (performed in FUNNY ABOUT LOVE)	Gabrielle Douglas (performed in THE COMEDY OF ERRORS)
Madeleine Hutchins (performed in DON’T MISUNDERSTAND ME)	Jed Shardlow (new to The English Theatre)

Brief summary of REASONS TO BE PRETTY

ENGLISH

All hell breaks loose when Stephanie learns that her boyfriend Greg, while having a few drinks with a buddy, called her face just “regular” as opposed to being pretty. He insists he meant it as a compliment, but Stephanie isn’t buying that. She is so angry and hurt by his comment that she breaks off their relationship. Greg tries to win her back with the help of his best friend, the macho Kent, and Kent’s wife, who reported the remark to Stephanie. But Greg’s stupid gaffe has clearly uncovered the deep insecurity Stephanie feels about her physical appearance. This dramatic, yet comical play (by one of America’s leading new playwrights) raises provocative questions about society’s obsession with physical beauty.

GERMAN

Als Stephanie erfährt, dass ihr Freund Greg ihr Gesicht in der Gesellschaft eines angetrunkenen Kumpels als lediglich “normal” anstatt “schön” bezeichnet hat, ist die Hölle los. Er beteuert zwar, dies als Kompliment gemeint zu haben, aber Stephanie kauft ihm das nicht ab. Sie ist so verärgert und verletzt von seiner Äußerung, dass sie ihre Beziehung beendet. Greg versucht sie mit der Hilfe seines besten Freundes, dem Macho Kent, und dessen Frau zurückzugewinnen. Sie war es, die Stephanie die Bemerkung gesteckt hatte. Aber Gregs dummer Fauxpas hat Stephanies Unsicherheit hinsichtlich ihres eigenen äußeren Erscheinungsbildes aufgedeckt. Dieses tiefgreifende und dennoch humorvolle Stück (von einem der führenden jungen amerikanischen Autoren) wirft provokative Fragen über die gesellschaftliche Besessenheit mit äußerlicher Schönheit auf.

For a thorough summary of REASONS TO BE PRETTY with background information about the author and the play, click here.