Skin Deep

Love stinks, yeah yeah, and when it happens, you're automatically going to know it. You feel queasy and nervous. You can't sleep, you can't eat and you can't avoid acting like an idiot. So chances are, my friends, that if you have these symptoms it's too late now. You're hooked, and there's no turning back. Just ask the characters from Neil LaBute's Beauty Plays. In this theatrical trilogy, LaBute ties three separate stories into one theme of love, lust and controversial relationships. Adam, pudgy and shy, experiences a major transformation when he falls in love with a graduate student named Evelyn. Tom, a successful businessman with a hot bod, must determine if physical beauty is really all that important when he receives criticism from his co-workers for falling for Helen, the overweight librarian. Steph is an insecure female who starts controversy when she hears her boyfriend complimenting one of his co-workers. It's all about the love game, baby. The trilogy, consisting of The Shape of Things, Fat Pig and the three-time Tony Award-nominated reasons to be pretty, is presented by the Dallas Theater Center and runs in three separate installments through May 23 at the Wyly Theatre, 2400 Flora St. Tickets are $15 to $86. For tickets and showtimes, call 214-880-0202 or visit dallastheatercenter.org.
Wed., May 12, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., May 13, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., May 14, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., May 15, 2:30 & 7:30 p.m.; Sun., May 16, 2:30 & 7:30 p.m.; Tue., May 18, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., May 19, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., May 20, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., May 21, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., May 22, 2:30 & 7:30 p.m.; Sun., May 23, 2:30 & 7:30 p.m., 2010