Neil LaBute’s New Play Lovely Head & More Set for La MaMa’s Upcoming Season

Neil LaBute’s new one-act play Lovely Head will run alongside Marco Calvani’s Things of This World at La MaMa as part of the theater’s Author Directing Author program. Calvani will direct LaBute's Lovely Head, while LaBute will direct Calvani's Things of This World. The two one-act plays, which will both be performed on the same program, will begin performances September 27 and play a limited engagement through October 14 at the Ellen Stewart Theatre. No casting has been announced.

Lovely Head is the story of a bizarre, contemporary love affair centered on the obsession of a man for a girl. Things of This World centers around a woman and her put-upon butler as a dinner for guests is prepared. Amidst commands, regrets, little cruelties and a lack of tenderness, their frayed relationship is revealed.

LaBute earned a Tony nomination for his play Reasons to Be Pretty. His off-Broadway playwriting credits include The Shape of Things, Fat Pig, Some Girl(s), The Mercy Seat, The Break of Noon and The Distance From Here. Calvani’s plays include The City Beneath, Quasi/Almost, Before You Sleep, Low Life and Strong Hands.

In addition to the double roster of Lovely Head and Things of This World, La MaMa’s new season will include Confessions and Conversation by Jean-Claude van Itallie (September 20 through 23) at the Ellen Stewart Theatre, Luz by Catherine Fillous (September 27 through October 14) at La MaMa’s First Floor Theatre, De Farrucas, Amor Y Locura by Maria Elena Anaya (September 27 through October 14) at The Club, Undesirable Elements by Ping Chong (October 18 through November 4) at the Ellen Stewart Theatre, 2 From the Sea by Dylan Thomas and John Millington Synge (October 18 through November 4) at First Floor Theatre, Soulographie: Our Genocides by Erik Ehn (November 8 through 18) at the Ellen Stewart Theatre and Port Out, Starboard Home by Sheila Callaghan (November 8 through 25) at La MaMa’s First Floor Theatre. The season also includes Die: Roll to Proceed by Joe Kurtz (November 9 through 18) at The Club, Stock Xeonophobia by Dood Paard (November 29 through December 9) at the First Floor Theatre, Midwinter Night: Winter Songs and Rituals From the Carpathians by Yara Arts Group (December 27 through 30) at the Ellen Stewart Theatre and Funeral Games by John Jahnke (January 10 through 27) at the Ellen Stewart Theatre.