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Some Girl
Your career as a writer is blossoming, your beautiful, young fiancee is waiting to get married and rush off to Cancun by your side—so what is your natural reaction? Well, if you're a man, it's probably to get nervous and start calling up old girlfriends. And so begins a single man's odyssey through four hotel rooms as he flies across the country in search of the perfect woman (that he's already broken up with). Some Girl(s) is the latest work from Neil Labute, American theater's great agent provocateur. In grand LaBute fashion, this by turns outrageously funny and deadly serious portrait of the artist as a young seducer casts a truthful, hilarious light on a typical young American male as he wanders through the heart of darkness that is himself. This edition includes a deleted scene.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
9 people are currently reading
241 people want to read
About the author
Neil LaBute
83 books120 followersNeil LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, LaBute was raised in Spokane, Washington. He studied theater at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At BYU he also met actor Aaron Eckhart, who would later play leading roles in several of his films. He produced a number of plays that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the conservative religious university, some of which were shut down after their premieres. LaBute also did graduate work at the University of Kansas, New York University, and the Royal Academy of London.
In 1993 he returned to Brigham Young University to premier his play In the Company of Men, for which he received an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. He taught drama and film at IPFW in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the early 1990s where he adapted and filmed the play, shot over two weeks and costing $25,000, beginning his career as a film director. The film won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and major awards and nominations at the Deauville Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Society of Texas Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.
LaBute has received high praise from critics for his edgy and unsettling portrayals of human relationships. In the Company of Men portrays two misogynist businessmen (one played by Eckhart) cruelly plotting to romance and emotionally destroy a deaf woman. His next film Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), with an ensemble cast including Eckhart and Ben Stiller, was a shockingly honest portrayal of the sex lives of three suburban couples. In 2000 he wrote an off-Broadway play entitled Bash: Latter-Day Plays, a set of three short plays (Iphigenia in orem, A gaggle of saints, and Medea redux) depicting essentially good Latter-day Saints doing disturbing and violent things. One of the plays was a much-talked-about one-person performance by Calista Flockhart. This play resulted in his being disfellowshipped from the LDS Church. He has since formally left the LDS Church.
LaBute's 2002 play The Mercy Seat was one of the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack — with his mistress. Expecting that his family believes that he was killed in the towers' collapse, he contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover. Starring Liev Schreiber and Sigourney Weaver, the play was a commercial and critical success.
LaBute's latest film is The Wicker Man, an American version of a British cult classic. His first horror film, it starred Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn and was released on September 1, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures to scathing critical reviews and mediocre box office.
He is working with producer Gail Mutrux on the screen adaptation of The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, LaBute was raised in Spokane, Washington. He studied theater at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At BYU he also met actor Aaron Eckhart, who would later play leading roles in several of his films. He produced a number of plays that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the conservative religious university, some of which were shut down after their premieres. LaBute also did graduate work at the University of Kansas, New York University, and the Royal Academy of London.
In 1993 he returned to Brigham Young University to premier his play In the Company of Men, for which he received an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. He taught drama and film at IPFW in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the early 1990s where he adapted and filmed the play, shot over two weeks and costing $25,000, beginning his career as a film director. The film won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and major awards and nominations at the Deauville Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Society of Texas Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.
LaBute has received high praise from critics for his edgy and unsettling portrayals of human relationships. In the Company of Men portrays two misogynist businessmen (one played by Eckhart) cruelly plotting to romance and emotionally destroy a deaf woman. His next film Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), with an ensemble cast including Eckhart and Ben Stiller, was a shockingly honest portrayal of the sex lives of three suburban couples. In 2000 he wrote an off-Broadway play entitled Bash: Latter-Day Plays, a set of three short plays (Iphigenia in orem, A gaggle of saints, and Medea redux) depicting essentially good Latter-day Saints doing disturbing and violent things. One of the plays was a much-talked-about one-person performance by Calista Flockhart. This play resulted in his being disfellowshipped from the LDS Church. He has since formally left the LDS Church.
LaBute's 2002 play The Mercy Seat was one of the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack — with his mistress. Expecting that his family believes that he was killed in the towers' collapse, he contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover. Starring Liev Schreiber and Sigourney Weaver, the play was a commercial and critical success.
LaBute's latest film is The Wicker Man, an American version of a British cult classic. His first horror film, it starred Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn and was released on September 1, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures to scathing critical reviews and mediocre box office.
He is working with producer Gail Mutrux on the screen adaptation of The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
October 4, 2025
Men,
Are you feeling uneasy?
We’re all aware of the stages we went through during the decades.
We cried, yearned for our mothers, and needed building blocks, little fire engines, baseball bats to hit Nerf balls, macaroni and cheese, and loved chazerai (the Bhutanese word for sweet treats, think Rice Krispies, teiglach).
We then graduated to baseball mitts (I can’t recall the last time I used that word, mitts), footballs, and throwing things at each other in the cafeterias, causing general mayhem.
We moved on to smoking in the boys’ room (I think Mr. Littler is coming, said our lavatory spy), trying the grass that wasn’t mowed, drinking liquids that distorted and made milk unappetizing, getting into or running from fights with other boys, skipping classes, and our clothes, constantly dirty.
Was that enough now that we hit our late teens or early twenties? Not for soon-to-be adults (or is it ‘a dolt’) men. We discovered women in a big way. They were round, soft, sweet, and delicate (who cared if they hadn’t yet learned English). They were all pretty in those days and hopefully not too bright. That’s what went through our minds. Steer clear of valedictorians and honor student girls. We weren’t looking for intelligent conversations. Other possibilities would satisfy our needs, not thoughts about biology or statistics, culture, opera, our emotions or lack thereof, or our primitive communication skills. We ran on testosterone, not brains (yes, I know, there are exceptions, but I never played in the band or was a member of the chess or theater clubs, but I was familiar and friendly with these kids).
Young women occupied our minds about 98.6% of the day, which is interestingly and contrarily enough, normal body temperature. Every swirl of their long hair, every long neck, every curve, even every word they said, we would dissect as something sexual underneath. For instance, I just put on blush for the first time was interpreted by the male as a gesture to test if it came off when kissed.
Trial and error ensued thereafter. Some relationships were pleasant, while others were not so good. However, romantic relationships are a learning process for both genders.
To this play, “Some Girls.”
The protagonist is a Lothario, and still a young man. As a writer for high-quality magazines, he requires a subject for his next story. Therefore, he interviews his past relationships, inviting intelligent, hardworking, and successful women he had dated years ago, separately, to communicate as the new, mature person he is. His intention is twofold: to apologize for his immature behavior and to gain insights for his upcoming article. Oh, and he is about to marry a new woman.
He meticulously compiles a long list of women he interacted with in his past and narrows it down to five. He then invites them over to express his remorse for his juvenile narcissism (Heraclitus; character is fate, fate is character). However, times have changed, and the women have evolved. They are not overly tolerant of his newfound persona or his impending article. Although, he has flown to meet them, and they are curious as to why.
Despite the man’s repeated apologies, the women remain skeptical. They compel him to confront his past trivialities, but to anyone who has attempted to influence an egoist, it feels like sawing sawdust.
The play was an uncomfortable read for me. I create distance with that type of young or old id (an old Freudian term).
The play’s tone appears authentic, but the subject is banal, verbose, and cliche. The verbal intercourse is exactly what one would expect.
Should you read it? No, you’ve likely heard it all before, ladies.
As for men, well, who knows?
Not for me.
Are you feeling uneasy?
We’re all aware of the stages we went through during the decades.
We cried, yearned for our mothers, and needed building blocks, little fire engines, baseball bats to hit Nerf balls, macaroni and cheese, and loved chazerai (the Bhutanese word for sweet treats, think Rice Krispies, teiglach).
We then graduated to baseball mitts (I can’t recall the last time I used that word, mitts), footballs, and throwing things at each other in the cafeterias, causing general mayhem.
We moved on to smoking in the boys’ room (I think Mr. Littler is coming, said our lavatory spy), trying the grass that wasn’t mowed, drinking liquids that distorted and made milk unappetizing, getting into or running from fights with other boys, skipping classes, and our clothes, constantly dirty.
Was that enough now that we hit our late teens or early twenties? Not for soon-to-be adults (or is it ‘a dolt’) men. We discovered women in a big way. They were round, soft, sweet, and delicate (who cared if they hadn’t yet learned English). They were all pretty in those days and hopefully not too bright. That’s what went through our minds. Steer clear of valedictorians and honor student girls. We weren’t looking for intelligent conversations. Other possibilities would satisfy our needs, not thoughts about biology or statistics, culture, opera, our emotions or lack thereof, or our primitive communication skills. We ran on testosterone, not brains (yes, I know, there are exceptions, but I never played in the band or was a member of the chess or theater clubs, but I was familiar and friendly with these kids).
Young women occupied our minds about 98.6% of the day, which is interestingly and contrarily enough, normal body temperature. Every swirl of their long hair, every long neck, every curve, even every word they said, we would dissect as something sexual underneath. For instance, I just put on blush for the first time was interpreted by the male as a gesture to test if it came off when kissed.
Trial and error ensued thereafter. Some relationships were pleasant, while others were not so good. However, romantic relationships are a learning process for both genders.
To this play, “Some Girls.”
The protagonist is a Lothario, and still a young man. As a writer for high-quality magazines, he requires a subject for his next story. Therefore, he interviews his past relationships, inviting intelligent, hardworking, and successful women he had dated years ago, separately, to communicate as the new, mature person he is. His intention is twofold: to apologize for his immature behavior and to gain insights for his upcoming article. Oh, and he is about to marry a new woman.
He meticulously compiles a long list of women he interacted with in his past and narrows it down to five. He then invites them over to express his remorse for his juvenile narcissism (Heraclitus; character is fate, fate is character). However, times have changed, and the women have evolved. They are not overly tolerant of his newfound persona or his impending article. Although, he has flown to meet them, and they are curious as to why.
Despite the man’s repeated apologies, the women remain skeptical. They compel him to confront his past trivialities, but to anyone who has attempted to influence an egoist, it feels like sawing sawdust.
The play was an uncomfortable read for me. I create distance with that type of young or old id (an old Freudian term).
The play’s tone appears authentic, but the subject is banal, verbose, and cliche. The verbal intercourse is exactly what one would expect.
Should you read it? No, you’ve likely heard it all before, ladies.
As for men, well, who knows?
Not for me.
July 19, 2011
I only give this play four stars because it gave me what I needed; good
female monologues. As far as the actual play, I'm not so sure. If I had paid money to see the show, I would have still liked it and the acting, but I think I would have felt I wasted my money. It starts where it begins... And only the smallest realizations are made.
female monologues. As far as the actual play, I'm not so sure. If I had paid money to see the show, I would have still liked it and the acting, but I think I would have felt I wasted my money. It starts where it begins... And only the smallest realizations are made.
October 30, 2013
While I really enjoyed the play itself and plan on reading more of LaBute's work, I found the way the play was set up to be off putting. The introduction said part of the reason for this play's being was to respond to there not being enough meaty roles for women. Yes, there are four great female roles in this play, but there is a bit of stereotype in each one, fulfilling a certain cliché of certain types of breakups. Not to mention, none of them are the lead, they come and they go, each getting one long scene with the main character of Man. Not naming him doesn't make him any less of the lead and the women are pretty much just plot points to him, we never learn enough about their lives to guess at the complexities in them or why they choose to come see an ex. Of course, they tell us why, but that's only because some had to show up or they'd be no script. It just doesn't feel fleshed out enough in terms of the women, and for an introduction to suggest the play was written to help balance the imbalance of male/female parts just seems ridiculous to me. If you want to balance it, write a play with all women. Well rounded, complex women who do more then talk about their relationship and feelings about this one man.
However the play is well written, and I would like to see it performed.
However the play is well written, and I would like to see it performed.
Read
August 27, 2008Should I be disturbed or concerned if I connected with this play on multiple emotional levels? Probably.
March 7, 2023
Que seca, Neil, e para quê?
September 15, 2024
this was crazy
June 13, 2013
This is seriously one of the biggest pieces of crap I have ever encountered between two book covers or on a stages for that matter. Unbelievable. Guy gets married, wants to see exes to make things good between them because he's been a mean, mean man....but that meanness actually just means he up and left. That' it! Oh, no, I forgot, he also kissed a 12 year old when he was 16 which is portrayed as a rape! The portrayal of women in this book is ridiculous. We all just live for men and if someone leaves us (which mind you happens to everybody) we are traumatized for the rest of our lives and even 15-20 years later we equate you not calling with killing millions (as it is done here) or we still proclaim how you have f'ed up our lives with that kiss when we were 12, and we are still totally devastated because you went to the prom with someone else even though we now have a husband and children. Lord, someone please get those poor creatures a coupon for the Hobby Lobby so their life can finally have a purpose.
Women in this story only define themselves through men; women are passive victims. And the opposite is true, too. The guy in this play is a one-dimensional, seen it a hundred times, stereotypical asshole of a guy who uses women and then even writes about them.
In summary: Don't waste your time. It's preposterous. Neither women nor men are like this, and the entertainment value of an ass traveling from one hotel room to the next to meet up with his victims and talk is zilch.
Women in this story only define themselves through men; women are passive victims. And the opposite is true, too. The guy in this play is a one-dimensional, seen it a hundred times, stereotypical asshole of a guy who uses women and then even writes about them.
In summary: Don't waste your time. It's preposterous. Neither women nor men are like this, and the entertainment value of an ass traveling from one hotel room to the next to meet up with his victims and talk is zilch.
August 4, 2008
LaBute is probably one of my favorite writers of natural speech these days. I did The Shape of Things a few years ago, and this is my first interaction with him since then, but having memorized a monologue for an audition, he's just so good at natural speech rhythms. He makes things so easy to say! More playwrights need to make things so easy to say. He's also a genius at capturing the uncomfortable. Ugh. It's hard to read, some of it. Which makes it even harder to see on stage, I'd imagine. But I like that. I think it's difficult. He has this Chekhovian thing going where people are saying things that are not what they're thinking, but he takes that to a new level and leaves this really nice grey area of ... I'm not sure how to put it, but you don't trust them. You don't trust that his characters trust themselves and you're not certain that they are certain what they want or even if they know what they want. It's just... Good. Good flawed human characters that speak like humans. Even though everyone says it's just High Fidelity on stage. I've never seen High Fidelity, so I think it's a pretty brilliant idea. I think I may like theatre that makes my skin crawl as opposed to theatre that makes me want to get up and dance. LaBute satisfies that. Very well.
September 2, 2009
I guess this man can do no wrong in my eyes. Read it in no time, got to the end, felt dirty, then thought to myself, "yeah, that's about right. That explains it."
January 2, 2010
One of my favorites (if not my absolute favorite) of Neil Labute's.
"You write Fiction because that's what you deal in as a person. Fiction"
"You write Fiction because that's what you deal in as a person. Fiction"
April 17, 2020
I think I liked it, its such a confusing feeling that comes after reading this play.
Neil's writing is so interesting to me because it all feels like it comes directly from him and what he might be feeling but then again maybe that's just because of who I read it with etc.
Having done this as a read through with some friends I'd say it came with a lot of interesting twists and that his female characters finally felt like they were real people especially against this prick of a man who is just called 'guy' kind of a play on how he feels his girls have all just been 'some girls' he is literally just some 'guy' who we meet and never really get to know and then he leaves so we can only describe him as some 'guy' who these girls used to go out with.
I think it was also interesting how weak he felt in most scenes, I find that in a lot of Neil's writing it seems like the male character isn't that strong but the women tend to be fighters or some big character trope -- so it was interesting that the lead in this was one guy who was in all the scenes and the girls changed throughout but he still felt like he was the weakest link -- and then to have it end like it did. It kind of makes you feel a bit dirty like you read something about a person you'd rather slap than read again.
But I think overall it would be a really interesting play to see done -- would it get split in two acts or just plow on through, so many fun questions for the director to answer and as Neil says at the end "even self-deserving evil shitheads need some love on occasion - after all they're just people too." What an apt way to finish it off Neil.
Neil's writing is so interesting to me because it all feels like it comes directly from him and what he might be feeling but then again maybe that's just because of who I read it with etc.
Having done this as a read through with some friends I'd say it came with a lot of interesting twists and that his female characters finally felt like they were real people especially against this prick of a man who is just called 'guy' kind of a play on how he feels his girls have all just been 'some girls' he is literally just some 'guy' who we meet and never really get to know and then he leaves so we can only describe him as some 'guy' who these girls used to go out with.
I think it was also interesting how weak he felt in most scenes, I find that in a lot of Neil's writing it seems like the male character isn't that strong but the women tend to be fighters or some big character trope -- so it was interesting that the lead in this was one guy who was in all the scenes and the girls changed throughout but he still felt like he was the weakest link -- and then to have it end like it did. It kind of makes you feel a bit dirty like you read something about a person you'd rather slap than read again.
But I think overall it would be a really interesting play to see done -- would it get split in two acts or just plow on through, so many fun questions for the director to answer and as Neil says at the end "even self-deserving evil shitheads need some love on occasion - after all they're just people too." What an apt way to finish it off Neil.
December 29, 2023
Might have given it 5 stars if it didn’t copy quite so much from High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (without giving Hornby any credit in the intro when Labute paid homage to other influences). In many ways, felt like Labute was trying to write High Fidelity but with a version of Hornby himself as the protagonist. Still, Labute does what he does best - takes an a-hole man and plants him in one on one conversation, confronting various women, demonstrating how a self-centered a-hole man shape-shifts to suit the particular woman and confrontation. He really understands his a-hole man - the one who seems multidimensional but is really always protecting his inner self. No one writes him better.
December 5, 2018
LaBute writes excellent anti-heroes. The unnamed man in this play who meets with four of his exes in hotel rooms across America becomes increasingly unlikeable and selfish. You feel for the women who have been involved with him. You are glad they get away from him and in one case pay him back in the best possible way. The dialogue as usual with LaBute is believable and pacy. I can see why David Schwimmer was attracted to the part as it is so different from his character on 'Friends' Ross. I wish I had seen how he portrayed this less than moral man.
March 7, 2019
Not bad. I'd like to see a production done of this, especially in our current environment of the past wrongs of (mostly) celebrities come back to haunt them. I find it interesting that the main character is only referred to as Guy. Says a lot.
June 26, 2025
Saw this show in London 3 months after it's debut - with David Schwimmer as the lead. Love LaBute's work. In this play "the man" (Schwimmer) seeks out old girlfriends to apologize for the way he ended his relationships with them before he gets married. Or is that really his motivation?
December 30, 2017
Might be my favorite Neil LaBute play.
November 27, 2018
fun structure.
May 14, 2022
Very enjoyable and indulgent. He is a man of choas
December 30, 2023
The main character was a gaslighting asshole and deserved none of these women in his life. (The old lady was a bitch and a bad woman but that’s besides the point)
January 9, 2024
Beautifully evocative and painfully autobiographic. The added scene, initially not performed, is as potent an interaction as the ones preceding, if not more so.
July 4, 2024
fuck neil labute
August 12, 2025
what a horrible man
December 29, 2020
meh. the third scene stood out, and the deleted scene would probably work well as a standalone one act
April 11, 2011
Revisiting this play for acting class. Still good.
i'm currently doing a production of the deleted scene at the end of this play. neil labute states in his notes about the deleted scene that he thinks it would make a good one act play, and i think it does. this play speaks truth about the fucked up things we do unintentionally to our lovers, and that feeling deep down that we wish we could go back and right things. honestly, who hasn't ever thought about looking up an ex and seeing what's up?
i'm currently doing a production of the deleted scene at the end of this play. neil labute states in his notes about the deleted scene that he thinks it would make a good one act play, and i think it does. this play speaks truth about the fucked up things we do unintentionally to our lovers, and that feeling deep down that we wish we could go back and right things. honestly, who hasn't ever thought about looking up an ex and seeing what's up?
December 13, 2013
I find labute's play to be an honest depiction of one man's relationships, and it offers a glimpse of how he interacts with different women who came at different times in his life. The writing style is also refreshingly true and real. Labute writes the way we think and talk. This gives the play the imperfect, human quality that makes it so successful in my eyes. Labute succeeds in capturing humanity at an honest, grounded level.
November 11, 2015
Guy is an incredible asshole and as a protagonist, fails to undergo any sort of change over the course of the play. As a whole, not so great. Taken as individual scenes, however, I can see the appeal. Though, I have to admit that my favorite scene was "Reggie", the deleted scene rarely performed onstage.
April 7, 2008
This play is about a guy who is getting ready to get married, but before he does that, he meets with a few of his ex-girlfriends to see why things hadn't worked out in the past. Very very funny. I loved the amount of subtext he played with. Loved it!
July 9, 2008
Not the best Labute, but it's hard to top Company of Men or Shape of Things. Shape of Things has got to be one of my favorite stories. Some Girl(s) is kind of interesting, but lacks the bite from Labute I've come to expect.
July 9, 2012
I should give this play another shot. As soon as I saw that David Schwimmer played Guy when it first opened, I couldn't help but hear his whiny voice as I read it. I seriously stopped paying attention to what was going on.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews