Things Get Ugly

In partnership with the Ring Works New Play Lab, you’re invited to a staged reading of Things Get Ugly, a playful and daring new play by Doug Brendel.

Two beautiful actors — newly married and starring together in the same show — prepare backstage before curtain. As makeup and costuming transform one into a grotesque stage character, the other begins to reveal an ugliness that runs deeper than appearances. Their banter, sparkling with Noel Coward–style wit, is as funny as it is uncomfortable, peeling back layers of charm to expose long-buried truths about their relationship.

Add the looming arrival of an old lover, now a theatre critic, and a devastating secret that could unravel their future together — and suddenly the dressing room becomes a crucible for trust, love, and survival.

Playful in form and daring in content, Things Get Ugly explores marriage, performance, and the roles we play onstage and off. With both parts open to any gender — and the possibility of actors swapping roles from performance to performance — this modern chamber piece offers audiences humor, tension, and a bracing look at beauty, betrayal, and the bargains we make to stay together.

Things Get Ugly is slated for production at the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport Mass, in May 2026.

This developmental reading offers audiences a rare glimpse into a play still in progress. Join us afterwards for an exclusive talkback with the playwright, director, and cast, where your thoughts and impressions help shape the next stage of the work.

Upon registration, you will be provided with a copy of the script for your review prior to the discussion (reading is optional).

Monday at 6:30 PM

Free admission.
Reservation encouraged.
Donations welcome.

Our neighbor “The Puddle Dock” restaurant and its sister restaurant “Tour” on Lafayette Road, are both offering a 10% discount on food to Players’ Ring patrons! Visit their websites to reserve, and present your ticket when you ask for your check.