The woman is a self-absorbed brat. The man is a whiny, disassembling child. His best friend is a slacker who cheats on his wife — a security officer who is the brat's best friend.

If you have not guessed, Neil LaBute is back at work. With "reasons to be pretty," the playwright continues to explore the importance of physical appearance in our culture.

He has sharpened his instrument from the blunt stabs of "The Shape of Things" and "Fat Pig." In "pretty," LaBute cuts deeper and more sympathetically into the gender divide. He finds nuance in the game of communication and shows empathy for waifs whose self-esteem has failed.

Walking Shadow Theatre Company is staging "pretty" at the Guthrie Studio. LaBute's intentional banality frustrates early on, but director Amy Rummenie navigates the deeper meanings, and, as the play unfolds its business, the result satisfies.

Steph (Anna Sundberg) comes out of the gate with a profanity-laced assault on her boyfriend of four years, Greg (Joseph Bombard). He allegedly made a derogatory remark about Steph within earshot of Steph's friend Carly (Rachel Finch). Greg admits he did in fact tell his friend Kent (Andrew Sass) that Steph's face was "regular."

LaBute uses this failure to communicate — Steph's overreaction and Greg's clueless reliance on logic — to illustrate the supreme importance of perception in relationships. Later, a cooler Steph reveals a touching insecurity that undercuts her narcissism: it's not important what the truth about her face is, she says, "I want to be with someone who thinks I'm beautiful."

Meanwhile, Greg and Kent share a meaningless existence moving boxes in a warehouse. Despite Carly's presence as a security guard, Kent starts an affair with a new girl on the day shift. Greg bears Kent's secret until he realizes how wrong this is. Greg becomes a full man, scarred but wiser.

Sundberg's Steph has an anger filled with brittle heat that finally cools with self-awareness. It's difficult to like Steph much, but that's not her role. This is Greg's play, and here Bombard does not fill out the demands. The character is purposefully stunted, but Bombard does not give us meaningful glimpses into Greg's evolution.

Sass makes Kent an arrogant bully, someone who deserves every bad thing that happens to him. It's a joy to root against him. Finch guides Carly skillfully from an early confidence built on ignorance to a painful awareness of the truth.

Rummenie's production further establishes Walking Shadow's rising star in the theater community. These kids are worth watching.