LUTD’s excellent ‘Ugly Lies the Bone’ finds beauty in pain
The lights dim and silence settles over the theater. A woman steps into view, her body scarred, her eyes defiant. Within moments, the audience is drawn into a story that is as raw as it is tender.
That woman is Jess, the centerpiece of Lamar University Theatre’s season-opening production of “Ugly Lies the Bone” in the Studio Theatre. Written by Lindsey Ferrentino, the play follows a combat veteran as she returns to her Florida hometown after life-altering burn injuries in Afghanistan. It is a tale of pain, resilience and the fragile hope of beginning again.
Gracie Parsley, who plays Jess, commands the stage with an extraordinary performance. Her Jess is sharp and sarcastic one moment, trembling with vulnerability the next. Every movement feels lived-in, as though Parsley is carrying the weight of Jess’ past in her body and voice.
Surrounding her is a cast that makes the story breathe. Shelby Eason delivers a nuanced turn as Kacie, the sister torn between love and exhaustion. Porter LaPray, as Jess’s old flame Stevie, threads humor and warmth into a role that could have been one-dimensional. Nick Lopez and Roxy Hamm round out the cast, adding depth to the play’s world and texture to Jess’s journey.
Under the direction of Alan Brincks, the show is patient and precise, allowing silences to breathe and emotions to settle in the space. Lighting shifts help guide the audience between Jess’ harsh physical reality and the dream-like virtual reality therapy sessions that promise escape.
What makes “Ugly Lies the Bone” linger in the mind is its honesty. Jess is not cast as a figure of pity but as a full human being — bruised, witty, resilient and worthy of joy. It’s a story that forces the audience to consider how communities embrace those who return from war carrying both visible and invisible scars.
By the final blackout, what remains is not despair but something more fragile and luminous — hope. The production does more than tell a story; it gives its audience permission to sit with pain, laugh at its absurdity and believe in the possibility of healing.
The show will continue Sept. 26-27 at 7 p.m. and Sept. 28 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $7 for students with a LU ID, $15 general admission, $10 for seniors, faculty and staff. Content warnings include —strong language, mentions of suicide and PTSD and flashing lights.
For tickets, visit lamar.edu/lutdtix.