Leslye Headland, who wrote “Bachelorette,” says she “never trashed a hotel room.” (Robyn Von Swank)
No wonder “Bachelorette” has been extended twice: Leslye Headland dishes out some of the best dialogue in town. When her booze- and coke-stoked characters discuss the strategic use of oral sex, the scene has a hilarious bluntness of a Tarantino movie.
Their phasers set on “destroy,” these women demolish themselves, each other and their deluxe hotel room in an avalanche of profanity, drugs and one-liners.
And yet, says the 29-year-old playwright, this is all the product of her imagination.
“I was very much writing from a place of emotional, not autobiographical truth,” Headland says from her home in Los Angeles. “I never was friends with girls like that, in high school or otherwise.
“I’ve never trashed a hotel room,” she adds, laughing. “I wish I had.”
But it’s the emotional rather than the physical mess that makes an impact: Headland is after more than cheap shocks.
“Bachelorette,” whose avowed theme is gluttony, is the second in an ambitious series dedicated to the seven deadly sins. Headland has so far completed five. Envy — about reality TV — is next.
“I think that the spine of all these plays is, ‘It’s not working anymore,’ ” she says. “In real life, it’s hard to know when that moment is, unless you make some pretty big mistakes.
“Becoming an adult nowadays is a scary thing. Women, especially, wonder, ‘What happens when I hit 30 and I’m not married and I’m still in the same job that 23-year-olds are working?’ ”
Headland herself figured that out before hitting the big 3-0.
She grew up in Maryland with fairly conservative parents she describes as “closet artists.” They admired “Bachelorette” even if they found the subject matter was “depressing.”
After NYU, where she studied directing, Headland went to Miramax and the Weinstein Co., where she was a personal assistant to different producers.
“I learned a lot,” she recalls fondly. “Harvey [Weinstein] was a great boss. He read my stuff and said, ‘Why aren’t you pursuing writing?’ It gave me the balls to go out and do it.”
In 2007, she moved to California. “I thought that doing low-budget, independent theater would be easier in Los Angeles because it’s a little cheaper there,” she explains, adding: “And it’s not a theater town, so I thought, If I fail miserably, no one will notice!”
Not only did she get shows produced, but she landed a gig writing for FX’s new series “Terriers,” debuting Sept. 8.
But theater is where Headland’s heart is. And she’s wickedly good at it.
In “Bachelorette,” the expletive-filled exchanges build up in a rat-tat-tat way, raising comparisons to Neil LaBute’s in-your-face pieces, although a better reference point is Bret Easton Ellis’ generational snapshot “Less Than Zero.”
A big difference, of course, is the people doing the talking.
“This incredibly lewd, incredibly offensive language is coming out of women’s mouths,” says “Bachelorette” director Trip Cullman. “And that kind of brutal honesty that happens in very close female friendships is not represented onstage as much as it should be.”
In the end, “Bachelorette” is far from an apology for amoral nihilism. “It’s definitely very brash,” Headland admits, “but the character who gets rewarded is the one who has the most semblance of politeness.”
She laughs. ” ‘Politeness’ is the real dirty word here!”
“Bachelorette” runs through Aug. 28 at the Second Stage Theatre Uptown, 2162 Broadway; 212-246-4422.