The Motherfucker with the Hat (TCG Edition)

Stephen Adly Guirgis

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781559365161
• eBook ISBN: 9781559368438
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

"By far the most accomplished and affecting work from the gifted Mr. Guirgis, a prolific and erratic chronicler of marginal lives."—The New York Times

"The lifeblood of Guirgis's dialogue is the most expressive cursing since Shakespeare."—The Guardian

As an expert in the art of blurring lines, Stephen Adly Guirgis is known for projects that are at once comically poignant and dramatically raucous. Following the recently rehabilitated drug dealer Jackie, trying to improve his life after being paroled, The Motherfucker with the Hat (Guirgis's first on Broadway) examines the fragile line between ignited passions and the struggle to remain clean in the underbelly of New York City. With expressive dialogue and a captivating story, Guirgis's widely-acclaimed play delves into the challenges of pride, self-transformation, and the intricacies of love in a lower-class world. This volume also includes the acclaimed one-act play Dominica: The Fat Ugly Ho.

Stephen Adly Guirgis's other plays include Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, Our Lady of 121st Street, In Arabia We'd All Be Kings, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, The Little Flower of East Orange, Den of Thieves, and Race Religion Politics. His play Between Riverside and Crazy won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2015. He is a former co-artistic director of LABryinth Theater Company. He received the Yale Wyndham-Campbell Prize, a PEN/Laura Pels Award, a Whiting Award and a fellowship from TCG in 2004.

SCENE 1

Late afternoon. A small apartment in a residential hotel in Times Square. Bottles. Ashtrays. Underwear. Veronica is cleaning up. She talks on the phone, cleaning as she goes.

VERONICA: Yeah . . . Um-hm . . . Nah, Ma, I’m listening. I’m just cleaning . . . Cleaning! . . . ’Cuz Jackie don’t clean, and I like my shit clean, Ma—alright? Um-hmm . . . Um-hmm . . . Yeah, well, you know my opinion on that, Ma—you should dump his ass! . . . Ma—the guy’s an angry, bald, deadbeat alcoholic crook who looks like a fuckin’ fish, I’m sorry! . . . Yeah, well, I’m sure Attila the Hun had his good points too, but that don’t mean I’d wanna shack up in his hut! . . . Attila the Hun. You know, he was a Hun? . . . A Hun, Ma, a Hun, I dunno, a fucked-up guy—a fuckin’ Hun! . . . I am speaking louder . . . It’s ’cuz you drink too much, you shouldn’t do that—hold on a sec. (She spots a line of blow and snorts it) Ma, let’s talk in the morning . . . Ma? . . . Ma? Okay, look, for the last time, my opinion, you’re still a good-lookin’ woman with a huge, lovin’ heart and you’re not hard to please—clearly—but you’re dating a fuckin’ big-time loser with a head like a actual fuckin’ fish! . . . Okay, look, please, alls I’m gonna say, Ma, when you see him tonight: take a moment. Take a breath. Take a real good look and just ax yourself in all honesty—“Do I wanna fuck him—or fry him up with a little adobo and paprika an’ feed him to fuckin’ Buster and Negrito, okay?!” . . . I love you too. I miss him too. Kiss Buster and Negrito for me. I got your check for the cable on Thursday, we’ll eat ice cream . . . love you, okay . . .

(Jackie enters with flowers; she hangs up.)

Oh my God, are those for me?!

JACKIE: I dunno! These flowers are for my “Beautiful Boriqua Taino Mamacita Love Me Long Time Princess fuckin’ Beauty Queen”! Are you my “Beautiful Boriqua Taino Mamacita Love Me Long Time Princess fuckin’ Beauty Queen”?!

VERONICA: Yes, Mr. Man—I am your big, beautiful, whatever the fuck you just said Princess Queen!

JACKIE: Then I guess these are yours! And this chocolate bar, and this lotto ticket, and this little tiny fuzzy bear that grips an’ shit, AND—Hold up!—AND these two movie tickets to see the movie that’s playing at the movie theater later when we go see the movie and eat popcorn and Junior Mints and whatever the fuck else you want ’cuz you’re my fuckin’ “Beautiful Boriqua Taino Mamacita Love Me Long Time Princess Goddess Supergirl Queen”—who happens to be eyeballing the newest member of this city’s fine-ass working-class workforce!

VERONICA: You got a job?!

JACKIE: Yo! Lemme tell you something about the man you share a Bed of Love with: when he says, “Baby, I’m a come home with a job today—”

VERONICA: —The motherfucker delivers?!

JACKIE: Like FedEx, baby!

VERONICA: I am so proud of you!

JACKIE: I think I’m hyperventilating!

VERONICA: Me too!

JACKIE: I got a job today!

VERONICA: I know you did!

JACKIE: I did it because of you, Veronica!

VERONICA: Nah baby, you did it ’cuz you’re the fuckin’ MAN—that’s why you did that shit!

JACKIE: I ain’t saying I’m not the MAN—’cuz clearly I AM the fuckin’ MAN—but, it’s because of you, Veronica—’cuz you wanna know why?

VERONICA: Why?

JACKIE: Because get in this bed right now and lemme show you why!

VERONICA: . . . Lemme shower first.

JACKIE: I don’t care about that.

VERONICA: But I wanna shower.

JACKIE: But I like it like that.

VERONICA: Jackie. I’ll be quick.

JACKIE: . . . I love you, Veronica . . .

(Beat.)

VERONICA: Lemme shower, stoopid . . .

(Beat.)

JACKIE: Veronica?

VERONICA: Yeah?

JACKIE: Why you gettin’ all misty over there?

VERONICA: I can’t get misty when my man warms my heart?

JACKIE: Nah, yeah, you could get misty.

VERONICA: You’re sober. You got a job. You got me a little fuzzy bear that grips an’ shit—what?—I can’t get misty if I’m feelin’ like that?

JACKIE: Nah, yo, mist away—I’m good with dat.

VERONICA: . . . I’m gonna go to Carvel after we finish our business, and I’m gonna get you a fuckin’ cake, baby.

JACKIE: Yeah?

VERONICA: A big-ass Wally the Whale cake wit’ chocolate and sprinkles and icing and Carvel goodness and Carvel love all up in it.

JACKIE: Take a shower, mami—’cuz I’m ready to do work!

VERONICA: Oh yeah?

JACKIE: Yo: when I’m done with that ass, that ass gonna levitate three feet off the mattress! And you gonna be like, “Yo, Jackie: why me and my ass floatin’ in the air like this?” And I’ll be like—

VERONICA: Hold that thought. I’ll be back in a minute.

(Veronica exits to the shower.)

JACKIE: Oh! And yo, I didn’t even tell you about the best part!

VERONICA: Did you tell your PO yet?

JACKIE: What?

VERONICA: Your parole officer, you told him about your job?

JACKIE: Yeah. He told me, “Whaddya want? A medal for doing what you’re supposed to be doing?”—but I could tell his ass was happy . . .

VERONICA: . . . I’m gettin’ in the shower now.

JACKIE: Okay . . . Can you hear me?

VERONICA: Mmm-hmm.

(Jackie strips. Gets in bed.)

JACKIE: Yo, the best part: career advancement! This guy, Veronica—the boss an’ shit—he talked to me just like one human being to another, Veronica. He tol’ me, “We only got two rules here: Be polite to the tenants, and be polite to each other.” . . . And I thought about it, and I was like, “Those are good rules, sir,” and then he was like, “Good enough. Start Monday.” . . . And after I left, I was like, “That motherfucker was right.” ’Cuz, really, life is too short, ya know? Why shouldn’t we all be nice, or at least, like try . . . Ya know? An’ yo—career advancement! If I hook this up right, these people got like five buildings. I could go from porter to maybe even a super ’cuz I already got the repa...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Production History
• Characters
• SCENE 1
• SCENE 2
• SCENE 3
• SCENE 4
• SCENE 5
• SCENE 6
• SCENE 7
• SCENE 8
• SCENE 9