Play Focuses on ‘Love Letter to Toxic Couples’
By Bri Phillips
Theater lecturer Shaun Heard is directing a first-of-its-kind production at Cal State San Marcos.
“It's one of those shows where I feel like a lot of people are going to be in the audience clutching their pearls because it's a play where they don't hold back,” Heard said.
“The Motherf**ker with the Hat,” a play by Stephen Adly Guirgis, will be showing Nov. 20-23 in Arts 111 from 7-9 p.m. each night. Tickets can be purchased online.
“Google will describe the show as a high-octane verbal cage match about love, fidelity and misplaced haberdashery,” Heard said. “That's the online Google definition or synopsis of the play. However, this play is a love letter to toxic couples everywhere. Couples who love each other so much, but every sign in the world tells you that you shouldn't be together.”
The play follows a Puerto Rican couple in their 30s who have been dating since eighth grade and struggle with addiction.
“It's a story that needs to be told, especially at a college level,” Heard said. “These types of plays are frowned upon because these are 18 and 19 year olds using curse words. But I'm so grateful that our department decided to do this play because these students are adults.”
Heard has been teaching theater at CSUSM for seven years, and the play is part of his course curriculum in his introduction to acting class.
The course is a lower-level general education class and is usually full of students who have never acted before. Heard assigns students scenes and they do an in-class production, but this is the first time the play is being brought to the stage at CSUSM.
“I get a lot of nursing majors and business majors, and I introduce them to this play called ‘The Motherf**ker with the Hat,’ ” Heard said. “The play has cursing and it really helps students who are not theater people to let loose.”
Five students are featured in the play: Daniel Bjorn Huff, Lunna Mikhail, Arthur Morel, Cayla Munoz and Anthony Varon. For the first time, the theater department hired an intimacy coordinator to work with the student actors in rehearsal.
“That was something that our department decided on through this particular season,” Heard said. “A season is a year's worth of plays. This year we’ve had four plays where actors interact physically.
“There are a lot of people interacting with each other, much more than friendship levels. They needed someone here to ensure they feel comfortable with all of this. Also, from a teaching standpoint, it's good for actors to work with a professional actor.”
Heard hopes that when someone leaves the theater after watching the play, they will be open to different types of art forms and can reflect on their own relationships.
“I think the way the play was written and the way that I've directed it, there are no clear protagonists or clear antagonists,” Heard said. “It's one of those plays where everyone is flawed, and I hope everyone can look within. I want the audience to leave and think about humanity a little bit more. Give people the benefit of the doubt and understand that people do make mistakes.”
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