By David Slifer

Directed by Jo Hall, “The Motherf**cker with the Hat” is the second show put on this school year by the Greensboro College theatre department. When the show was first announced, William Perry Morgan was to direct this show before he passed. He always to do this show, so we hope that our performance made him proud  

Senior Eli Brown played Jackie, senior Ariana Avila as Jackie’s girlfriend Veronica, senior Ashlannde Christian as Jackie’s sponsor Ralph, freshman Jahia Joof as Ralph’s wife Veronica and senior Yahir Betancourt as Julio. Lastly, on saxophone and playing the cop was senior Brayden Gregory.  

The show is about Jackie, a recovering addict and ex-con. After coming home to his girlfriend Veronica with news of getting a job, he sees a hat that is not his and immediately suspects that she has been cheating on him. He goes to his sponsor Ralph and cousin Julio for help, but later we learn more about who Veronica was with and the connections Jackie has is actually not what they seem. 

Brown was amazing as Jackie. With the numerous highs and lows the character goes through, Brown excellently shifts the way he plays this character. The Collegian had the opportunity to speak with Brown about his performance.  When asked what his first impression was when he heard the name of the show, Brown stated, “I was in the chapel when Perry came and approached me and asked if I had ever read a script called ‘The Motherf*cker with the Hat’ and I was definitely taken aback by it.”

 Brown then spoke about the challenges he faced when preparing for the show, “I think there is always a big challenge in separating yourself from the character. I think the biggest challenge was figuring out where Jackie began and Eli ended.”

“Struggling with the loss of Perry was also hard. It was really hard to open that script for a while and a lot of the work happened in the rehearsal space, and I must give huge kudos to Jo Hall for showing up every night and being there. She gave me the inspiration and motivation to show up.”

When asked about his favorite scene, Brown said, “The fight scene was so fun. I could feel the shock from the audience every time I fell through the table.” He went into more detail about how the fight scene was specifically regarding the choreography and preparation required, “I did a lot of stretching and went to the gym frequently to make sure I was able to do things I needed to do every night. I had a knee injury as well, so I had to make sure my knee could handle that load.”

Brown had this to say about advice he would give to future acting majors, “Do not be afraid to mess up. I learned the most when I screwed up but I did not let them happen twice. That is when we learn – when we mess up and we grow from that.”

“Also, take time for yourself. Find a hobby you enjoy whether it is reading, playing video games, fishing or weightlifting. Whatever that hobby might be, just go out and do it in between rehearsing because sometimes it can consume you and burn you out if you are not careful. Make sure you are good and check in on yourself.” 

Finally, The Collegian asked Brown about his thoughts on being in his last ever show at Greensboro College, “I could not be more proud to have went through this program, and to have shared the laughs, the victories, the losses and everything that I have went through here with so many incredible people  and the department. I am so excited to see what the future holds and what doors God opens up next.” 

Joof was great as the character Victoria; this was their first show here with GC theatre. When asked them about their first impression regarding the name of the show, Joof said, “I was filled with shock and excitement when I first heard the name. You do not typically have shows that have curse words in the title, so I knew it was going to be special.” 

 “My biggest challenge in this play was finding my own maturity in the role,” Joof said. “I have only done high school shows where instead of a kiss it would be an emotionally charged hug or something. My character is a grown woman, and I had to find a way to carry myself like a grown woman doing grown woman things.”

With this being their first year here, The Collegian asked if this show made them excited for what the program has to offer, with them responding with “Absolutely! I have never heard of this play and it was such a unique and entertaining read. It made me fall in love with Stephen Adly Guirgis’ works. If the program continues choosing plays of this caliber, then I will be a very happy student. This show was a great experience. With Perry passing I felt anxious starting the process, but everyone was so caring, compassionate and patient and it made the process so much easier.” 

Like with Brown, we asked Joof about what advice they would give incoming acting majors,  “Make sure you memorize your lines. As an acting major, words are our super power. Learn their art form and learn them accurately.” Lastly we asked about how it was with this being their first show here, with Joof going on to say “It was a great experience. With Perry passing I felt anxious starting the process, but everyone was so caring, compassionate and patient and it made the process so much easier.” 

The Collegian also spoke with the President of Greensboro College, Lawrence Czarda, about his opinion about this play. “My thoughts on the show were really framed by a conversation I had with Perry Morgan,” says Czarda. “Literally, a few days before his passing, he took the time to explain to me that this was really a morality play and about personal responsibility and personal choices. Yet the language is usually what people respond to first. And since I knew that walking in, even though obviously I knew the title of the play, I was able to tune it out pretty quickly. In my own mind, I decided it is almost like I am listening to people speaking with a foreign accent, but it is not a foreign accent – they are just using a lot of swearing. So, I knew what the play was about.”

“I thought the play was brilliantly active. The amount of dialogue that was memorized was astounding to me. How do you do that? How do you memorize that much? I also thought the way it ended in terms of the lesson it was giving, indeed ended as a morality play. I also thought the theatre department did a very solid job of warning everybody. If that level of language bothers you, how could you have missed it? I have been in other events, even here at the college, where it surprised people because we did not see them. Something came up, or there is the bang of a gunshot or something of that sort. You had to know this was coming. if you were. And so it was what I expected and it is largely because Perry took the time to describe to me what this play was all about.” 

As we talked more, The Collegian asked about his relationship with the theatre department, to which he went on to say, “My wife and I have never missed a theater production in the 16 years I have been at GC. We have had to do a couple of dress rehearsals. I had COVID a few years ago, but Ashley Hyers was good enough to send me the video of the play. So technically, I missed one with COVID but I would say in my relationship is about as good as I could make it. Part of that is personal, we love the theatre. Part of it is that I believe theatre is one of our strongest academic programs; I think it is wonderful.

Lastly, The Collegian asked about what he looks forward to with the program, “The student-directed plays are always something I look forward to, because it is up and down, because students and still learning. Occasionally, when I bring guests, I have to remind them, you are not at a professional theater yet – they are learning to be professionals. Still, I look forward to the student-directed plays every year. The big theatrical musical theater productions are always fun. ‘Mamma Mia’ was my favorite ever, but there are others that are right up there. And I have had a chance to go one time on stage – I played a corpse in an opera. And Perry, when he did ‘Carrie the musical,’ he took my voice and Susan Young’s and recorded lines, we did it separately, and he took our voices and blended them together and made us sound like this horrible monster – that was pretty cool.” 

This was a very unique show to put on. It was fun, funny, surprising and full of entertainment. This is the last show of the semester and we are excited to see what the theatre department will put on for next year. The first show in the Spring will be “Black Comedy” directed by David Sebren.