The Motherf**ker with the Hat Chicago

It started in 2001 with Bailiwick Repertory's production of Mark Ravenhill's Shopping And F**king, a brutal look at youths forced by poverty to commit distasteful deeds, its name derived from publishing trade jargon for a popular fiction genre featuring rich people behaving badly. David Zak, former Bailiwick artistic director, reminisces about displaying the uncensored title on the company's Belmont Avenue theater marquee.

"We had one group who bought tickets under the impression that the play was a ribald comedy," Zak recalls, "What made us decide to spell it with the asterisks was a phone call from a woman who told us—in a whisper—that a prankster had tampered with our sign and put bad language on it, but that she couldn't say out loud what it was, because her children were in the car."

How did newspapers deal with the word back then? "Except for the Reader, I don't think any publications listed the play's title in full," Zak shrugs, "But when we did All-American Genderf**k Cabaret last summer at Mary's Attic, it didn't cause any kind of a stir, although we opted to use asterisks in our e-mails in order to bypass the spam filters."

A cozy little revue in Andersonville named for a liberating behavior is one thing, but Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Motherf**ker With The Hat at the famous Steppenwolf Theatre, with its international reputation mandating extensive media coverage, is quite another.

Steppenwolf's Communications director, Jeffrey Fauver, reports no problems yet, "No subscribers have expressed any nervousness over the title, but we had to negotiate the number of asterisks with a few publications. In our print and digital materials, we spell the title word as 'Motherf**ker', using two asterisks to blank out the 'u' and the 'c.' I've learned recently, however, that some editorial guidelines call for three or more."

What about radio and television, where someone has to speak the explosive epithet? "Broadcast does present unique challenges," Fauver smiles, "We've been suggesting that announcers say 'The Mother-effer with the Hat' or 'The Mother with the Hat'—but since our own broadcast advertising hasn't begun yet, we're still working out this part."

"I think you'll always have people who object to what they feel is outrageous language," Zak concedes, "But it always helps to have people talking about your show."

The Motherf**ker with the Hat plays at Steppenwolf Theatre through March 3.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Contributing Writer