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Don’t balk at the title of the Obsidian Theater-presented The Motherfucker With the Hat (sometimes stylized as Motherf*#cker or Mofo), says actor Luis Galindo, because he says it’s a keeper.
“The title of the play might put some people off, but it’s a really beautiful and powerful human story about love and the power of love and how love endures through seemingly impossible circumstances,” says Galindo, who plays Jackie, a recovering drug dealer whose drama-free relationship with his high-school sweetheart, Veronica (played by Patricia Duran), gets all dark and messed up pretty fast. Jackie’s fortunes turn when he discovers a hat in their home that isn’t his hat at all.
“I have a deep admiration for the twisted language [in the play]. It’s really vulgar,” says Galindo. “There’s a dark poetry and an urban street poetry. These are people you rarely get to see onstage in American theater.”
Galindo is part of a Who’s Who of local theater talent who will mount the Houston premiere. It's making its Houston debut and hopes are high – it was written by Stephen Adly Guirgis, who took home a Pulitzer in 2015 (Drama) for another daring production, Between Riverside and Crazy.
Galindo, who has previously starred locally as Mace in The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity and as Judas in The Book of Maggie, will be joined onstage by Duran, who recently played Bessy in Drowning Girls at Mildred’s Umbrella and Mary in Middletown at The Catastrophic Theatre. Courtney Lomelo and Atseko Factor also star in the play, which is directed by James Belcher.
“It’s a love story,” says Galindo. “A dark, twisted, bloody, nasty, smelly love story.”
Performances of The Motherfucker with the Hat are scheduled for September 15-October 15 at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Obsidian Theater, 3522 White Oak. For information, call 832-889-7837 or visit obsidiantheater.org. $15 to $30.