Chris Rock Takes ‘The Motherf$%ker with the Hat’ to Los Angeles

Chris Rock will return to his role in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ “The Motherf$%ker with the Hat” for a limited run at L.A. Theatre Works.

Six performances will be held from January 31, 2013 to February 2, 2013. The production will be recorded in front of a live audience for a later radio broadcast as well, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Rock will be reprising his Broadway role in the play, as will the remainder of the original cast, which includes Bobby Cannavale and Elizabeth Rodriguez. Rock plays a counselor who helps a former drug dealer – played by Cannavale – adjust to life after being released from prison.

Here’s how producers describe the play:

Jackie and Veronica have been in love since the 8^th grade. But now, Jackie is on parole and living clean and sober under the guidance of his sponsor, Ralph D, while still living and loving with his volatile soul mate Veronica who is fiercely loving, but far from sober. Still, their love is pure. And true. Nothing can come between them – except a hat.

The original Broadway production of “The Motherf$%ker with the Hat” premiered on Broadway in April 2011 and ran for 112 regular performances. Cannavale and Rodriguez were both nominated for Tony Awards, and the play was nominated for the Best Play honor.

Since that time, the play was staged at TheatreWorks in Hartford, Conn. with a different cast, and Guirgis expressed his displeasure that non-Latino actors were cast for the two Puerto Rican characters. His other plays include “Little Flower of East Orange,” “Jesus Hopped the A Train,” “In Arabia We’d All Be Kings,” “Den of Theives,” “Our Lady of 121^st Street” and “Dominica the Fat Ugly Ho.”

The play was Rock’s debut on Broadway. Cannavale is currently on Broadway appearing in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” and will appear in the revival of “The Big Knife” this spring.