At the end of It’s a Motherf**cking Pleasure at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, audience members are offered temporary tattoos from buckets as they exit the theatre. The tattoos read: I’m an ally. This ironic gesture is the exclamation mark to this satirical show about the mass-marketing of identity and the hazards of virtue-signaling.
It’s a Motherf**cking Pleasure is a sharp, witty satire written and directed by Josh Roche in collaboration with FlawBored, an award-winning disability-led theater company created by Samuel Brewer, Aarian Mehrabani, and Chloe Palmer, who make up the cast of the play.
The show opens with statements about the accessibility of the show, which includes ASL interpreters and captions displayed on a large screen above the stage. The three members of the cast introduce themselves and talk about providing equitable access to theater. While at first these statements are earnest (the show really does provide wonderful accessibility measures), they quickly devolve into silly satire, with Brewer yelling as loud as he can so deaf audience members can hear, and Palmer throwing out earbuds for those who may be sensitive to loud noises.
This sets the tone for the rest of the show, as it makes facetious jokes about people of all identities. Whether you’re blind, deaf, gay, or even Australian, there’s a quip in it for you, too. But more than anything, the script mercilessly pokes fun at the way nondisabled people fear being seen as ableist, and the extreme and offensive measures they may take to correct their own behaviors.
The plot of the play centers on Ross, a blind influencer who is recruited by the PR agency Rize. The company has recently been called out for being ableist. Anxious to rectify their public image, they ask Ross to help them. They do this by creating ReVision, a campaign promoting “blind experiences” to seeing people — intending to profit off their ableist guilt — and making Ross the face of the whole operation.
The set, designed by Cara Evans, is simple, as the cast describes it for blind members of the audience — it features a large yellow rug with caution tape around the edge, two stylish white chairs, and a small side table. There are no flashy backdrops or elaborate costumes. Humor is the guiding force of this production, compelling the audience to stay riveted and rollicking the whole time.
While this fictitious PR firm Rize is continually inventing deluded ways to appeal to nondisabled markets, the cast members interrupt the show with their own droll yet clever invented ways to support disabled people. For example, they announce a new feature of the show called Integrated Creative Audio Descriptions, descriptive tags that go beyond physical narration (“Joe wears a blue shirt and red glasses”) to give the blind audience member an idea of the “vibe” of the person (“Joe seems like he would be a terrible tipper”).
Each of the cast members shines with their amusing performances, slipping seamlessly between their own persona and their respective characters throughout the show. Chloe Palmer’s most memorable character is Helen Richardson, an HR employee for Rize who is terrified to offend, making her go so far as to explain ableism to blind people. Samuel Brewer plays a blind “diversity hire” employee at Rize who has no qualms about monetizing the identity of the disabled for profit, and Aarian Mehrabani is Ross, the blind influencer caught between pressure from Rize and his own moral compass.
This show sheds light on the disturbing responses that nondisabled people may feel when interacting with disabled people, ranging from guilt all the way to an even darker feeling of jealousy. The cast calls out real-life examples of companies doing exactly what the fictitious Rize does — providing ways for nondisabled people to essentially cosplay as disabled people for a day. This builds up to the shocking climax of the story, because, as the cast explains, they had to come up with an explosive fictional example to show an act of guilty allyship that hadn’t already happened in the real world.
It’s a Motherf**cking Pleasure has found a fitting home at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, a company with a mission to “radically redefine theatre as a catalyst for an equitable, creative, and engaged society.” Despite being a load of laughs, the one-of-a-kind, hilarious satire has sincerity at the core, propelling a fresh and challenging narrative about disability, accessibility, and identity.
Running Time: 70 minutes with no intermission.
It’s a Motherf**cking Pleasure plays through March 30, 2025, presented by Flawbored in association with Studio Theatre and Arts Emerson at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D St NW, Washington, DC. All tickets ($40–$82, with discounts available) can be purchased online, by phone at 202-393-3939 (Wednesday–Sunday, 12:00–6:00 p.m.), by email (tickets@woollymammoth.net), or in person at the Sales Office at 641 D Street NW, Washington, DC (Wednesday–Sunday, 12:00–6:00 p.m.).
The digital playbill is downloadable here.
COVID Safety: Masks are optional in all public spaces at Woolly Mammoth Theatre except for a mask-required performance Thursday, March 20, at 8 p.m. Woolly’s full safety policy is available here.
It’s a Motherf**cking Pleasure
Written and Performed by Samuel Brewer, Aarian Mehrabani, and Chloe Palmer
Directed by Josh Roche
Original concept by Samuel Brewer
Produced by Hannah Smith
Set Design: Cara Evans
Lighting Design by Alex Musgrave
Video Design: Dan Light
Sound Designer: Calum Perrin
Stage Manager: Beatrice Galloway
Access Support: Victoria Hoyle
CREW AND PRODUCTION TEAM
Stage Manager: Fe Miranda
A/V Supervisor: Marcus
Lighting Supervisor: Eli Golding
Lighting Programmer: Scott Monnin
Board Technician: Makayla Manor
Production Assistant: Macayla Leigh
Scenic Charge: Yaritza Pacheco
Staff Carpenters: Lily Anglin, Mickey Cappiello
Electricians: Gamage, Susannah Cai
