POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive

BY SELINA FILLINGER
DIRECTED BY ANNIE TIPPE
RODA THEATRE

SEP 16–OCT 22, 2023

All the actors in POTUS were tremendous. How lovely to see an all-female cast. It reminded me — and I mean this is a good way — of the Barbie movie.

Audience member

LMAO-inducing POTUS rips America a new one and roots around inside. [Annie] Tippe’s cast triumphs!
It’s the kind of theater where you almost never sit back; you’re ever alert for the walls of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to come tumbling down.

San Francisco Chronicle

Nasty fun! Gargantuan guffaws!
Playwright [Selina] Fillinger has a wicked way with a one-liner. Her women are smart, ambitious and crude as hell. From the first line to the last, the play’s language is so salty you may need to bring hydration – and that’s when the play is at its best.

Chad Jones’ Theater Dogs

A farcical bit of silliness —
A comedy cleverly interspersed with some subtle messaging about the state of the world, male presidents, and the women propping him up. Great characters, playing off each other beautifully, accompanied by terrific stagecraft.

Berkeleyside

Berkeley Rep brings you this gleefully feminist satire just in time for the Presidential primaries! When the President unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis, the seven brilliant and beleaguered women he relies upon most risk life, liberty, and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble. (Any resemblance to past White House shenanigans is purely coincidental.) Entertainment Weekly says, “The likelihood that you will laugh until your face hurts is one of near certainty.”

Production Information

Runtime: 85 minutes plus one 15-minute intermission

Stage effects advisory: Haze, strobe, herbal puff-puff cigarette

Content advisory: Profanity, sexual references, comedic depiction of drug use, and presence of prop firearms

Cast
(in order of appearance)

Harriet – His chief of staff | Deirdre Lovejoy*

Jean – His press secretary | Kim Blanck*

Stephanie – His secretary | Susan Lynskey*

Margaret – His wife. The First Lady | Stephanie Pope Lofgren*

Chris – A journalist | Dominique Toney*

Dusty – His dalliance | Stephanie Styles*

Bernadette – His sister | Allison Guinn*

Creative team

Scenic Design | Andrew Boyce

Costume Design | Haydee Zelideth

Lighting Design | Yi Zhao

Sound Design | Palmer Hefferan

Casting | Whitley Theatrical: Benton Whitley, CSA and Micah Johnson-Levy

Wig Design | Earon Nealey

Fight Director | Dave Maier

Intimacy Coordinator | Chelsea Pace

Production Stage Manager | Karyn Meek*

Assistant Stage Manager | Christina Hogan*

* Indicates a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional stage actors and stage managers in the United States