Selina Fillinger’s POTUS is a farce about a non-specific, modern-era U.S. president causing havoc. While the president never appears on stage, his presence is felt through constant sanitation attempts by the over-qualified, over-taxed, over-wrought women around him. Directed by Michael Bernard, POTUS is smart and funny, showcasing the physical comedy of seven excellent student performers.
During this political FUBAR, the president throws international relations into a tailspin. The buck stops at Chief of Staff Harriet (Vivian Oxley) and Press Secretary Jean (Jasmine Salata), who stop at nothing to ease the scandal. White House reporter Chris (Kayli Smith), on the chopping block after having a baby, doggedly follows the scoop, running the hallowed halls in heels with a breast-pump cord trailing behind her. FLOTUS Margaret (Sorine Harris) embodies a stone-cold professionalism that alludes to a life spent striving for the top — including degrees from Stanford and Harvard, running five nonprofits, and, unfortunately, devoting her attention to someone with what it takes (a Y chromosome) to get voted into office.
Then there are the wild cards: POTUS’s drug-mule sister, Bernadette (Veda Arndt-Schreiber), is sniffing around for a presidential pardon; oval office secretary Stephanie (Melanie Montegani) is too qualified and too high strung — until she gets dosed with hallucinogenic TUMs and turns into a poltergeist. Then there’s POTUS’s knocked-up farmgirl galpal, Dusty (Julia Wergeles). This character could be a throw-away, with the production depending on the bimbo factor for humor — instead, Dusty takes up space from a position of strength in a way that Gen Z women do more naturally than any previous generation.
The subtitle of this show is Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive — if only every dumbass had seven women this capable and dedicated behind them, and if only Americans didn’t insist on keeping that proficiency behind the scenes. See POTUS through November 22 at UCSB.
Click here for tickets.
