‘POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive’ @ Stage West

Photos by Evan Michael Woods; graphic design by Jen Schultes

—Jan Farrington

“Do not tip the interns.”

At Stage West, good pre-show advice from a White House staffer, sizing us up as the kind of D.C. tour group that might get frisky. We’re to keep our arms and hands in the vehicle at all times—and yes, this is a fast and funny ride through a day in the life of the seven women of the title, frantically trying to keep a runaway, dysfunctional presidency on track, even slightly.

From playwright Selena Fillinger, this is the regional premiere of her Broadway-debut play POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. It’s a crazy, potty-mouthed, and terribly funny show that keeps us gasping, guffawing, and nodding our heads at how true, how awful, how “how-did-we-get-here?” it all is. No names or labels link this to any one politico—but there are bits and pieces of so much we’ve all been through these last years. With portraits of past Prezzies watching from the walls, we’re torn (and aren’t we used to it?) between belly laughs…and bleeding internally.

Directed with zany precision by Kara-Lynn Vaeni, and with Bryan Stevenson’s set design screaming “Farce!” from the get-go (a lineup of pristine white doors somewhere in the White House; what else could it be?), we quickly understand the playwright’s dividing line. Behind the doors are men in suits holding high-level meetings in lovely rooms. In the string of staff offices (outside the VIP spaces) are the women who organize the details and operate the machinery of power—speeding around like a herd of despairing wildebeests.

And therefore, there is “language”—but we’re all grownups here, right? How else would these exhausted, stretched-to-breaking women talk?

One four-letter word is the starting gun for the action. Already the Prez has burned too many bridges between the U.S. and its allies—and now, all it takes is a disrespectful, foul-mouthed remark to give the diplomats and ministers a chance to get “pissy” about helping the USA do… anything. One thing these women agree on: he shouldn’t be president.

The let-‘er-rip cast of women onstage is dazzling and vibrant, as a visitor discovers when she’s directed to seek out “the intense one” for her interview. It’s no help. “They’re all intense,” people tell her as she wanders the West Wing.

Dana Schultes is Harriet, the President’s driven, tightly wound chief of staff. She, someone quips, has traded “youth and beauty” for a lifetime of saving POTUS and keeping the country on its feet. She’s a rule-follower. Though there isn’t a man on the stage—unless the President’s feet count—she knows that (as Fillinger said in an interview) “patriarchy still exists and we still play by its rules.”

With her are harrassed press secretary Jean (Vanessa DeSilvio), always sure Harriet is keeping things from her, and FLOTUS Margaret (vickie washington), a majestic and accomplished woman who waxes snarky about her second-banana life with Him. White House reporter Chris (Octavia Y. Thomas) has newborn twins and a breast pump strapped to her chest—but hasn’t lost her taste for a scoop.

Filling out the roster are presidential secretary Stephanie (Kristin McCollum), a nervous woman Harriet mentors with be-strong advice and hefty doses of Alanis Morissette; the President’s jailbird look-alike sister Bernadette (Laurel L. Collins), just released and feeling fine; and perky drop-in Dusty (Olivia Cinquepalmi), who earns her place in this team of strivers, putting her mad skills to work for America.

Stereotype it may be, but we expect interesting chatter from this cluster of smart, funny women. The show’s endless, energetic physical fun is the surprise—and shows the playwright’s commitment to Farce with a capital F: belly flops, leaps and twirls, slamming doors and sexy come-ons. On that score I’d put McCollum’s madcap Stephanie, Collins’ Amazonian Bernadette, and Cinquepalmi’s limber Dusty at the head of the pack (you absolutely can’t predict their next moves), but each character has her own wild moments.

I absolutely won’t spoil the surprises. Playwright Fillinger keeps the farce level turned up high, but the script repeatedly comes back to a serious question asked about several of these women: “So, why aren’t you president? Why isn’t she president?”

See how Fillinger does that? Come for the laughs, carry home the questions. Don’t know how you’ll react to POTUS, but me? I’m still laughing at odd moments. Too funny, and too true.

WHEN: March 7-24, 2024
WHERE: Stage West, 821 W. Vickery, Fort Worth TX
WEB: stagewest.org