The White House
Perhaps not the current administration, exactly – but broad strokes of past presidents, combined with stress dreams of future ones. And, if we’re being honest, an amalgamation of them all…

The Women, in order of their emotional proximity to POTUS (closest to farthest):

Selina Fillinger is an award-winning, internationally produced writer and performer. Her feminist farce, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, garnered three Tony nominations and made Fillinger, at 28, one of the youngest female playwrights ever produced on Broadway. Other plays include Baby, Under the Sill, The Collapse, Something Clean, Faceless, and The Armor Plays: Cinched/Strapped. Her work has been developed at Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre, Old Globe Theatre, and Alley Theatre, among others. She is currently commissioned at Roundabout and South Coast Repertory. She has developed TV with AMC, Freeform, Hunting Lane, and Hulu, and a feature with Chernin/Netflix. She wrote for the third season of Apple TV’s The Morning Show. Fillinger was named to the 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Hollywood/Entertainment. https://selinafillinger.com/

POTUS: or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on April 27, 2022 and ran for a limited engagement until August 14, 2022. Directed by Susan Stroman (Oklahoma!, The Music Man, Crazy for You, Contact, The Producers, The Frogs, The Scottsboro Boys, Young Frankenstein, and more) the production featured Lilli Cooper, Lea DeLaria, Rachel Dratch, Julianne Hough, Suzy Nakamura, Julie White and Vanessa Williams.

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” – Angela Y. Davis

“Comedy is a very powerful component of life. It has the most to say about the human condition because if you laugh you can get by. You can struggle when things are bad if you have a sense of humor. Laughter is a protest scream against death, against the long goodbye. It’s a defense against unhappiness and depression.” – Mel Brooks

I don’t know that I have anything profound to say about a script which contains not only the brilliance of farce, but the strength of nuance in storytelling. I think the work speaks volumes for itself.

What has been profound is the opportunity to be in the room, with these women (and Matt), exploring humor, even as it relates to our own collective and/or individual pain. Throughout this process we remained present with ourselves and each other, we explored history, revisited narratives, we pushed ourselves towards expansion, we moved our bodies, we questioned, challenged, failed, laughed (oh, how we laughed) and lived. And we had tremendous amounts of fun. Directing this show, from the initial Readers Theater all the way to this Season 78 production, has been a gift.

Thank you to everyone at Civic who helped to push this script forward to production. Thank you to everyone who allowed us to gather in a room, commune and create. I think we all needed it, perhaps more than we knew back when we first picked up the script. I’ve always felt that the best theater is an exploration of our shared humanity, and what a privilege to have that in this experience. I hope you enjoy these wildly talented, intelligent and dynamic women as they present to you POTUS by Selina Fillinger.

– Chelsea DuVall