Arena Stage announces cast for POTUS

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announced the cast and creative team for POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Following a hit 2022 Broadway run, Selina Fillinger's White House-set play-catnip for a D.C. audience-will make its premiere in the nation's capital in a production directed by Margot Bordelon. The laugh-out-loud feminist farce will run October 13 - November 12, 2023, on Arena Stage's iconic in-the-round Fichandler Stage.

POTUS at Arena Stage in Washington DC

When the Commander-in-Chief publicly calls his wife a "See You Next Tuesday," all H-E-Double Hockey Sticks breaks loose. In this searingly funny Broadway hit, POTUS follows how seven women of dramatically different backgrounds minimize the damage done by male arrogance and political posturing, in an endearing homage to the women who keep things running behind the scenes.

"If you love the series "Veep," then you will be riveted by this raucous and irreverent comedy that tackles the hijinks of saving a bumbling president from his own political demise," said Hana S. Sharif, Arena Stage Artistic Director. "We are welcomed directly into the Oval Office and down the rabbit hole with tour de force performances from a phenomenal ensemble of actors that are unapologetically brash in this spectacular new farce."

POTUS marks Arena Stage's first production under Sharif's leadership as artistic director. She officially stepped into the role earlier this week, continuing an Arena legacy of trailblazing female artistic directors, including Artistic Director Emeritus Molly Smith (1998-2023) and Founding Director Zelda Fichandler (1950-1991).

"I'm thrilled to be collaborating with Selina Fillinger once again, this time on her wild and wicked farce POTUS," said director Margot Bordelon. "This production features seven ferocious female performers and I can't wait to begin building a show with them that's athletic, hilarious, and unapologetic. POTUS explores power-the women who want it and deserve it, and incorrectly believe that aligning themselves with a corrupt man is going to help them achieve it. What is the personal, political, and spiritual cost of complicity? Is the answer to work within the system or to burn it all down? The play posits that the answer lies in the sisterhood-it's by aligning with one another, building one another up, bringing each other along, and amplifying each other's voices that real political and personal change can be made."

This quintessentially-D.C. story will be brought to life on Arena's Fichandler Stage by an all-star cast comprised of many D.C.-based favorites.

Returning to Arena are cast members Naomi Jacobson (Mary T. & Lizzy K., A View From the Bridge) as Harriet, Natalya Lynette Rathnam (Our War) as Jean, Felicia Curry (Nina Simone: Four Women, Disgraced) as Margaret, Kelly McAndrew (The Great White Hope, The Miracle Worker) as Bernadette, and Janet Greer (The Women) as the understudy for Harriet/Bernadette.

Making their Arena debuts with POTUS are cast members Megan Hill (Atlantic Theater's Eddie and Dave) as Stephanie, Yesenia Iglesias (Olney Theatre's Dance Nation) as Chris, Sarah-Anne Martinez (NYMF's Leaving Eden) as Dusty, Peregrine Teng Heard (New Ohio Theatre's soot and spit) as understudy for Jean/Stephanie, and Jasmine Joy (The Kennedy Center's Shear Madness) as understudy for Margaret/Chris/Dusty.

In addition to Bordelon, the POTUS creative team includes Set Designer Reid Thompson, Costume Designer Ivania Stack, Lighting Designer Marika Kent, Original Music and Sound Designer Sinan Refik Zafar, Wig and Hair Designer Tommy Kurzman, Dialect and Vocal Coach Lisa Nathans, Dramaturg Otis Ramsey-Zoe, Casting Director Joseph Pinzon, New York Casting Kelly Gillespie, CSA, Stage Manager Christi B. Spann, and Assistant Stage Manager Dayne Sundman.