Presidential Romp

POTUS is a frenzied romp of a play about an all-female team dedicated to making the president of the United States look good in spite of his outrageous blunders.

After opening on Broadway in 2022 it was nominated for three Tony Awards. Although it didn’t win any of them, it went on to run at various regional and university theaters. Of special interest to local theater-goers is the fact that the young playwright, Selina Fillinger, grew up in Eugene and graduated from South Eugene High School before earning a BA at Northwestern University.

UO Theatre Arts instructor Tricia Rodley recently opted to direct Fillinger’s comedy at the Hope Theatre in the Miller Theatre Complex. She clearly knows what entertains her students. Opening night was sold out, mostly to students, who laughed, hooted and shrieked nearly nonstop throughout the playfully raunchy show.

The older people who happened to be in my sightline were more subdued. In spite of some impressive acting by students from freshmen to seniors, the play seems to have an underdeveloped plot without enough coherence.

The publishing company that licenses the script for production labels it a satire. I would call it a farce because it is packed with raw physical humor that is silly rather than enlightening. And the overlapping dialogue, spewed out at warp speed, is sometimes difficult to understand.

The president, whom we never see, uses the four-letter C word that rhymes with runt to describe his wife’s mood just before the start of an important conference with foreign dignitaries. The visitors are not amused. So how can the chief of staff, the press secretary, the highly accomplished wife and several others save this dumbo’s reputation?

Well, apparently not by exercising their intelligence. Circumstances are against them on this fateful day. We can only hope that such White House screw-ups never occur in real life. Fillinger has said in interviews that the play began to develop in her mind during Donald Trump’s first run for the Oval Office.

Zayne Clayton is just right for the First Lady, beautiful and brilliant like a combination of Jackie Kennedy and Michelle Obama. The other characters keep asking why she isn’t the president. Monce Quesada plays the faithful but tired chief of staff. Aaralyn Reed is the feisty press secretary. Kelly Finch portrays a journalist with the embarrassing on-the-job milk leakage of a new mother.

Sydney Baker plays the president’s timid secretary who pathologically fears losing her job. She’ll have an unusual transformation by the end of the play.

Talented freshman Ocean Demmin-Ferneau, as the president’s “dalliance,” arrives unexpectedly with news that could easily ruin his career. She steals the show with a sort of pole dance without the pole. I’ll be watching for her in future productions. The final surprise character to arrive is the president’s sister, played to the hilt by Bleu Jones.

The clever set design by Myra Schra and Jerry Hooker features walls that open and close like pages in a book to reveal different White House offices. The costumes by Annika McNair are a delight, and particularly suitable for each character.

Following the last evening performance of the run — Saturday, Feb. 22 — a group of politically minded women, including Mayor Kaarin Knudson, Springfield City Councilor Kori Rodley and Lane County Commissioner Laurie Trieger, will discuss the long game for women in politics.

POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive is playing at the UO’s HopeTheatre through Feb. 23; times and tickets through Tickets.uoregon.edu or 541-346-4363. Tickets for UO students are free.

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