Over the years, I’ve called out men for misogyny: underestimating, subjugating or demeaning women. But I don’t think I’ve ever called out any women for misogyny. Until now.
POTUS was my “Springtime for Hitler” moment. I sat jaw-dropped throughout this woman-written (by Selina Fillinger) and -directed (by Jennifer Chambers) farce featuring an all-female cast. I advocate for women playwrights and directors, and am always thrilled when they are in charge, especially on a big stage like the Geffen Playhouse. But POTUS is a brutal reminder that even women can make women look bad.
In POTUS, the aggrieved First Lady, the president’s pregnant mistress, his criminal sister, a reporter and three White House employees—Chief of Staff, Oval Office secretary and Press Secretary—portray all of the worst female tropes, and many of men’s.
Despite being in positions of power, the women are simpering and foolish, morally bereft and addled, immature and flailing. They are quick to anger and violence. Their first reaction to trouble is to cover their own butts. They don’t know enough to check for a pulse to see if someone is alive. One is encouraged—and eagerly agrees—to perform oral sex to solve problems. Another repeatedly double-pumps breast milk via two full-size baby bottles attached outside her milk-stained clothes.
In short, they act like deplorable idiots—except when they don’t. As POTUS winds up, some start to generate solutions to their self- and POTUS-generated problems. Even mistress Dusty finds talents that don’t involve seduction: she sings and dances (she is the peppy Jane Levy, of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist). Presidential sister Bernadette (Deirdre Lovejoy), a drug dealer with an ankle monitor, suddenly steps it up, and not because it will help her get a pardon.
Unfortunately, to balance out the sudden sanity, the sanest character, chief of staff Harriet (a strong performance by Shannon Cochran) learns she is about to replaced and goes homicidal and/or suicidal.
Secretary Stephanie (Lauren Blumenfeld) is the most embarrassing character, practicing a bear-scaring power stance to overcome her timidity, despite controlling access to the most powerful man in the world. Stephanie mistakenly takes drugs which somehow lead her to find her inner lunatic, don an inner tube and race around screaming.
Time writer Chris (Ito Aghayere) is looking for a scoop in an interview with FLOTUS Margaret and ends up caught in the madness. She claims special powers because she’s a mother of three (including twins she’s doing that double-pumping for).
Press secretary Jean (Celeste Den) just can’t quit the appalling Bernadette, her ex. Margaret (Alexandra Billings) speechifies and complains about her shoes.
The play starts with a loud exclamation of the “C” word, the harshest insult that can be directed at a woman. Unlike “queer” and some other former pejoratives, the C word has not been reappropriated by the group it was designed to degrade. While that’s ostensibly the point, the word is played for shock value, not nuance. Hearing it repeatedly is grating and not as hip as it apparently is thought to be.
The play’s full title is POTUS, Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Yet virtually every character is herself a dumbass, or a milquetoast, a deceived sad sack or an amoral creep. Rather than trying to keep their leader alive, none seem sorry at the idea of his potential death at their hands.
A farce is not an excuse for chaotic storytelling, with inconsistent and irredeemable characters in nonsensical situations. Even politically, POTUS is a mish-mash of confused references. (Is the unseen president supposed to be Trump, the resentful and overachieving First Lady Hillary, and the drug-dealing sister Hunter Biden?) A constantly shifting set features presidential portrait-covered moving walls that add to the play’s lack of solidity. Most of the second act takes place behind (or is it in front of?) a curtain.
It’s hard to imagine a woman in any of these real-life roles amused by these portrayals, or able to see herself in them, even farcically (which must be a word because Word didn’t flag it).
And yet, I must note that as I stewed through this performance, all around me the audience was laughing. (I even laughed a couple of times myself.) POTUS’s run at the Geffen has been extended. The show ran on Broadway in 2022, resulting in mostly favorable reviews and Tony nominations for acting and set design. A performance was recorded for the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. So consider this one bitch’s opinion.
POTUS runs through Feb. 25 at the Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave. in Westwood. Showtimes are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Saturdays at 3:00 pm and Sundays at 2:00 and 7:00 pm. There are talkbacks after the performance on Wed. Feb. 7 and 14. Tickets are $45-139 and are available here.
