Review: POTUS at The Contemporary

POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive

Producing a play called POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive in today’s political climate takes nerve. Aisle Say applauds Kerry Kristine McElone and the Board of City Theatre for having exactly that kind of chutzpah. Mounting this razor-edged farce at a moment when American politics already feels like theater—often absurd theater—is both daring and deliciously appropriate.

City Theatre has never shied away from provocative material. Over more than 30 years, the company has built a reputation for adventurous programming, and this production belongs firmly in that tradition. The play premiered on Broadway in 2022, directed by Delaware’s own multiple Tony Award winner Susan Stroman.

Playwright Selina Fillinger’s script is a bold, high-octane political comedy that examines the unseen labor of women working behind powerful men. The action unfolds during a single chaotic day in the White House after a careless presidential remark detonates a full-scale public relations crisis. (Only one? In today’s environment, we’ve long since lost count.)

From that moment, the play launches into a breathless series of cover-ups, misunderstandings, and escalating disasters as seven women struggle to contain the fallout. Watching the mayhem unfold, one can only imagine what someone like Susie Wiles might endure on a daily basis. The mind boggles.

The production’s greatest strength lies in its ensemble of female characters, each sharply drawn and energetically performed. These include the president’s chief of staff (Mary Carpenter), press secretary (Jessica Jordan), the long-suffering secretary—hysterically played by Kelsey Hebert—the First Lady (LaNeshe), the president’s sister (Karen Getz), a journalist (Jordan Fidalgo), and the president’s latest dalliance (Heron Kennedy).

Fortunately, playwright Fillinger limits the number of presidential dalliances. Attempting to include them all might have turned this into an overnight festival.

Throughout the play, these women demonstrate competence, intelligence, and remarkable patience as they attempt to clean up the unseen president’s endless messes. The result sometimes feels like The West Wing—if it were written by the team behind Noises Off.

And the script is packed with memorable lines. One lands squarely in the solar plexus:
“I prayed one night that POTUS cares about our rights.”

The comedy here is unapologetically big. The play thrives on rapid-fire dialogue, physical comedy, slammed doors, and mounting chaos, all hallmarks of classic farce. Secrets explode, plans collapse, and misunderstandings multiply until the situation spirals gloriously out of control.

At times Aisle Say felt like he was watching a thoroughly politicized version of Noises Off.

But beneath the manic humor lies a sharper point. Fillinger’s play is ultimately about gender and power—about the women who keep institutions functioning while others hog the spotlight. By placing them center stage, the play reminds us who is really doing the work.

To a (wo)man, this cast was terrific, and under director Kristin Finger’s brisk guidance the production maintains the speed and precision that farce demands.

City Theatre’s intimate home at The Delaware Contemporary on the Riverfront proves the perfect venue, placing the audience close enough to feel every comic detonation.

And in the end, POTUS leaves the audience laughing—perhaps a bit uneasily—at a truth the play makes impossible to ignore:

Behind the bluster, the chaos, and the headline-grabbing foolishness, it’s usually the women who are left holding the country together.

Huzzahs to the cast and creative team.