TRUMP AND MELANIA: PRIVATE MOMENTS to Open at American Theatre of Actors
Carol Henning stars as Melania Trump in Valdes' play set during a contentious geopolitical flashpoint.
Psychiatrist, political commentator, and playwright Oscar Valdes returns to the New York stage with his latest political drama, Trump and Melania: Private Moments. Running from October 28 through November 1 at the American Theatre of Actors (314 W 54th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10019), the production invites audiences behind closed doors inside the White House during one of the most contentious geopolitical flashpoints in recent American history.
Set in July 2018, immediately following President Donald Trump's controversial joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Trump and Melania: Private Moments imagines the intimate conversations and political calculations that unfolded between the President and First Lady.
When pressed by journalists to confront the Kremlin over alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, did Trump give Putin a pass?
As global tensions escalate and major powers-including Russia and China-seek to broaden their spheres of influence, the play interrogates whether everyday citizens are being caught up in political distractions at the expense of what matters most.
Can peering into the domestic, unvarnished interactions of Donald and Melania offer audiences a clearer lens on modern statecraft, power dynamics, and our national priorities?
Carol Henning stars as Melania Trump with Jedidiah Dore co-stars as Chinese President Xi Jinping. Giovanni Villari designs Lighting and Sound
About the Playwright: Oscar Carlos Valdes
Oscar Carlos Valdes is a Los Angeles-based psychiatrist, political firebrand, and author whose multidisciplinary career spans literature, psychological analysis, and theatre. Drawing on years of experience working as a psychiatrist within the California penal system, Valdes frequently explores the crossroads of high-stakes current affairs, human psychology, and self-knowledge.
Valdes recently brought to the stage I Am Putin (originally titled Rebellion Quashed, Rebellion Born), a dramatic chronicle of Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin's 2023 Wagner Group mutiny against Moscow, which debuted in North Hollywood before running in New York at the Producers Club across late 2025 and early 2026. His earlier theatrical credits include writing and starring in Castro and the Baseball Pitcher, a musical play staged in Los Angeles.
Valdes is also an essayist and author whose titles include Letters to a Prisoner: The Fight for Freedom, Letters to a Shooter, Walk Through Your Shadows, Donald and Melania: 75 Days, US Korea Talks & Me Too, and How to Flip a Jetski. His upcoming novel, Will You Be My Father, draws upon his clinical background to trace a young man's redemption and rehabilitation.
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