Arena Stage Reveals Cast for POTUS

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has revealed 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 (The Collapse, Something Clean) 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. Press night will be held on Thursday, October 19 at 8 p.m. For more information and tickets, please visit arenastage.org/potus.

An endearing homage to those who keep things running behind the scenes, POTUS follows seven women of dramatically different backgrounds trying to minimize the damage done by male arrogance and political posturing. Hailed as a “rough-and-tumble feminist comedy” (The New York Times), this farce will be led by a tight ensemble of fiercely funny women.

“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-Zöe, Casting Director Joseph Pinzon, New York Casting Kelly Gillespie, CSA, Stage Manager Christi B. Spann, and Assistant Stage Manager Dayne Sundman.

CAST BIOGRAPHIES (in order of appearance)

Naomi Jacobson (Harriet)'s Arena Stage performances include Mary Todd Lincoln in Tazewell Thompson’s Mary T. & Lizzy K. (premiere), AView From the Bridge, The Misanthrope, and The Women, among others. An Affiliated Artist at Shakespeare Theatre, and a company member at Woolly Mammoth, her DC credits include The Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Studio, Signature, Folger, Round House, Olney, Theater J, and Wolf Trap Opera. She’s traveled to the Guthrie Theater, Goodman Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Milwaukee Rep, Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Indiana Rep, Arizona Theatre Company, and Berkshire Theatre Festival. Voice-over work includes documentaries for NPR, PBS, Discovery Channel, and the Smithsonian. She’s received three Helen Hayes Awards, numerous nominations, the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship, the Anderson-Hopkins Award, and a DC Commission Individual Artist Grant. Visit www.naomijacobson.com for complete resume.

Natalya Lynette Rathnam (Jean) last appeared at Arena Stage in Our War. Regional credits include The Last Match, The Phlebotomist (1st Stage); A Nice Indian Boy (Olney Theatre Center); Bars and Measures, Shame 2.0, When January Feels Like Summer (Mosaic Theater Company); It's Christmas, Carol! (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Memoirs of a Forgotten Man (Washington Stage Guild); A Wind in the Door,Kid Prince and Pablo, Mockingbird, The Wings of Ikarus Jackson (Kennedy Center); 4,380 Nights (Signature Theatre); Death of A Salesman (Ford’s Theatre); The Trojan Women (Taffety Punk); The Fire and The Rain (Constellation Theatre Company); The Fantasticks (Rep Stage); Glassheart (Rorschach); Illyria, Julius Caesar (Virginia Shakespeare Festival); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, All’s Well That Ends Well (Maryland Shakespeare Festival); In the Blood, and Lyme Park (The Hegira).

Megan Hill (Stephanie) is a Brooklyn-based actor and writer. Her play The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play has enjoyed runs in New York, DC, and Seattle. As an actor, she’s originated roles in the world premieres of Ramiz Monsef’s The Ants; Leah Nanako Winkler’s The Brightest Thing in the World and Kentucky; Crystal Skillman’s Open and Cut; Amy Staats’ Eddie and Dave; Mara Nelson Greenberg’s Do You Feel Anger?; Rob Askins’ Hand to God; and Joshua Conkel and Matt Marks’ The House of Von Macramé. Megan was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and was named one of the Best Comedic Performances of the Year by The New York Times for her portrayal of David Lee Roth in Eddie and Dave. BFA Acting/Original Works: Cornish College of the Arts. MFA: ART/MXAT IATT at Harvard. www.meganhill.net Instagram: @meganhillwhat

Felicia Curry (Margaret) last appeared at Arena Stage in the Cabaret Nights series. She was last seen on DC stages in Our Town at Shakespeare Theatre Company and My Lord, What a Night at Ford’s Theatre. Curry received a Helen Hayes Award for Lela & Co. at Factory 449 where she is a company member. She is also a Resident Company Member at Everyman Theatre and an Artistic Associate at Ford’s Theatre. Felicia recently made her Broadway debut in the Tony-nominated revival of Into the Woods, and then toured with the show around the country, including The Kennedy Center. She has a Berkshire Theatre Critics Award, a RTCC Award, an Anderson Hopkins Award, and is an AUDELCO nominee for Queens Girl in the World at Abingdon Theatre off-Broadway. Felicia has been named one of “12 DC Stage Dynamos” by The Washington Post and one of “DC’s Biggest Theater Stars” by Washingtonian magazine. She is on the WAPAVA Board of Directors and the Emmy-nominated host of WETA Arts on PBS.

Yesenia Iglesias (Chris) is thrilled to be making her Arena Stage debut with this incredible team. A selection of her DC regional credits includes Dance Nation (Olney Theatre Center); Daphne’s Dive, Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity (Signature Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Ford’s Theatre); Kid Prince and Pablo (Kennedy Center); Love’s Labor’s Lost (Folger Theatre); The Legend of Georgia McBride (Round House Theatre); Hamlet, and King Charles III (Shakespeare Theatre Company). Elsewhere in the DMV includes The Caucasian Chalk Circle and The Arabian Nights (Constellation Theatre Company), and The Smartest Girl in the World (Imagination Stage). Other notable credits include Passing Strange (ACT - Seattle), Mwindo (Seattle Children’s Theatre), and Water by the Spoonful (Theatre 22). Yesenia is from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, and holds an MFA from the University of Washington. Instagram: @ye_iglesias

Sarah-Anne Martinez (Dusty) is making her debut at Arena Stage! New York credits include Leaving Eden (NYMF, Outstanding Performer in a Leading Role Award). Regional credits include Peter and the Starcatcher, The Addams Family, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Festival 56); and Hello, Dolly! (Tulane Summer Lyric). You can see her on television as Teen Marjorie in Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, as well as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Blue Bloods, and Evil. Proud Ball State University alum and member of Actors’ Equity and SAG-AFTRA. Thank you to the creative team of POTUS and to her agents at Stewart Talent. Much love to Brent! Instagram: @sarahmartinezz

Kelly McAndrew (Bernadette) is thrilled to return to Arena Stage, where in 2000 she played both Eleanor Bachman in the company’s 50thAnniversary Season revival of The Great White Hope opposite Mahershala Ali as well as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker. She has performed on Broadway as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Off-Broadway credits include roles with Atlantic Theater Company, MCC, Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, Rattlestick, Signature Theatre, TACT, Transport Group, and Women’s Project. Her regional credits include ART, Arizona Theatre Co, Baltimore Centre Stage, Berkshire Theatre Fest, Cincinnati Playhouse, City Theatre, Denver Center, George Street Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, Humana Festival, Huntington, New Jersey Shakes, Old Globe, Pioneer Theatre, Pittsburgh Public, Shakespeare on the Sound, St. Louis Rep, Unicorn Theatre, Vineyard Playhouse, Westport, and Yale Rep.

Janet Greer (u/s Harriet/Bernadette) was last seen at Arena Stage in The Women. She has performed at The Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre, Scena Theatre, and Source Theatre, and was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award in 2003. Her recent TV and film credits include Awkwafina is Nora from Queens opposite BD Wong, lead role in the indie feature Frank and Edna Take on Le Mans, NBC’s Homicide: Life on the Street, and Girl, Interrupted opposite Winona Ryder. She is Meisner trained (Maggie Flanigan Studio) and received her BFA from George Mason University. Proud SAG/AFTRA/AEA member. Instagram: @janetgreeractor

Peregrine Teng Heard (u/s Jean/Stephanie) New York credits include the world premiere of Chuck Mee’s soot and spit (The New Ohio), Call Out Culture: or, the unbearable whiteness of being (Ars Nova ANT Fest), Ski End (Piehole), and Sehnsucht (JACK). Peregrine is the artistic director of The Associates Theater Ensemble, with whom she has devised and performed The Cousinhood (The Center at West Park), Sheila(A.R.T./New York Theatres), Black Protagonist (124 Bank Street Theater), and Freesome (The Brick). Regional credits include Tom Jones and Remix 38 at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Voice-over work includes ads for Cadillac, Sonos, and Roomba. Peregrine’s play Redemption Story is a 2023 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Semifinalist.

Jasmine Joy (u/s Margaret/Chris/Dusty) is so excited to join Arena Stage for this hilarious, elegant production! Local credits include Shear Madness (The Kennedy Center); The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen, Corduroy, The Snow Queen (Imagination Stage); Dance Nation (Olney Theatre Center); The Mamalogues (1st Stage); A Chorus Within Her (Theater Alliance); Moon Man Walk (Constellation Theatre); A Wind in the Door(The Kennedy Center TYA); Womxn on Fire Festival (Keegan Theatre); The Powers That Be, #solestories (Venus Theatre); and The Gulf(Peter’s Alley). You can see Jasmine next in Is God Is at Constellation Theatre! You can visit Jasmine’s website at www.jasminejoybrooks.com. Jasmine would love to thank her daughter, Calypso, for being her inspiration, her partner Matt, and her mom.

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