POTUS provides a really good time

Segal Centre presents Selina Fillinger’s crowd-pleasing Broadway hit

By Byron Toben

May 30, 2024

The subtitle of this play sums it up: “Or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive.”

The Segal Centre did well to stage this Broadway hit by Selina Fillinger, who at only age 28 has become an infant terrible playwright after a highly praised student career. The play is part farce, part theatre of the absurd, part Saturday Night Live and wholly a crowd pleaser, as directed by Lisa Rubin, aided by Casting Director Rachelle Glait.

The subtitle of this play sums it up: “Or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive.

The POTUS (President of the United States) himself does not appear during the play but is often referred to as the seven strive to cover up his gaffes and even his apparent death.

I was slightly confused for a while trying to keep the jobs of the seven straight, so here they are:

Chief of Staff: Harriet (Astrid Van Wieren)
Press Secretary: Jean (Jennifer Villaverde)
First Lady: Margaret (Rachael Crawford)
Secretary: Stephanie (Catherine Fitch)
White House reporter: Chris (Cherissa Richards)
POTUS sister: Bernadette (Elvira Kurt)
POTUS dalliance: (Kayleigh Choinière)

When POTUS is accidentally struck down and thought dead, the seven consider ways to disguise his decease while preserving their positions until it appears he was only knocked unconscious, reminding me of the classic 1636 drama Le Cid, where the ruler of Spain, slain in battle, was mounted in armour on his horse to despair the enemy.

Here, set designer Eo Sharp made good use of a turntable to shift office scenes and a laundry cart to transport the body, legs sticking out, of POTUS, while stage manager Trevor Barrette had his hands full with many costume changes.

POTUS continues at the Segal Centre until June 2.

segalcentre.org

Images: Emelia Hellman

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Byron Toben, a past president of The Montreal Press Club, has been WestmountMag.ca’s theatre reviewer since July 2015. Previously, he wrote for since-terminated websites Rover Arts and Charlebois Post, print weekly The Downtowner, and print monthly The Senior Times. He also is an expert consultant on U.S. work permits for Canadians.