Lilli Cooper, Lea DeLaria, Rachel Dratch, Julianne Hough, Suzy Nakamura, Julie White, and Vanessa Williams will star in POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive at Broadway's Shubert Theatre, with performances beginning April 14 prior to a May 9 opening night. Tony winner Susan Stroman (The Producers, The Scottsboro Boys) is set to direct. The limited engagement will continue through August 14.
The work, a 2019 selection for the Killroys' List, will give 28 year鈥搊ld playwright Selina Fillinger her Broadway debut. Described as a "modern farce," the work centers on a PR nightmare that befalls the White House, with seven female support staff risking everything to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble.
鈥淕rowing up in Oregon, long before I could fathom working on Broadway, all I wanted was to glimpse it,鈥� says Fillinger. 鈥淭o be premiering my play at the Shubert, with this extraordinary cast and the legendary director, Susan Stroman, is quite literally the stuff of dreams. I hope the show offers joy, folly, and the strength to keep fighting at a time when the world needs all three.鈥�
Cooper will star as Chris, DeLaria as Bernadette, Dratch as Stephanie, Hough as Dusty, Nakamura as Jean, White as Harriet, and Williams as Margaret. Dratch, Hough, and Nakamura will all make their Broadway debuts with the production.
鈥淕rateful and excited is an understatement," shares Cooper. "These women?! I mean, holy shit. I can鈥檛 believe I get to be a part of a lineup with them. POTUS is one of the funniest scripts I鈥檝e ever read, I laughed so hard I peed a little. Probably doesn鈥檛 help that I just had a baby, but still.鈥�
Rounding out the cast will be Anita Abdinezhad (Persian Pod), Gisela Ch铆pe (Manifest), Jennifer Fouch茅 (Chicken & Biscuits), and Lisa Helmi Johanson (Avenue Q) as standbys.
Stroman will lead a creative team that includes scenic designer Beowulf Boritt, costume designer Linda Cho, lighting designer Sonoyo Nishikawa, and sound designer Jessica Paz. Hair and wig design will be by Cookie Jordan, with Rocio Mendez providing intimacy and fight direction. Casting is by Taylor Williams, and Johnny Milani is production stage manager. Foresight Theatrical will provide general management.
POTUS will be produced on Broadway by Seaview (Slave Play), Lynette Howell Taylor's 51 Entertainment (A Star is Born), Glass Half Full Productions (Betrayal), Level Forward (What the Constitution Means to Me), Salman Al-Rashid, Sony Music Masterworks, Mark Gordon Pictures, Imagine Equal Entertainment, Jonathan Demar, Luke Katler, Thomas Laub, and David J. Lynch. Level Forward will also serve as impact producer, with key partnerships with organizations supporting women running for office and voter registration to be announced in the coming weeks.
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