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Credits
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
By Selina Fillinger
Directed by Margot Bordelon -
Location
Fichandler Stage
"Grade A! You will laugh until your face hurts."
— Entertainment Weekly
When the Commander-in-Chief publicly calls his wife a “See You Next Tuesday,” all H-E-Double Hockey Sticks breaks loose. In this searingly funny Broadway hit, POTUS follows how seven women of dramatically different backgrounds minimize the damage done by male arrogance and political posturing, in an endearing homage to the women who keep things running behind the scenes.
POTUS is made possible by a generous gift from Beth Newburger Schwartz, made in honor and welcome of Hana S. Sharif as Arena Stage’s new Artistic Director. Additional support is provided by Sheila Stampfli.
Arena Stage offers this production in memory of generous patron and longtime volunteer, Naomi Horowitz.
Please be aware that this comedy contains mature themes and very strong language.
Cast
NAOMI JACOBSON
Harriet
NATALYA LYNETTE RATHNAM
Jean
MEGAN HILL
Stephanie
FELICIA CURRY
Margaret
YESENIA IGLESIAS
Chris
SARAH-ANNE MARTINEZ
Dusty
KELLY McANDREW
Bernadette
JANET GREER
u/s Harriet/Bernadette
PEREGRINE TENG HEARD
u/s Jean/Stephanie
JASMINE JOY
u/s Margaret/Chris/Dusty
NAOMI JACOBSON
Harriet
Naomi Jacobson (Harriet)’s Arena Stage performances include Mary Todd Lincoln in Tazewell Thompson’s Mary T. & Lizzy K. (premiere), A View 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
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
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
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
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
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
Kelly McAndrew (Bernadette) is thrilled to return to Arena Stage, where in 2000 she played both Eleanor Bachman in the company’s 50th Anniversary 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
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
Peregrine Teng Heard (u/s Jean/Stephanie)’s 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
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.
Creative
SELINA FILLINGER
Playwright
MARGOT BORDELON
Director
REID THOMPSON
Set Designer
IVANIA STACK
Costume Designer
MARIKA KENT
Lighting Designer
SINAN REFIK ZAFAR
Original Music and Sound Design
TOMMY KURZMAN
Wig and Hair Designer
LISA NATHANS
Dialect and Vocal Coach
OTIS RAMSEY-ZÖE
Dramaturg
JOSEPH PINZON
Casting Director
KELLY GILLESPIE, CSA
New York Casting
CHRISTI B. SPANN
Stage Manager
DAYNE SUNDMAN
Assistant Stage Manager
SELINA FILLINGER
Playwright
Selina Fillinger (Playwright) is an LA-based writer and performer. Her plays include The Collapse, Something Clean, Faceless, and The Armor Plays: Cinched/Strapped. In 2022, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive debuted on Broadway, earning three Tony Award nominations. Her plays have been developed at Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Old Globe, Alley Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and Northlight Theatre. She’s currently commissioned at South Coast Repertory and Roundabout. She was a Hawthornden Fellow and a resident of McCarter’s Sallie B. Goodman Artists’ Retreat; Something Clean is the recipient of the 2019 Laurents/Hatcher Award and Cinched/Strapped received the 2019 Williamstown Theatre Festival’s L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award. Selina wrote for the third season of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show; she’s developing a feature with Chernin Entertainment/Netflix and a pilot with Hunting Lane/Hulu.
MARGOT BORDELON
Director
Margot Bordelon (Director)’s New York credits include …what the end will be, Something Clean,and Too Heavy for Your Pocket (Roundabout); Let’s Call Her Patty and Plot Points in Our Sexual Development (LCT3); peerless (Primary Stages) and (Cherry Lane); Wives (Playwrights Horizons); Do You Feel Anger? (Vineyard); Eddie and Dave (Atlantic); The Pen (Premieres NYC); A Delicate Ship (Playwrights Realm); Still (Juilliard); Wilder Gone (Clubbed Thumb); and The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play (DODO). Regional credits include ACT Seattle, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alliance, American Theater Company, Denver Center, Geffen Playhouse, Marin Theater Company, Miami New Drama, Round House, Steppenwolf, the Wilma, and Yale Rep. Upcoming: John Proctor is the Villain (Huntington), The Lehman Trilogy (Denver Center). www.margotbordelon.com
REID THOMPSON
Set Designer
IVANIA STACK
Costume Designer
MARIKA KENT
Lighting Designer
Marika Kent (Lighting Designer) is a Brooklyn-based lighting designer. Recent/upcoming credits include Ulysses, Seagull (Elevator Repair Service); Bernarda’s Daughters (The New Group / NBT); Amani (National Black Theatre); Catch as Catch Can (Playwrights Horizons); Choir Boy, Gem of the Ocean, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Portland Center Stage); Measure for Measure (Shakespeare & Company); Generation Rise, Generation NYZ (Ping Chong and Company); Jazz Singer (Abrons Arts Center); Chimpanzee, and Fly Away (Nick Lehane). Marika teaches design at NYU's Playwrights Horizons Theater School and is a member of USA Local 829. she/her www.marikakent.com
SINAN REFIK ZAFAR
Original Music and Sound Design
TOMMY KURZMAN
Wig and Hair Designer
Tommy Kurzman (Wig and Hair Designer)’s Broadway credits include The Cottage, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Pictures From Home, The Collaboration, Macbeth, Mrs. Doubtfire, All My Sons, True West, Saint Joan, My Fair Lady, Little Foxes, Long Day’s Journey, Bright Star, and Fiddler on the Roof. Off-Broadway credits include Little Shop of Horrors-Westside Theatre, MCC, Atlantic, The New Group, The Public, MTC, and NWS. Regional credits include The Huntington, The Muny, Geva Theatre, Resident Ensemble Players, Cape Playhouse, Signature VA, and MSM. Associate Hair Designer on over 15 Broadway productions. Instagram: @tommykurzmanwigs
LISA NATHANS
Dialect and Vocal Coach
Lisa Nathans (Dialect and Vocal Coach) is an Associate Professor of Voice and Acting at University of Maryland's School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. She’s coached voices and accents for Arena Stage, Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney, Signature, Ford's, Folger, Guthrie (Minneapolis), 5th Avenue (Seattle), and Theatricum Botanicum (LA). Lisa received her MFA from Central School of Speech and Drama and BFA from Boston University. She’s a designated Linklater Voice teacher and a certified Colaianni Speech practitioner.
OTIS RAMSEY-ZÖE
Dramaturg
Otis Ramsey-Zöe (Dramaturg) is a care worker, dramaturg, director, theatre arts educator, Literary Manager at Arena Stage, and Lecturer in Dramaturgy at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He has developed new works at such institutions as Sundance Institute, Kennedy Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights Center, and National New Play Network. He has held posts in Theatre at Northeastern University, Dramaturgy at Carnegie Mellon University, Women’s Studies and Honors Humanities at University of Maryland, Performing Arts at American University, and Theatre Arts at Howard University. He was Associate Artistic Director at banished? productions, Future Classics Program Coordinator at The Classical Theatre of Harlem, Literary Manager at Center Stage, and an Allen Lee Hughes Senior Fellow at Arena Stage.
JOSEPH PINZON
Casting Director
Joseph Pinzon (Casting Director) is the founder and creative producer of the contemporary circus company Short Round Productions and its award-winning show Filament. With over 25 years of performing experience, he has worked internationally with renowned companies such as Cirque Éloize, Compagnia Finzi Pasca, Cirque du Soleil, and The 7 Fingers. He holds an MS in Arts Leadership from USC, a BA in Psychology from UCLA, and graduated from the National Circus School in Montreal with a specialization in aerial techniques. He was the casting and resident director for Chamäleon Productions (Berlin) and Constellation Immersive (CAA’s experiential affiliate). He is also a member of the Creative & Independent Producer Alliance and a founding board member of the American Circus Alliance. You can see him causing chaos on season 6 of Nailed It! on Netflix, where (spoiler alert) he is a part of the series’ first three-way tie.
KELLY GILLESPIE, CSA
New York Casting
Kelly Gillespie, CSA (New York Casting) is the Casting Director at Manhattan Theatre Club, where she has been on staff for the past fifteen years. Favorite recent MTC projects include Prayer for the French Republic, The Best We Could, Skeleton Crew, Ink, Choir Boy,and The Explorers Club. She has also cast plays for the WP Theater, The Old Globe, Two River Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, McCarter Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Marin Theatre Company, Miami New Drama, City Theatre, Merrimack Rep, The Foundry Theatre, EST, 13P, T.A.C.T., and Keen Company, as well as a few radio projects for WNYC. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
CHRISTI B. SPANN
Stage Manager
Christi B. Spann (Stage Manager) has been working as a stage manager in DC since 2011. Favorite Arena Stage productions include A Raisin in the Sun and Junk. She previously spent 12 seasons on the stage management staff at the Denver Center Theatre Company and has also worked with The Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, MN and Virginia Repertory Theatre in Richmond, VA.
DAYNE SUNDMAN
Assistant Stage Manager
Dayne Sundman (Assistant Stage Manager) is happy to be back at Arena Stage. Some favorite past shows at Arena include Angels in America: Part One, Millennium Approaches; American Prophet: Frederick Douglass in His Own Words; Catch Me If You Can; Mother Road; Newsies; Junk; The Heiress; and Anything Goes. Select other credits include Jane Anger, The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (STC); Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Sense and Sensibility (Idaho Shakespeare Festival). Baldwin Wallace University 2015.
Special Performance Notes
Weekday Matinees
Thursday, October 26, at 12 p.m.
Wednesday, November 1, at 12 p.m.
Wednesday, November 8, at 12 p.m.
Early Curtain
Sunday, November 5, at 6 p.m.
Southwest Nights
Sunday, October 29, at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 10, at 8 p.m.
Post-Show Conversations
Tuesday, October 24, at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 26, at 12 p.m.
Wednesday, November 1, at 12 p.m.
Thursday, November 2, at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, November 8, at 12 p.m.
Audio-Described Performance
Saturday, October 28, at 2 p.m.
ASL-Interpreted Performance
Saturday, November 11, at 8 p.m.
Mask-Required Performances
Sunday, October 22, at 2 p.m.
Saturday, November 4, at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, November 8, at 12 p.m.