I wrote this piece about GNV September theater premiers for The Sun.
Dusty is the pregnant mistress with an embarrassing “blue raz” slushy problem.
Reporter Chris may just be onto the story of a lifetime. But first she’s gotta pump some breast milk and check in with the sitter.
Not to forget Stephanie, the painfully shy but delightfully high secretary. Or Bernadette, who has a little felony problem and would dearly love to beg her brother’s pardon.
And don’t even get me started on Harriet, the blindsided chief of staff, Jean, the press secretary grappling with The Mother Of All PR crises, and Margaret, the First Lady trying to salvage her dignity after being called a vile name in public by her beloved Dufas In Chief.
On Sept. 8 the Hippodrome will open its 51st season with “POTUS” or “Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive.” The play, which will run through Oct. 1, is the Hipp’s latest collaboration with UF’s School of Theater + Dance.
“POTUS” is one of three plays opening this month.
On Sept. 7 through the 17th, the Star Center Theater will present “Ruthless: The Musical.” A comedy about a talented 7-year old girl, and her wannabe stage mother, who throw both scruples and caution to the wind in an all-out effort to nail down the lead role in her school’s play.
And from Sept. 23-Oct. 8 the Gainesville Community Playhouse will present Arthur Miller’s gripping drama “The Crucible,” a retelling of the Salem witch trails and of the hysteria that grips a small New England village after several teenage girls are accused of dabbling in sorcery.
At the Hipp, Selina Fillinger’s all-women political farce (is it redundant to use the words political and farce in the same sentence?) takes on a seemingly impossible challenge.
To wit: In a pre-election year in which the real POTAS is routinely portrayed by critics as a doddering old codger while his chief opponent racks up one felony charge after another and the rest of the pack looks increasingly like Disney’s seven dwarves – is it even possible anymore for political fiction to be stranger than the Godawful truth?
We shall see.
This year, of all years, “how could we not do a play that is focused on the women” behind the President “juggling all the balls and keeping all the plates in the air just to keep things going” after POTUS screws things up beyond all recognition? This from Hipp Artistic Director Stephanie Lynge.
“We never see any of the men who are the instigators of all the chaos. This is about the women and the choices they make. It is a feminist farce.”
In “POTUS” the crisis of the moment is touched off after the, um, Great Dumbass has an epic slip of the tongue at a routine public appearance and calls his wife a name that this family newspaper certainly would not print.
As Margaret fumes and Jean and Harriet scurry to do damage control, further complications arise in the form of the First Sister frantic to get a presidential pardon, the abrupt appearance of the First Mistress, a news hound fresh off maternity leave and a secretary possessed of an inferiority complex.
Paulina Machado, is the UF junior who plays Stephanie, the presidential secretary. “I feel like I resonate deeply with her,” she said. “This young woman who is constantly trying to be strong but is insecure around all these strong women. It’s kind of fun to see her grow, even though she is high through most of the play.”
Playing pregnant Dusty is actually the subject of UF Senior Sophia Paige’s senior thesis. “I love it that you can so easily underestimate her,” she said “But she is so smart, right on par with the rest of the women. She comes in with a slushy and lives her life, but she’s incredible.”
Aneisa Hicks is a professional actor from Chicago who came to Gainesville to play reporter Chris. “I was drawn to her because in my professional life I tend to get cast in more serious roles,” she said. “It’s like ‘universe, can I please get a comedy?’ She created a story by accident, she’s flying by the seat of her pants and she’s wearing a lot of different hats, one of which happens to be mom.”
Michelle Bellaver’s Bernadette, “is the agent of mayhem in this show who creates the most chaos. She’s an international drug dealer wanted in three countries. It’s always interesting playing a character whose outlook on life is completely different from your own.
Seriously, with this gang of presidential enablers, what could possibly go wrong?
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