Photo courtesy of Barb Hayes (https://windhoundphotography.com/)

Arriving at Generic Theater for their show “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive”, we were swiftly and safely escorted to our seats by a swarm of secret service agents.  This group of suit and sunglass-wearing stage hands matched this measure of efficiency throughout the evening with set changes that became part of the show – a really smart move by director Kathy Strouse to keep the audience engaged and the momentum of the show flowing from scene to scene.  Having been delivered to our seats, we were able to take in the full scope of the set, an impressive design by Sandra Epperson, with what appears to be a large hand-painted presidential seal on the floor, with a piece-meal set on wheels perfect for quick changes and immediately recognizable to those of us who watched every season of “The West Wing”.

And the fast-moving dialogue really reminded us of that show, but, as if it was written by the writers of “South Park”, while making a feminist statement about how the women around the president are the ones who do (and sometimes mess up, to hilarious effect) the real work of the office of the president.  The show kicks off with the sort of problem we imagine happens every day in the White House – the President making some off-hand remark that he (yes, he) really shouldn’t have – in this case, he used a particular unflattering word to describe his wife; a word which is accepted slang in Australia but really should never be uttered in America.  Now the press secretary Jean (played by Cristina Rose) and chief of staff Harriet (Elizabeth Dickerson, doing her best proud general stance) have to try to spin and cycle this comment out of the news as quickly as possible.  Feels like small stakes… right until it spirals unexpectedly into a foreign policy problem. 

And the issues just heighten from there… sort of like how the stakes get raised at every commercial break when you watch the movie “Armageddon” on TV.  Elle White is fantastic in the role of Margaret, the First Lady, confidently listing her accomplishments at Harvard and Yale, and then pivoting to passionately (and uncomfortably graphically) describe the joys of hunting, as she gives an interview to White House reporter Chris.  Chris is played by Briana Creque, trying to say ahead of her male coworkers who don’t have children, breast-feeding, and babysitters to balance against their careers, and is generally the “straight-person” of the show, allowing the hi-jinx of the presidential staff to shine even brighter, while also delivering some memorable one-liners of her own. 

As if this day needed any more problems, personal drama also shows up in the forms of Dusty and Bernadette.  Bernadette is the president’s ne’er-do-well sister, who evidently the president is considering pardoning from her international drug-dealing convictions.  In that role is the talented Christina Wiley, who does a convincing job as a character so hated by First Lady Margaret that her first reaction is to bemoan “all the holidays we would have to spend with her if she got out.”  And Dusty, the confident but not wise-to-the-world young Iowan who shows up in a flowery sundress looking for the President, blue raspberry Icee in hand, is neatly handled by Cheyenne Walters, with a bouncy attitude and a smile to match.

Our seventh different version of female empowerment on display is the timid-but-working-on-it presidential secretary Stephanie, played by Reicse Owen.  Owen’s funny take on practicing her power poses and constantly worrying about the status of her job is relatable, and her being stuck carrying around an inner tube for the whole second half of the show on behalf of her male boss is a physical reminder of the ridiculousness happening around her.   

As we proceed into the second act, everything devolves further during a rapid fire montage of comedic scenes, well put-together by Strouse and supported by subtle but effective use of lighting by designer Mike Hallberg, who changes things ever so slightly to put us in a hallway versus a press room versus an office.  Strouse’s placement of the audience, giving us theater-in-the-almost-round, adds a sense of urgency and emphasizes the inability of the characters to escape the problems that have been created for them (both indirectly by society and directly by their personal contacts) and those they’ve created for themselves.  It also means that there is nowhere to hide on stage – something the cast embraces by constantly being in character and adding little things you might only notice if your eyes wander away from the action for a second (Cristina Rose, in particular, is a master of this – there is a moment where they are casually attempting to wipe some suspicious white powder off a desk in the background of a scene that had me laughing out loud). 

You may come to this show for the hilarity and constant clever name-calling, delivered unexpectedly well by the entire cast but especially Dickerson and White, with my personal favorite put-down being “you soggy saltine of a human”.  But you will stay for the feminist message set against the farcical politics and plotline.  “POTUS…” asks us why it is that these women are only allowed to run the country behind the façade of a man – “that’s the eternal question, isn’t it?” – and challenges us to do better.  Let’s meet that challenge head-on – I can’t imagine a better legacy to leave.

We are new to the Hampton Roads community theater scene, and yet, we could certainly feel the extra gravity of the moment as we left Generic Theater’s current residence under Chrysler Hall for likely the final time, taking a second to imprint upon our memories the hall with the posters of all the old shows and the comedy and tragedy masks mural just outside.  And yet, we are filled with pride and excitement, knowing that this little-theater-that-could is not folding, but moving onto a new residence, with new challenges and opportunities.  As they say – “the show must go on” – and we can’t wait to check out the new digs this summer!  So congrats to Generic on your new site – and good luck with the move.