Auditions: POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive, by Selina Fillinger

Auditions for POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, by Selina Fillinger

A full-length play in two acts

The Footlight Club (America’s Oldest Community Theater)

Director: Maryann Zschau

Producer: Elizabeth Bean

Performances

Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm: September 13, 19, 20, 26, 27
Matinees Sundays at 2pm: September 14, 21 & Saturday September 20
The Footlight Club is committed to diversity and inclusion. As such, we encourage performers of all races and ethnicities, gender identities, sexualities, and abilities to audition.

AUDITIONS WILL BE BY APPOINTMENT – Preliminary auditions will be held on Monday, June 23 and Wednesday, June 25 at 7PM.  Please use this sign-up genius link to arrange an audition slot.  Women will be asked to sign up in groups of 6 in 30 minute slots.

Location: Auditions will be held at The Footlight Club (Eliot Hall), 7A Eliot St, Jamaica Plain, MA in the Parker Room.

Callbacks: will be held at The Footlight Club Theater on Thursday, June 26th at 7PM, and readings will be from the script.

Rehearsals: will begin the week of July 7 and run 3 times weekly  through September 4.

Rehearsals: will be held on Sunday, Tuesday and either Wednesday or Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 9:30.  The Wednesday or Thursday rehearsal night will be determined by cast availability.

Tech Week: starts September 7, 2025 and all actors will be expected to attend rehearsals every night of tech week.

Conflicts:

Actors will be asked to list those conflicts on our audition form.  A great number of conflicts, or conflicts with performances will affect casting decisions.

Key Dates (Conflicts not permitted):

Tech Week: September 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 (Tech Week) 7-11pm

All Production Dates :

Evening shows: Fridays and Saturdays: September 13, 19, 20, 26, 27 at 8PM

Matinees: Sunday September 14 & 21, Saturday September 20 at 2PM

Strike:  Saturday October 4, 2025*
*Please Note: Strike is delayed due to a building-wide event the weekend of closing, September 27-28.

Note: we open on Saturday September 13, not a Friday opening night.

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS: 

As this is a complicated play, we strongly suggest you read the entire play before auditioning. Auditioners will be emailed a few short monologues upon signing up for an audition slot, and we ask that you prepare two (2) of these short monologues for auditions. It is not necessary to memorize the monologues for auditions. At the audition you will be asked to perform one, and we may ask for the second.

Please bring your headshot and resume.  Audition and Conflict forms will be emailed out the week prior and/or can be filled out at the Footlight Club.  Please plan to arrive 15 minutes prior to your audition time if you have not filled out the forms in advance.

SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY:

One four-letter word is about to rock 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When the President unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis, the seven brilliant and beleaguered women he relies upon most risk life, liberty, and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble.

Selina Fillinger’s brilliant, all-female farce took Broadway by storm in a star-studded production that earned three 2022 Tony nominations.

THE CHARACTERS: 

Warning: This play is not for the faint of heart. There is physical comedy, violence, and intimacy, lots of swearing, crass language, drug use, and stage blood.  All in a typical day at the White House.

Characters – In order of emotional proximity to POTUS (closest to furthest).

HARRIET – Late 40s-60s – Any ethnicity. Chief of Staff. A political bulldog who has chosen every aspect of her life, appearance, and personality in service of her career. A sexless, humorless woman who lives and dies by the polls. Everything is a means to the end.

JEAN – Late 40s-60s – Any ethnicity. Press Secretary. A hawk in a turtleneck. High-strung, quick-witted, can handle any pressroom and sterilize any scandal. A single working mom. Harriet’s more polished and more tactful counterpart. Think CJ from The West Wing, but with more cynicism and paranoia.

STEPHANIE – 30s-40s – Any ethnicity. Presidential secretary. An obedient and diminutive millennial, terrified of failure and perpetually on the edge of breakdown. Deeply brilliant, just suffers imposter syndrome. So much potential just waiting to be set free. Does spend time on stage in rather unflattering underwear.

DUSTY – 20s-30s  Any ethnicity. President’s dalliance. A glowing, curious, sex-positive girl with a multitude of skills and a bright future. Loves civic duty! Loves democracy! Determined to make the world better! Wears underwear or scantily clad outfit in a few scenes, dances.

BERNADETTE – Late 30s-50s – WHITE. President’s sister. A dumpster fire. Strife and mayhem. A coked-up tornado with raw sexual charisma, fiery temper, and fantastic sense of humor. Jean’s kryptonite. A charismatic felon with masculine Lesbian energy.

CHRIS – Late 20s-30s – BLACK. A journalist. Overburdened, under-slept, postpartum, newly-divorced, on the brink of irrelevancy. A dogged reporter with much to gain and everything to lose. Wears breast pumps and actively pumps during the show.  Single mom energy.

MARGARET – Late 40s-60s – BLACK.  His wife. The First Lady. An impeccable combination of high fashion, corporate experience, and legal savvy. Regal, sophisticated, brimming with bitterness and pent-up rage. Goes for the jugular. Considers herself an example of Black elegance.