Kim Blanck, Stephanie Styles, Deirdre Lovejoy & More to Star in POTUS at Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Kicking off its 2023/24 season, Berkeley Repertory Theatre will present Selina Fillinger’s gleefully feminist satire, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Directed by Annie Tippe (Octet at Berkeley Rep and Off-Broadway), POTUSperforms at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre (2015 Addison St., Berkeley) September 16–October 22, 2023. Press night will be held on Wednesday, September 20, 2023.Single tickets ($45–$134) are on sale now and can be purchased online at berkeleyrep.org/shows/potus/ or by phone at 510-647-2949 (Tue–Sun, 12–7 p.m.). Season subscriptions are also available with ticket prices beginning at $31 per ticket. Ticket prices are subject to change without notice.

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. (Any resemblance to past White House shenanigans is purely coincidental.) Entertainment Weekly says of POTUS, “The likelihood that you will laugh until your face hurts is one of near certainty.”

“It’s hard to imagine in these factious times that a play could exist that would allow us to laugh at the follies of our system of government. Thank goodness Selina Fillinger has the wit, wisdom, rage, and sense of absurdity to manifest this,” said Berkeley Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer. “Annie Tippe, who conjured such an exquisite world for our production of Dave Malloy’s brilliant Octet last season, has brought together an amazing group of actors and designers for POTUS, and I have no doubt it will be just the tonic we all need.”

“I am thrilled to see my work produced at Berkeley Rep, in the city where I was born and where my family continues to have deep roots,” said Fillinger. “I am proud to be from the Bay Area, with its rich history of resistance and movement-building; I hope my play brings joy and stirs action within this community that has given me so much.”

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to return to Berkeley Rep a year after our run of Octet,” said Tippe. “Berkeley is the perfect place to bring Selina’s POTUS to a new audience, and I am a little embarrassed by the wealth of talent we’ve assembled with this brutally funny and intelligent cast.”

The cast for POTUS includes (in alphabetical order) Kim Blanck (Jean – His Press Secretary), Allison Guinn (Bernadette – His Sister), Stephanie Pope Lofgren (Margaret – His Wife, The First Lady), Deirdre Lovejoy (Harriet – His Chief of Staff), Susan Lynskey (Stephanie – His Secretary), Stephanie Styles (Dusty – His Dalliance), and Dominique Ariel Toney (Chris – A Journalist).

The creative team for POTUS includes Annie Tippe (Director), Andrew Boyce(Scenic Design), Haydee Zelideth (Costume Design), Yi Zhao (Lighting Design), Palmer Hefferan (Sound Design), Dave Maier (Fight Consultant), and Chelsea Pace (Intimacy Consultant).

Berkeley Rep recognizes the generous support of BART and Peet’s Coffee, Berkeley Rep’s official season sponsors. Berkeley Rep is also delighted to recognize the support at the season sponsor level from Stephen and Susan Chamberlin, Bruce Golden and Michelle Mercer, Frances Hellman and Warren Breslau, Wayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney, Gisele and Kenneth F. Miller, Jack & Betty Schafer, The Strauch Kulhanjian Family, and Gail and Arne Wagner.

ABOUT BERKELEY REP

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a storefront stage to an international leader in innovative theatre. Known for its ambition, relevance, and excellence, as well as its adventurous audience, the nonprofit has provided a welcoming home for emerging and established artists since 1968. Over 5.5 million people have enjoyed nearly 500 shows at Berkeley Rep, which have gone on to win six Tony Awards, seven Obie Awards, nine Drama Desk Awards, one Grammy Award, one Pulitzer Prize, and many other honors. Berkeley Rep received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. To formalize, enhance, and expand the processes by which Berkeley Rep makes theatre, The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work was launched in 2012. The Berkeley Rep School of Theatre engages and educates some 20,000 people a year and helps build the audiences of tomorrow with its nationally recognized teen programs. Berkeley Rep’s bustling facilities — which also include the 400-seat Peet’s Theatre, the 600-seat Roda Theatre, and a spacious campus in West Berkeley — are helping revitalize a renowned city. Learn more at berkeleyrep.org.

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