ACT Contemporary Theatre Extends Season Opener POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE

ACT Contemporary Theatre has announced the cast and creative team for the opening show of their 2024/25 Season, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. This Tony-nominated comedy, written by Selina Fillinger and directed by Jillian Armenante, begins September 7 and and has already announced an extension to the run, now closing September 29.

POTUS presents a behind-the-scenes story of seven extraordinary women tasked with managing the unstoppable antics of the most powerful man in the world: the President of the United States. With shrewdness, physical comedy, and an abundance of four-letter words, POTUS is an outrageously funny send-up of modern American politics. 

Nationally acclaimed actor, writer, and director Jillian Armenante (Actor: The Sex Lives of College Girls; Vice; Director: Oldcastle Theatre: The Turn of the Screw; Matrix Theatre: We Are Proud to Present… ) returns to her “artistic birthplace” of Seattle to helm ACT's riotous season opener. 

“We are thrilled to bring this political farce to the stage,” said Armenante. “While the situations in POTUS are exaggerated for comedic effect, there's an underlying truth that resonates with our current political climate. Seriously, you can't make this sh*t up. It's theatre of the absurd, with real-world consequences.”

“There is no more perfect way to open ACT's 2024/25 Season than with POTUS, a hilariously profane satire that meets the current moment with razor-sharp wit and edge,” said John Langs, Artistic Director of ACT Contemporary Theatre. “We're absolutely thrilled to have the incomparable Jillian Armenante at the helm, leading an all-star Seattle cast in this must-see production.”

The Tony Award-nominated POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive plays in ACT's Falls Theatre September 7 – 29, 2024, with an opening night celebration on Thursday, September 12. A full list of events can be found below and at ACTtheatre.org. 

MEET THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

The all-local cast of POTUS features Anne Allgood (ACT: Sweat; A Christmas Carol) as Harriet; Carly Corey (Village Theatre: Cinderella) as Dusty; Gin Hammond (Book-It: Returning the Bones) as Margaret; Josephine Keefe (Seattle Shakespeare Company: Romeo & Juliet) as Jean; Cassi Q Kohl (Village Theatre: She Loves Me) as Bernadette; Annette Toutonghi (Seattle Rep: Ibsen in Chicago) as Stephanie; and Ayo Tushinde (Seattle Shakespeare Company: Henry IV; As You Like It) as Chris.

The creative team includes Jillian Armenante (Director); Julia Hayes Welch (Scenic Designer); Melanie Burgess (Costume Designer); Connie Yun (Lighting Designer); Thorn Michaels (Assistant Lighting Designer); John Gromada (Sound Designer); Jamie J. Kranz (Stage Manager); Elizabeth Stasio (Assistant Stage Manager); and Larcyn Burnett (Production Assistant).

ABOUT Jillian Armenante (Director)

Directing credits include Jeffrey Hatcher's The Turn of the Screw at Oldcastle Theatre, the Iraqi premiere of Heather Raffo's Nine Parts of Desire, the West Coast premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury's We Are Proud to Present... at the Matrix Theatre, as well as the World Premiere of Jeff Goode's Love Loves a Pornographer at Circle X. She produced, directed and co-wrote Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog and In Flagrante Gothicto at Circle X. Armenante produced/directed the feature comedy Stuck with Heather Matarazzo and Joel McHale and The List by Kelleen Conway Blanchard, starring Saffron Burrows. She executive produced/directed the original series Kittens in a Cage based on the play by Kelleen Conway Blanchard. Acting: film- Vice, The Dark Knight Rises, Bad Teacher, and Girl, Interrupted. TV- Physical, Sex Lives of College Girls, Better Call Saul, Shameless, West Wing, and Judging Amy. Theatre- Cider House Rules at Seattle Rep, Mark Taper Forum, and Atlantic Theatre. Jillian spent the formative years 1986-95 trodding the boards in Seattle, which she considers her artistic birthplace and is very happy to be back.

ABOUT Selina Fillinger (Playwright)

Selina Fillinger is an award-winning, internationally produced writer and performer. Her feminist farce, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, garnered three Tony nominations and made Fillinger, at 28, one of the youngest female playwrights ever produced on Broadway. Other plays include Baby, Under the Sill, The Collapse, Something Clean, Faceless, and The Armor Plays: Cinched/Strapped. Her work has been developed at Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre, Old Globe Theatre, and Alley Theatre, among others. She is currently commissioned at Roundabout and South Coast Repertory. She has developed TV with AMC, Freeform, Hunting Lane, and Hulu, and a feature with Chernin/Netflix. She wrote for the third season of Apple TV's The Morning Show. Fillinger was named to the 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Hollywood/Entertainment.

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