Bunny Schaaf | staff writer |

Never before have seven of the President’s right-hand women almost accidentally assassinated him in an effort to protect him, before subsequently declaring a revolution.

That was until ‘POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great [Expletive] Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,’ written by Selina Fillinger, and currently running at the City Theatre Company through Oct. 13 as part of their 50th season lineup.

‘POTUS’ revolves around seven women — surprise, surprise — surrounding the beloved executive in different positions of emotional dependence. Some play heroes, some villains, some air-headed mistresses, but most importantly, they all play a role in “keeping the president presidential,” according to City Theatre’s website.

A feminist satire, the show relies on the unnamed, unshown president and the share of mishaps both the seven women and the off-stage exec stumble into.

The most stand-out roles are that of chief of staff and primary protagonist Harriet (Tami Dixon) and Dusty (Lara Hayhurst), the ditzy, blue-mouthed mistress to the head of state.

They are polar opposites of one another, but both feel like driving forces behind the play’s progression and are portrayed with humor and depth by Dixon and Hayhurst.

This is not to say the other actors don’t carry their weight — they absolutely do. They’re all hilarious, emotive and have great chemistry on the stage. However, the play itself isn’t as impressive.

The first fire to put out by our gaggle of White House inhabitants is the blowback from the president referring to his wife, Margaret (Tamara Tunie), with vulgar language to explain her absence (when, really, she wasn’t absent at all). This quickly snowballs into a variety of very presidential issues, which includes a minor surgery, a room full of 200 angry feminists, unplanned pregnancy and a pretty bad head injury.

What had potential to be a very witty commentary on the state of, well, the state, and women in politics, ended up being a funny feminist fairytale. There’s definitely a place for that and the play is still enjoyable and lighthearted, but it doesn’t do so in good taste considering the upcoming election.

Art and politics are both nuanced, and when they’re put together there’s a necessity for refinement, assumption of contextual knowledge by the audience and premise. ‘POTUS’ lacks nuance and doesn’t give the audience the benefit of the doubt.

The premise is definitely there. It’s so there, in fact, that it’s almost all there is and it’s even in the title — seven women from different backgrounds have to keep the president from imploding his dignity, while he gets all the credit.

However, there is an unsatisfying level of actual message or commentary. Yes, men and the president as a concept benefit from the labor and care of so many women who will never be seen on stage, but there’s nothing else.

For instance, Harriet dreams of being president or vice president one day. This is mentioned only once the second act begins, and is used more for a quick character arc than other purposes.

Especially considering the potential for the first female president on the horizon, there was a lot that could’ve been done here — any notion that Harriet was actually going to go for it, use her position to her advantage, even some half-baked joke about how the president has always been a man.

With the case of Chris (Saige Smith) and Jean (Amelia Pedlow), both single mothers who work endlessly to move up the ladder and manage press conferences respectively, there’s barely any discussion or subtlety of motherhood and the workforce or the position of women in the press.

Besides the breast pumps Chris carries around and her yelling at a male journalist gunning for her spot, it devolves into her lying about being in a lesbian polycule with Bernadette (Missy Moreno) and Stephanie (Theo Allyn) just to prove a point of some kind.

Although charming in some capacity and entertaining enough, ‘POTUS’ doesn’t fulfill the role it seems to be claiming. There is a sense of feminine unity and female rage, but not any real political weight.

The president in this case could be replaced with a male board of directors or a male celebrity and it would be almost the same, give or take some decent but vague political jokes.

A vulgar, kind-of-empowering, kind-of-hilarious play set in the White House and led by women alone is a good time and worth the 2 hour and 15 minute watch, but unfortunately it does not hit the mark as a feminist commentary and should not claim as such.