Coachella Valley Repertory presents the local premiere of the Broadway comedy 'POTUS'

Imagine you're a staff member in a high-level organization whose president has just triggered an unimaginable scandal. Now imagine that the president is also the leader of the free world. How do you avert a global crisis?

That’s the scenario of “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” the comedy by Selina Fillinger having its local premiere at Coachella Valley Repertory. The play, which contains mature themes and very strong language, received two Drama League Award nominations (including Outstanding Production of a Play) and three Tony Award nominations.

A scenario not unique to politics

A veteran of eight Broadway shows and national tours, Courtney Young had been working in New York as a performer, associate director and choreographer when Adam Karsten, then the managing artistic director of a theater in Ohio, invited her to make her directing debut with a production of “Singin’ in the Rain.”

Adam Karsten is now the executive artistic director of CV Rep, and Young is directing the theater's latest show, “POTUS.”

Young noted that, while the play takes place in the context of the White House and the people who serve the president, it’s about much more.

“[Playwright] Selina Fillinger happened to set it at the White House because it is ripe for comedy,” said Young. “But it's not unique to politics.”

She observed that “It is about these strong, powerful women being challenged and coming together to solve this problem in support of a man.”

She added, “My guess is this situation takes place everywhere. It takes place at the White House. It takes place in theaters. It takes place in hospitals. It takes place in law firms. It takes place in academia. All over the world, this is happening.”

As rehearsals began, Young and the cast “spent a day doing ensemble building work and having conversations about what it is to be a woman in our society, what it is to be a woman supporting a man, when we felt supported by women, when we were able to support other women.”

That experience, she added, led to “a comfort level of familiarity and a trust.”

Enabling the leader of the free world

Julie Cardia plays the beleaguered White House Chief of Staff, part of a team of what Cardia calls “brilliant” and “ambitious” women.

The cast includes Tamika Katon Donegal (the White House reporter), Cas Koenig (the President’s sister), Emily Nash (the President’s secretary), Shannon Mary Dixon (the President’s mistress), Michelle Liu Coughlin (the press secretary) and Marlo Denise Stroud (the First Lady).

In exploring the play, Cardia has thought about the pressures faced by the people in those real-life roles.

“I imagine that so many things that go on are never reported, never seen, never heard,” she said.

She thinks about “the stress, the overwork, the enabling that they have to do," and she added that the play has also made her think about the job of the president.

“It's not one man. It's so many other people,” she said.“No one can do one thing alone, it takes so many people to hold another person up in any job in any format. For us to think that one person is in charge of all of these things is kind of ridiculous in itself.”

Thinking about those who actually serve government, she observed, “When we are in service to our country, we have to be in service to our country. We can't be in service to the people that are running it. Because we took an oath.”

In the rooms where it happens

Scenic Designer Jimmy Cuomo has been with CV Rep almost since its inception. He estimates he's worked on nearly 50 productions at the theater.

In addition to his theater work, from Palm Springs to Broadway, Cuomo also has impressive credits as a television production designer for hundreds of episodes of scores of comedies, game shows, talk shows, children’s shows and more. He has received multiple Daytime Emmy nominations plus a Primetime Emmy nomination for the art direction of “Pee Wee’s Christmas Special.”

For this show, he will be bringing an iconic setting — the White House — to life. It's a setting he has experience with, because he was a designer for the TV sitcom “The First Family.”

“I did a lot of research because we’d create things that were an actual part of the White House,” he said.

This design is different, never venturing into the Oval Office.

“It's sort of the White House with a wink of the eye because it mostly takes place in rooms that you don't usually see,” he said. “Because it's the Secretary of State's office and it's a press room and it's a hallway. It's a lot of hallway scenes.”

Cuomo praised Adam Karsten for focusing on technical enhancements at the theater — from the projection system to screens to sound.

“I love the way that Adam has taken us further to do things bigger,” he said.

Cuomo works closely with the director of each show to ensure that the scenic design supports the production.

“I don't think it should pull attention to itself,” Cuomo said. “It's meant to complement the show and help the audience understand the show.”

For this production, he said, “The trick is to try to be as accurate as possible but still make it fun, because it's a farce.”

Working and laughing together

Does “POTUS” offer lessons for today’s world?

Director Courtney Young noted, “At the beginning of this play, these women are their own islands and aren't kind to each other. And what they realize is that they've got to work together and they have to support each other in order to solve this problem. And that's a great lesson for all of us to hear again, whether you're putting that in the context of women or just human beings.”

Julie Cardia hopes audiences come to POTUS and find “a safe space to just laugh about our world.”

She added, “We all need that today.”

If you go

What: "POTUS" at Coachella Valley Repertory

When: Feb. 28 through March 17 (check website for specific times)

Where: Coachella Valley Repertory, 68-510 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Cathedral City

Cost: $59 (Feb. 28 previews only), $77, $87

More info: cvrep.org

Barbara Kerr is an award-winning writer and journalist with a passion for stories about people, the arts and special events. Inducted into the Dayton (Ohio) Area Broadcasters Hall of Fame, she is a past chair of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) College of Fellows.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: CV Rep presents the Palm Springs area premiere of Broadway's 'POTUS'