Meet Selina Fillinger, the Young Playwright Behind Three of This Year’s Tony Nominations
Selina Fillinger never wanted to meet the titular character of her Tony-nominated Broadway play “POTUS.”
“I never wanted to see him; I never wanted to write him. He wasn’t interesting to me,” says the 28-year-old playwright of her decision to keep the president of “POTUS” offstage, his presence implied through closed doors. “But I am fascinated at the ways in which we uphold patriarchy even when a man’s body is not in the room.”
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“POTUS” premiered on Broadway this spring as an original production with an all-female ensemble cast that includes Vanessa Williams, Rachel Dratch, Lea DeLaria, Lilli Cooper, and Julie White. White and Dratch both received best featured actress Tony nominations for their portrayals, along with set designer Beowulf Boritt.
“They’re absolutely amazing in it,” says Fillinger of the Tony nods. “Because comedy is such a joy to watch for the audience, often people don’t realize how hard it is to do. Our entire cast is working so hard; it is an incredibly technically challenging play. It is athletic, it’s physical. It requires immense acting chops, and timing, and they do it over and over and over again. And so I’m so thrilled that they are getting recognition for their incredible work,” she adds. “I mean, there’s things that Rachel [Dratch] does in the second act, it’s like your soul leaves your body watching her.”
Photo by ©Paul Kolnik
The play, a farce, is set within a fictional White House as the female characters work in support of the male head of state. The idea for “POTUS” (full title: “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive”) began percolating for Fillinger shortly before Donald Trump’s election.
“I was really fascinated by all the women around his campaigns,” she says. “They were in this loop of headlines about powerful men abusing their power. And I was really fascinated by the women in their orbit, who keep these guys going day after day.”
Photo by ©Paul Kolnik
“POTUS” made its premiere without an off-Broadway run with the support of producer Greg Nobile, who’d seen a production of the Fillinger’s play “Something Clean” at the Roundabout Underground, a forum for emerging theater artists. Nobile brought director Susan Stroman onboard; the team began discussions about the production before the pandemic, which initially derailed plans.
“It was a long runway and then when it hit, it hit fast,” says Fillinger of bringing the play to Broadway audiences. “We were all excited about the idea of something that was truly an intergenerational dialogue between women and a merging of genres.”
Following the play’s opening in late April, Fillinger headed to L.A. where she’s currently working in the writers room for the next season of Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show.” While reluctant to name themes and throughlines in her personal work, she does nod toward an interest in interrogating power structures.
“I see the world in terms of sexual politics; I see the world in terms of the ways in which capitalism divides us,” she says, adding that her focus is on finding unusual and interesting stories to tell in surprising ways. Future possible projects after wrapping work on the series includes a collection of essays, and a one-woman show that she’d want to act in herself.
“I’m a very curious person, and I want to explore the world. And my way to explore the world is through writing,” she adds. “I’m always trying to do something that I’ve never done before. And if a project really scares me before I sit down to do it, then I know that it’s going to intellectually sustain me for the duration that it has to.”
Courtesy of Orrin Anderson
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