Who knew that when Selina Fillinger wrote POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive in 2022, it would remain relevant. Yet here we are, two years later, and the satire still lands – perhaps more so now.

Lightning Jar Theatre’s production at fortyfivedownstairs revives the Broadway hit – delivering a brash, impeccably timed feminist farce that skewers political absurdity while celebrating(?) the formidable women forced to clean up the mess.

You can usually count on set designer Sophie Woodward (Topdog/Underdog; Death of a Salesman) to produce something dynamic, and she delivers here with billowing chiffon curtains that the actors manipulate to establish the winding corridors of the White House, bathroom stalls and storage cupboards. It’s a clever staging that reinforces POTUS’ central thesis: these women aren’t just running the country; they’re quite literally holding it together with their bare hands.

Candy Bowers in POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Photo © James Reiser

The play begins with a political faux pas – or just another day in the White House. POTUS refers to the First Lady, played...