An Interview with the Co-directors of POTUS Among Us: Beyond Belief
WIT’s election satire POTUS Among Us triumphantly returns for its fifth installment on Sept. 27, marking the 20th anniversary of the quadrennial show. For this year’s edition, entitled POTUS Among Us: Beyond Belief, directors John Carroll and Meghan Faulkner explore how lies, rumors, and misinformation can originate and influence the outcomes of an election.
POTUS Among Us: Beyond Belief features a cast of fictional candidates whose respective platforms are based on audience members’ suggestions. The show includes a moderated debate during which they must defend their newly-assigned (and generally ridiculous) policy positions, while fending-off rumors and false accusations lobbed by their opponents and members of the audience.
Carroll and Faulkner talked to WIT about the how the format of their show evolved and why they think the topic of misinformation makes for a timely (and very funny) show. POTUS Among Us: Beyond Belief opens Sept. 27. The show runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM through Nov. 2.
What made you choose “Beyond Belief” for the 2024 edition’s theme?
John Carroll: When we were brainstorming titles, we were trying to find something that captured the themes of the show. What does truth mean in politics today? How can we find it when rumors and gossip are so much more interesting to most people? Everything we came up with felt a bit too on the nose, but Beyond Belief was the one title that I think captured how outrageous and big the characters in this show feel. I don’t think you’d see any of them in the 2024 election, but with the way things are trending, 2034 wouldn’t seem that far-fetched. Beyond Belief captures that feeling — that this is all quite fun and silly, but also not out of the realm of possibility in the future.
Meghan Faulkner: In addition to what John said, the alliteration was also a plus! But really, it captured a lot of what we’re trying to examine in the show: how do rumors get started and spread? And also–can you believe these outrageous characters? It captures what we’d like people to feel when they leave this show–that they can’t believe what they just saw.
POTUS has a reputation for being very audience-immersive (even by improv standards). What can you tell us about how those watching the shows will be encouraged to participate?
John: I think something that was very important to us in creating this edition of POTUS Among Us was to have our incredible cast create characters on the spot. And so as our audience enters the theater, they will be “canvassed” by a member of our cast and asked some questions about what things would be like if they were running for President. And in turn, we are going to take those answers and use them to generate prompts that will inspire characters. Eight people will see a bit of themselves up there on stage each night, but probably have no idea the wild and fun places our cast will take these characters.
Meghan: In addition to the audience interaction before the show, there will also be key moments throughout the show for audiences to interact and influence the direction of the show. We have several different ticket levels that allow you to order attack ads on particular candidates, or be a part of the Iowa caucus in the first act, if you’d like. There’s also a townhall section where anyone in the audience will have an opportunity to ask the candidates questions. The whole audience will also get to vote at several points throughout the show, including to determine the ultimate winner. While audience members don’t need to participate beyond voting, there will also be plenty of opportunities to get involved if they want!
In a city saturated with politics, have you been at all worried that people will have had enough campaign-related info during the day that they might not want to watch a political satire on the weekend?
John: I think that is a concern I had in taking on this project, but having watched the show in rehearsal every week this summer, I can tell you that any political weariness will not prevent you from enjoying this show. You’ll find it quite the relief from real world politics, because you’re going to sit in a theater for 90 minutes, laugh your butt off, and not hear the words Trump, Biden, Harris, Democrat or Republican once.
Meghan: I’ve definitely been asked by friends if directing the show has felt too intense during a presidential election–but it’s actually been a great antidote to focusing on the news and politics. Yes, you’re going to see candidates who are running for president, but the similarities with the real election end there. They’ll be larger than life and hilarious and entertaining in a way that takes you out of the real world entirely.
Now that you’ve been working with the cast for several weeks, what has surprised you the most?
John: I expected the work of putting this show together to be much more difficult than it has been. A conversation I recall having with Meghan after our first rehearsal was, “OK, that was incredibly funny. We are starting from a place of strength.” And that’s not to say we haven’t hit road bumps — after all, we are creating a format from scratch, trying to honor past POTUS shows while creating something unique to itself. But our cast has an incredible knack for landing on the same page as us. We tend to start our notes by asking the cast how they felt within the show, and they inevitably voice most of the things we wanted to talk about. That makes our work so much easier.
Meghan: Like John said, I think we’ve really found ourselves on the same page as the cast throughout this process, which has been a great surprise that has made the process easier. I’ve been particularly surprised by how fun the process of developing the format has been–it’s been bumpy at times, and John and I have had a lot of conversations about little tweaks or wholesale changes to things we initially thought would work well, but building a new format has been both challenging and really fun. Also, I knew our cast was great but I’m always impressed by their creativity and the directions their characters take!
As a presidential election campaign satire, POTUS Among Us only rolls around every four years. What about this experience is different than other WIT productions you’ve been a part of?
John: While the show doesn’t feature any real-world politicians or people, it’s very much inspired by what’s happening in politics and campaigns today. And so you have to be plugged into a culture in a way that you don’t have to be in other forms of improv. It can be incredibly fun to see an improviser fumble their way through a politics scene in a traditional ensemble set. But when you have a particular thematic focus, I think you have to be as savvy as your audience, because you’re going to attract people who know what you’re satirizing. I think that’s why POTUS is always a hit every four years — we’re staging the show in the right place at the right time.
Meghan: As John said, it definitely feels more topical than most WIT productions. Many people in the cast have a background in politics, media and adjacent fields that really shows up in parts of the show–even as we’re in a satirized universe, some of the elements and tropes in a real political campaign show up in the show and need to feel authentic in a way that’s not true in most improv shows.
Meghan, you were an ANC Commissioner in Adams Morgan until last year. How has that experience informed your role as co-director of this show?
Meghan: I think that experience was part of what inspired me to pitch this show idea in the first place! I loved my time as an ANC Commissioner, but I also saw firsthand how rumors could spread and grow. I was asked many times by constituents who had heard this rumor about a park or that rumor about a new business (often with some truth mixed in with total speculation). Or people would share things on the neighborhood listserv that were said at our meetings or about planned agenda items–not always exactly accurately! So some of the elements of the show that incorporate gossip, rumors, or games of telephone are definitely inspired by that experience.
John, you were a cast member of POTUS Among Us in 2016. What are your feelings towards it as a co-Director? What lessons/ideas are you carrying forward from that past experience?
John: I loved my time in 2016 POTUS. While I had participated in ensembles to that point, I had never embarked on a project like that with a specific theme, deadlines, and a to-be-determined format. Working with Mark Chalfant and Melanie Harker (who co-directed that edition of the show) was incredibly helpful. What I remember most about working with them was not just how insightful they were, but how they were not precious about any one idea, no matter whose it was. They were willing to put any idea up on its legs to see if it could stand on its own.
Another vivid memory I have of that show is getting to our tech rehearsal and finding that a key stage element simply didn’t work. And it was the physical centerpiece of the show. I remember standing there and thinking of all the bad things that could happen because of it, like delaying or canceling the show. And then I remember seeing Mark, who was both furious that something this key had gone wrong but also singularly focused on finding a solution as soon as possible. And he did. And the solution was not as fun or sexy, but it got the job done and I don’t think one audience member ever suspected that something so crucial had gone wrong. And so that’s a big lesson for a show as specific and timely as this one: the curtain will open on time, and the show must go on. Act accordingly.
POTUS Among Us runs Sept. 27 – Nov. 2. Tickets start at $20 for general admission with higher level tiers available for special perks like ordering attack ads or even joining the cast as a candidate.