Mr. President

Just when you thought there couldn’t be a bigger creep in the White House, along comes Charles H.P. Smith. “He’s a horrible guy,” says media contact Bob Wells. “Everything he does is bad — greed, torture, blackmail. He’s not based on any one president — wink, wink — but it’s an indictment of the Oval Office in general and how money drives anyone who stays there. It’s one of the first plays in a long time that made me laugh out loud when I read it.” And with the country in seriously dire shape, what better way to forget a little of that mortgage/job/economy stress than poking fun at the absurdities of real life?

Showing at 2 p.m. at the Avenue Theater, 417 East 17th Avenue, November takes place just days before Smith’s apparently doomed bid for a second term. The cast of characters includes a Thanksgiving turkey headed for a presidential pardon, a lesbian speechwriter who wants Smith to marry her and her lover, and a pissed-off Native American bent on assassination.

Tickets are $18 to $22, with a two-for-one discount on Thursdays. The show runs through November 22; for details, call 303-321-5925 or go to www.avenuetheater.com.
Fri., Oct. 3, 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: Oct. 3. Continues through Nov. 22, 2008