''The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity'' is a dramatic comedy play by

Kristoffer Diaz Kristoffer Díaz is an American playwright, screenwriter, and educator. As a playwright, he has five full-length titles amongst other works which have been widely produced and developed. In 2010, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. ...

about a professional wrestler, "driven by narratives of the American dream and neoliberal capitalism."

Synopsis

Act One

Macedonio Guerra is a professional wrestler at THE Wrestling. Despite being the superior wrestler Mace is delegated to playing the heel to the champion, Chad Deity. Everett K Olson, CEO of THE Wrestling, capitalizes on racial stereotypes to win support from the audience. Tired of being “the guy who loses to make the winners look good,'' Mace recruits Vigneshwar Paduar (VP) to THE Wrestling. Unable to fit the racially ambiguous VP into his show, Olson initially refuses. But with the help of Chad Deity, Olson brings VP on as The Fundamentalist, with Mace playing his partner, Che Chavez Castro. The pair, billed as anti-American extremists, quickly become fan favorite villains. Act One ends with The Fundamentalist calling out Chad Deity on stage.

Act Two

THE Wrestling begins building a rivalry between Chad Deity and The Fundamentalist. Mace and VP begin working on a finisher for The Fundamentalist, settling on a superkick title the Sleeper Cell. After initially freezing, The Fundamentalist KOs Billy Heartland with a single kick. Next week he does the same move against Old Glory, becoming more arrogant with every win. Olson picks The Fundamentalist to become the next Champion but, to Mace’s dismay, VP decides to leave THE Wrestling. Needing Mace to step up in his place, Olson allows him to perform as himself.

Epilogue

VP watches the fight from his home in bed. He is happy to see Macedonio Guerra on stage, not Che Chavez Castro. In the final moments of the play, Mace is powerbombed by Chad Deity. Prompting his girlfriend to ask “Why are they rooting for the bad guy?”

Production history

''The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity'' had its world premier at Chicago's

Biograph Theater The Biograph Theater on Lincoln Avenue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, was originally a movie theater but now presents live productions. It gained early notoriety as the location where bank robber John Dillinger was lea ...

on September 25, 2009 in a

Victory Gardens Theater Victory Gardens Theater is a theater company in Chicago, Illinois dedicated to the development and production of new plays and playwrights. The theater company was founded in 1974 when eight Chicago artists, Cecil O'Neal, Warren Casey, Stuart Go ...

production starring

Usman Ally Usman Ally (born August 27, 1982) is a Swazi-born Pakistani-American film, stage and television actor. Marking his acting debut in 2008, Ally won an Obie Award in 2015 for his role in ''The Invisible Hand''. He has appeared in several stage pro ...

(Vigneshwar Paduar), Kamal Angelo Bolden (Chad Deity), Desmin Borges (Macedonio Guerra), Jim Krag (Everett K. Olson), and Christian Litke (Billy Heartland, Old Glory). Directed by Edward Torres, Designed by

Brian Sidney Bembridge Brian Sidney Bembridge (born 1973) is an American scenic, lighting, and costume designer for theater and film. His work has been seen on stages and screens throughout the country and Internationally in Australia, Germany, Prague, Ireland, and ...

(scenery), Jesse Klug (lights), John Boesche (projections), and Christine Pascual (costumes)

Reception

Variety (magazine) ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

published a positive review of the original production at the

, complimenting the "vigorous physicality and wickedly intelligent humor." Critic Steve Oxman commented that " ristofferDiaz has found a vehicle to tell a much deeper narrative about how our culture digests racial identity, and how commerce, as well as commercial storytelling, is at its core about generating passion, with the exploitation of our baser instincts often the easiest means of doing so." The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

said the production at the

Off Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

Second Stage Theatre Second Stage Theater is a theater company founded in 1979 by Robyn Goodman and Carole Rothman and located in Manhattan, New York City. It produces both new plays and revivals of contemporary American plays by new playwrights and established wri ...

"has the delicious crackle and pop of a galloping, honest-to-God, all-American satire."Theatre Review: Body Slam to the American Dream, New York Times, May 21, 2010
/ref> The

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

called the same production, "flashy, fleshy and ridiculously entertaining". The

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

said the play "leaps out of the proscenium frame at every opportunity, exhorting, drop-kicking and body-slamming its way into an immediacy that is more familiar to sporting events and rap concerts than to a traditional night of theater."Theater review: 'The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity' at Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2011
/ref>

Awards and nominations

* Winner 2008 National Latino Playwriting Award * Finalist for the 2010

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

for Drama. * Winner 2011

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

for Best New American Play. * New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award to Kristoffer Diaz (for Chad Deity) in 2011 Times’s Outstanding Playwright Award Goes to Kristoffer Diaz, New York Times, June 21, 2011
/ref> * Henry Hewes Design Awards Nomination for Best Scenic Design

* Henry Hewes Design Awards Nomination for Best Production Design

, Jesse Klug, Christine Pasquale,

Peter Nigrini Peter Nigrini is an American projection designer live theater. His best-known designs include Dear Evan Hansen, Fela!, and Here Lies Love. He also works occasionally as a scenic and lighting designer, most notably his longstanding collaborat ...

, and

Mikhail Fiksel Mikhail Fiksel (born March 21, 1980) is a Russian-American composer and sound designer. He won a Tony Award in the category Best Sound Design of a Play for the play ''Dana H Dana may refer to: People Given name * Dana (given name) Sur ...

*Chicago Jeff Awards (2010) for Best New Work, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Fight Choreography

References

External links

*
Reviews
*
BrianSidneyBembridge.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity Off-Broadway plays American plays Obie Award-winning plays 2009 plays